Back in August 2019, when Rotarians met weekly face to face, Novus kindly invited member Jim Matthews to use them as guinea pigs and be his first audience for a PowerPoint presentation on behalf of the UK-wide charity Playlist For Life.
Since then, he has delivered it to 16 Rotary clubs and two Inner Wheel clubs — a total of just under 300 people.
The presentation explains how the charity, formed by Sally Magnusson, daughter of “I’ve started, so I’ll finish” Magnus Magnusson helps people living with dementia. It encourages family and friends to compile a playlist of personally meaningful music to play to the person with dementia. The Magnusson family discovered how it helped Magnus’s widow Mamie. Lots of research over several decades has proved that the benefits can be tremendous for their patients and their loved ones.
You can read all about the charity on their website here https://www.playlistforlife.org.uk/.
Novus very generously agreed to have Jim back to try out the theory.
Over 75 minutes in a Zoom meeting, Jim played 14 tracks of music from Spotify and invited the seven membets who had chosen them to explain why their choice of music was significant and would help them connect with their former selves if ever they developed dementia.
The tracks included:
- Island in the Stream, by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton, a member of Rotary
- I Will Survive, by Gloria Gaynor
- Despacito, by Luis Fonsi
- Bhagwan Hai Kahan Re Tu, but Sonu Nigam
- Jerusalem, the poem by William Blake set to music in 1916 by Sir Hubert Parry and well known to sports crowds and WI members
- When I’m 64, by The Beatles
- The Lark Ascending, by Vaughan Williams
- Afterglow, by Ed Sheeran
- Sunshine on Leith, from the 2013 film and sung by Jane Horrocks
- The soundtrack from the 1985 film Out Of Africa
- Piano Concert Number 5 (the Emperor) by Beethoven
- Wild Theme from Local Hero by Mark Knopfler
- The Sanctus from The Armed Man Mass, written in 1999 by Karl Jenkins
- In Paradisum from Faure’s Requiem
All of the above are available on the free version of Spotify.
We learned from member Dr Diana Thurston, that in her car she has bags of lavender. If ever she gets stressed by traffic, she sniffs the perfumed sachets and then plays The Lark Ascending, which you can hear here https://open.spotify.com/track/2TxxLPHPHOsd3i5104tFv2?si=DYOVFToTTeq7nsu71Yedkw
If you are stressed, click on the link and see if this music soothes you, the way it soothes Diana.
If you would like to learn about Playlist For Life, or to have Jim get you and your friends to hear one another’s choices of personally meaningful music, please e-mail Novus by clicking on the Contact Us link at the top of any page on this website.
Last edited: 22.20 on Thursday, February 18, 2021
