January 5, 2026 • 14 mins
How does music connect to people even with dementia, and allow them to connect with memories that they might not otherwise recall? Our guest is Dr. Kendra Ray, a renowned expert and the dementia program director of the not-for-profit MJHS Menorah Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing Care in Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn. MJHS is the last not-for-profit Jewish nursing home, providing short-term, subacute rehabilitation and long-term nursing care. For more, visit mjhs.org.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Get Connected with Nina del Rio, a weekly
conversation about fitness, health and happenings in our community on
one oh six point seven light FM.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Good morning and thanks for listening to Get Connected. So
you're scrolling through something like social media and you see
a post of an elderly person, maybe singing beautifully, and
the caption reads something like woman with dementia can't remember
her family's names, but remembers this song from her wedding.
How does music connect to people even with dementia and
allow them to connect with memories that they might not
(00:33):
otherwise recall. Our guest is doctor Kendra Ray. She's a
renowned expert and the dementia program director of the not
for profit MJHS Menora Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing Care
in Manhattan Beach in Brooklyn. Doctor Kender Ray, thank you
for being on the show.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Absolutely, thanks for having me today. You can win a
great intro.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Oh, thank you. It's always when you see those videos, right,
it's always such a mystery how these things work. So
we'll talk a little bit more about that. There's much
more at MJHS dot org. I wouldner if you would
start actually talking about the music therapy program at MJHS
to begin with, and a little bit about the work
you do.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Yes, absolutely, I can tell you that at our program
we do have music therapy about five times every day,
and most of the people who we are working with
do have moderate to severe dementia, and we use music.
It's a powerful, powerful thing to experience how music can
help serve people who have dementia.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
We hear all the time about how music helps people
and it associate, helps people associate with all kinds of
different memories. It does it for people on an everyday basis,
whether you have memory loss or not. What does science
say about the impact of music on the brain.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Well, there have been lots of studies that look at
music for the brain of people who have dementia. I
can tell you specifically from my own research, we have
found that music therapy can help to reduce symptoms of dementia,
and those common symptoms might be agitation, restlessness, depressive symptoms.
(02:14):
For other studies that I've seen, it helps to improve
communication for many people by bringing back memories and music
often triggers memories and you'll see after they listen to music,
a person will light up and they'll start to have
normal communications with their family. Music therapy has been jun
(02:35):
for some people to actually improve their cognition. I'm a
part of the group called the Unforgettables that's at NYU,
and we notice that for many of those participants, they
can learn songs, they can learn songs that are in
a different language from what they speak even though they
have dementia. So there are lots of benefits of music
(02:58):
and music therapy for people who have and it's just
wonderful to see and what this is that on a
daily basis.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
So part of the reason we wanted to have this
conversation is to talk about your study and also maybe
help people who are a caregiver in their own homes.
I wonder if we could start, maybe if you could
walk us through how you and your team use music.
What do those sessions that you have five times today,
what do they look like.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Usually it's either provided on a one to one basis
or in a group setting. There are some people who
need music on a one to one basis because they
might be dealing with something that like depression, for example,
and they really need music to start the conversation, to
start the conversation to help them express what's going on
(03:44):
in their mind. A lot of times for the group sessions,
I can tell you that we use singing, we use drumming,
We use the music really as a bridge to help
to communicate with many of the people who are As
I said earlier, it does help people who have to mature,
(04:04):
be present and be in the here and now. And
just for more detail about the music therapy sessions, usually
it can last from about fifteen minutes to an hour,
depending on the needs of the participants and also you
know how long a person can tolerate being in a
(04:24):
music therapy session. But every day is different, every person
is different, so that means we have to make sure
that the music is personalized, that it is provided in
the language that the person understands. So many of our
residents are Russian speaking speak, Gettish speak, Spanish speak Creole,
(04:45):
or are from Brooklyn, so really taking the time to
recognize what they historically listen to, what radio stations did
they listen to bring up for example, or you know,
what concerts do they use to go to, or what
songs do they or play when they were at home,
So we really try to take advantage of their history
of the music was and then use that to our
(05:07):
advantage in helping to connecting with them.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Our guest is doctor Kendra Ray. She's dementia program director
of the not for profit MJHS Manora Center for Rehabilitation
and Nursing Care in Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn. MJHS is the
last not for profit Jewish nursing home providing short term,
subacute rehabilitation and long term nursing care. You can find
out more at MJHS dot org. You're listening to get
(05:31):
connected on one oh six point seven light FM. I'm
Mina del Rio. So since every patient is different, and
we talked about for a moment about helping with people
who might be easily agitated, Let's say you're a caregiver
at home and the person you're caring for is one
of those someone who gets stressed really easily. What would
a music therapy session look like with that person?
Speaker 3 (05:54):
Just to talk about caregiving and using music at home,
I can give you a great example. I am performing
a study that is sponsored by the Alzheimer's Association where
I am teaching caregivers how to use music in a
therapeutic way at home so that means not just turning
on the radio, but creating playlists using things like Spotify
(06:18):
or YouTube or you know, even TDS if that's something
that is used for them now. But every single week
we talk about a topic, for example, agitation, we talk
about how timing is very very important. You want to
make sure that you know when the person that you're
caring for becomes agitated and know that music can help,
(06:41):
especially if you put it on thirty minutes prior to
when the agitation might occur. We sing together. Many people
think that you know, just because they're not Lady Gaga
or when they used in that they cannot sing, but
actually you can sing for the person that you're caring for,
and most of the time of people are recepting and
singing is probably the number one intervention that music therapist
(07:05):
to use, and so I really try to encourage the
caregivers to use that, especially you know they're caring for
someone with them, because we know that it can be
powerful and really helpful during caregiving activities.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
I know you're looking for more participants for that study.
You can find out more about doctor Ray's home based
music study program at MJHS dot com slash study does
this also work as well for someone maybe someone loved
music they were a musician. Does it work the same
for somebody who just listened to it casually over the
radio through their lifetime.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Yes, and I'm glad you brought that example. If we
do have only a few people who we work with
who were musicians. And it's wonderful because many times, just
because they have dementia doesn't mean that they still can't
play the piano or play their saxophone or sing. But
most of the people who benefit from therapy were non musicians.
(08:02):
I think. You know, music is a part of our
everyday life, especially in New York. We hear music all
the time. You go to the train, you're listening to
someone playing song. You know, lots of people have just
on in their headphones. But for sure, you don't have
to be a musician in order to benefit from music therapy.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
And how does this it's part of your study, But
how will this help the caregiver?
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Yes, as a part of my study, I am looking
to see how caregiver distress in caregiver burden can be
affected positively, you know, and hopefully that's the outcome. I
can just give you an example we started research in
the nursing homes teaching the paid caregivers how to use
(08:50):
music during bathing and showering and also during wound care,
and we found that people who had music in the
background or the caregiver you singing, that the residents were
less resistant during care. It was actually a very enjoyable
experience that only for the person who was receiving here,
(09:10):
but also for the caregiver. But for the study at home,
I do have some preliminary data and outcomes that have
shown that quality in life is improved for the person
with dementia, and caregiver burden and caregiverstress has significantly reduced
for those who are implementing the music assistant care activities
(09:32):
that they've learned.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Can any of this be done remotely, especially if you
have a grandparent or a parent you're not near. Can
it be done on a zoom call, FaceTime anything like that?
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Absolutely. Our study right now is virtual, so I am
meeting with caregivers virtually. But in the nursing home city
setting we do have usually the grandkids are falling in
using either What's that or FaceTime along with the kids
of the resident, so a lot of times we'll have
(10:05):
like five or six people on a screen who are
having a music I'll just call it a music session
with a resident. So absolutely it's not bound by just
being in person. We can use music virtually as well.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
It's also not a magical cure. You talked about it,
you know, using it maybe thirty minutes before something that
might be stressful bathing for instance. Could you kind of
clarify how quickly does it work and what it can't do.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Right? For some people, it's instantaneous. I have video recordings
that we analyze where the music started and the people
just stopped what they were doing and just started snapping
their fingers and singing and trying to move to the music.
And so you see the joy. You see the joy
that occurs when that happens. But for others it might
(10:56):
take a couple of minutes, it might take you half
an hour. We do notice the difference between between before
music therapy and actor. For some people it's really a
gradual change that occurs that their restlessness or their agitation
or their bad mood improves, and then for others it
(11:17):
might take multiple weeks. Like any type of therapy, you know,
sometimes you need to just give it a chance to work.
So just depends on the person and you know how
they are receptive to music.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
There are a lot of families in New York and
around the world really who live, you know, with their grandparents,
intergenerational families. Do you have any thoughts about how to
help someone who wants to bond with their friend or
relative or neighbor with dementia using this.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Yes, just to go back to the virtual aspect that
I do want to highlight that, especially during the pandem
and you know, we had a lot of people who
weren't able to visit, and everyone wanted to do a
video call. But if you have dementia, you have trouble communicating.
So what we noticed was if we encouraged family members
(12:07):
to sing or to put their favorite music on the
background during the calls, then that gave them an opportunity
to have a conversation long. Many times that was non
verble that actually made sense. But I hear your question.
You were asking me about intergenerational activities that people can
do in New York war around the world. Music can
(12:31):
be shared by anyone to visit, matter your age. A
lot of people who are an older adult remember songs
from their childhood. So if you had kids, encourage them
to sing songs that the kids might know, like you
are my sonshye or Oh my Donald had a farm.
You know, songs that everybody knows. That way they can
(12:52):
sing together. But the best thing to do, you know,
if you want to really spice things up by out
what your parents liked when they were twenty or when
they were thirty years old, put on that music, sit
and listen to it together. If you know the song,
sing the song and you'll find that it really will
(13:13):
open up a world of conversation and memories and laughter
and joy for both of you.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
If you'd like to participate in doctor Ray's home based
music study program, you can find out more at MJHS
dot org slash study. Doctor Kendra Ray is the director
of the Dementia Program at MJHS Menora Center for Rehabilitation
and Nursing Care in Manhattan Beach. Thank you for being
on deeting up.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
This has been get connected with Nina del Rio on
one oh six point seven Light FM. The views and
opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the views
of the station. If you missed any part of our
show or want to share it, visit our website. We're
downloads and podcasts at one oh six to seven lightfm
dot com. Thanks for listening.
Welcome to Get Connected with Nina del Rio, a weekly
conversation about fitness, health and happenings in our community on
one oh six point seven light FM.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Good morning and thanks for listening to Get Connected. So
you're scrolling through something like social media and you see
a post of an elderly person, maybe singing beautifully, and
the caption reads something like woman with dementia can't remember
her family's names, but remembers this song from her wedding.
How does music connect to people even with dementia and
allow them to connect with memories that they might not
(00:33):
otherwise recall. Our guest is doctor Kendra Ray. She's a
renowned expert and the dementia program director of the not
for profit MJHS Menora Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing Care
in Manhattan Beach in Brooklyn. Doctor Kender Ray, thank you
for being on the show.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Absolutely, thanks for having me today. You can win a
great intro.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Oh, thank you. It's always when you see those videos, right,
it's always such a mystery how these things work. So
we'll talk a little bit more about that. There's much
more at MJHS dot org. I wouldner if you would
start actually talking about the music therapy program at MJHS
to begin with, and a little bit about the work
you do.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Yes, absolutely, I can tell you that at our program
we do have music therapy about five times every day,
and most of the people who we are working with
do have moderate to severe dementia, and we use music.
It's a powerful, powerful thing to experience how music can
help serve people who have dementia.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
We hear all the time about how music helps people
and it associate, helps people associate with all kinds of
different memories. It does it for people on an everyday basis,
whether you have memory loss or not. What does science
say about the impact of music on the brain.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Well, there have been lots of studies that look at
music for the brain of people who have dementia. I
can tell you specifically from my own research, we have
found that music therapy can help to reduce symptoms of dementia,
and those common symptoms might be agitation, restlessness, depressive symptoms.
(02:14):
For other studies that I've seen, it helps to improve
communication for many people by bringing back memories and music
often triggers memories and you'll see after they listen to music,
a person will light up and they'll start to have
normal communications with their family. Music therapy has been jun
(02:35):
for some people to actually improve their cognition. I'm a
part of the group called the Unforgettables that's at NYU,
and we notice that for many of those participants, they
can learn songs, they can learn songs that are in
a different language from what they speak even though they
have dementia. So there are lots of benefits of music
(02:58):
and music therapy for people who have and it's just
wonderful to see and what this is that on a
daily basis.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
So part of the reason we wanted to have this
conversation is to talk about your study and also maybe
help people who are a caregiver in their own homes.
I wonder if we could start, maybe if you could
walk us through how you and your team use music.
What do those sessions that you have five times today,
what do they look like.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Usually it's either provided on a one to one basis
or in a group setting. There are some people who
need music on a one to one basis because they
might be dealing with something that like depression, for example,
and they really need music to start the conversation, to
start the conversation to help them express what's going on
(03:44):
in their mind. A lot of times for the group sessions,
I can tell you that we use singing, we use drumming,
We use the music really as a bridge to help
to communicate with many of the people who are As
I said earlier, it does help people who have to mature,
(04:04):
be present and be in the here and now. And
just for more detail about the music therapy sessions, usually
it can last from about fifteen minutes to an hour,
depending on the needs of the participants and also you
know how long a person can tolerate being in a
(04:24):
music therapy session. But every day is different, every person
is different, so that means we have to make sure
that the music is personalized, that it is provided in
the language that the person understands. So many of our
residents are Russian speaking speak, Gettish speak, Spanish speak Creole,
(04:45):
or are from Brooklyn, so really taking the time to
recognize what they historically listen to, what radio stations did
they listen to bring up for example, or you know,
what concerts do they use to go to, or what
songs do they or play when they were at home,
So we really try to take advantage of their history
of the music was and then use that to our
(05:07):
advantage in helping to connecting with them.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Our guest is doctor Kendra Ray. She's dementia program director
of the not for profit MJHS Manora Center for Rehabilitation
and Nursing Care in Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn. MJHS is the
last not for profit Jewish nursing home providing short term,
subacute rehabilitation and long term nursing care. You can find
out more at MJHS dot org. You're listening to get
(05:31):
connected on one oh six point seven light FM. I'm
Mina del Rio. So since every patient is different, and
we talked about for a moment about helping with people
who might be easily agitated, Let's say you're a caregiver
at home and the person you're caring for is one
of those someone who gets stressed really easily. What would
a music therapy session look like with that person?
Speaker 3 (05:54):
Just to talk about caregiving and using music at home,
I can give you a great example. I am performing
a study that is sponsored by the Alzheimer's Association where
I am teaching caregivers how to use music in a
therapeutic way at home so that means not just turning
on the radio, but creating playlists using things like Spotify
(06:18):
or YouTube or you know, even TDS if that's something
that is used for them now. But every single week
we talk about a topic, for example, agitation, we talk
about how timing is very very important. You want to
make sure that you know when the person that you're
caring for becomes agitated and know that music can help,
(06:41):
especially if you put it on thirty minutes prior to
when the agitation might occur. We sing together. Many people
think that you know, just because they're not Lady Gaga
or when they used in that they cannot sing, but
actually you can sing for the person that you're caring for,
and most of the time of people are recepting and
singing is probably the number one intervention that music therapist
(07:05):
to use, and so I really try to encourage the
caregivers to use that, especially you know they're caring for
someone with them, because we know that it can be
powerful and really helpful during caregiving activities.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
I know you're looking for more participants for that study.
You can find out more about doctor Ray's home based
music study program at MJHS dot com slash study does
this also work as well for someone maybe someone loved
music they were a musician. Does it work the same
for somebody who just listened to it casually over the
radio through their lifetime.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Yes, and I'm glad you brought that example. If we
do have only a few people who we work with
who were musicians. And it's wonderful because many times, just
because they have dementia doesn't mean that they still can't
play the piano or play their saxophone or sing. But
most of the people who benefit from therapy were non musicians.
(08:02):
I think. You know, music is a part of our
everyday life, especially in New York. We hear music all
the time. You go to the train, you're listening to
someone playing song. You know, lots of people have just
on in their headphones. But for sure, you don't have
to be a musician in order to benefit from music therapy.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
And how does this it's part of your study, But
how will this help the caregiver?
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Yes, as a part of my study, I am looking
to see how caregiver distress in caregiver burden can be
affected positively, you know, and hopefully that's the outcome. I
can just give you an example we started research in
the nursing homes teaching the paid caregivers how to use
(08:50):
music during bathing and showering and also during wound care,
and we found that people who had music in the
background or the caregiver you singing, that the residents were
less resistant during care. It was actually a very enjoyable
experience that only for the person who was receiving here,
(09:10):
but also for the caregiver. But for the study at home,
I do have some preliminary data and outcomes that have
shown that quality in life is improved for the person
with dementia, and caregiver burden and caregiverstress has significantly reduced
for those who are implementing the music assistant care activities
(09:32):
that they've learned.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Can any of this be done remotely, especially if you
have a grandparent or a parent you're not near. Can
it be done on a zoom call, FaceTime anything like that?
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Absolutely. Our study right now is virtual, so I am
meeting with caregivers virtually. But in the nursing home city
setting we do have usually the grandkids are falling in
using either What's that or FaceTime along with the kids
of the resident, so a lot of times we'll have
(10:05):
like five or six people on a screen who are
having a music I'll just call it a music session
with a resident. So absolutely it's not bound by just
being in person. We can use music virtually as well.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
It's also not a magical cure. You talked about it,
you know, using it maybe thirty minutes before something that
might be stressful bathing for instance. Could you kind of
clarify how quickly does it work and what it can't do.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Right? For some people, it's instantaneous. I have video recordings
that we analyze where the music started and the people
just stopped what they were doing and just started snapping
their fingers and singing and trying to move to the music.
And so you see the joy. You see the joy
that occurs when that happens. But for others it might
(10:56):
take a couple of minutes, it might take you half
an hour. We do notice the difference between between before
music therapy and actor. For some people it's really a
gradual change that occurs that their restlessness or their agitation
or their bad mood improves, and then for others it
(11:17):
might take multiple weeks. Like any type of therapy, you know,
sometimes you need to just give it a chance to work.
So just depends on the person and you know how
they are receptive to music.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
There are a lot of families in New York and
around the world really who live, you know, with their grandparents,
intergenerational families. Do you have any thoughts about how to
help someone who wants to bond with their friend or
relative or neighbor with dementia using this.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Yes, just to go back to the virtual aspect that
I do want to highlight that, especially during the pandem
and you know, we had a lot of people who
weren't able to visit, and everyone wanted to do a
video call. But if you have dementia, you have trouble communicating.
So what we noticed was if we encouraged family members
(12:07):
to sing or to put their favorite music on the
background during the calls, then that gave them an opportunity
to have a conversation long. Many times that was non
verble that actually made sense. But I hear your question.
You were asking me about intergenerational activities that people can
do in New York war around the world. Music can
(12:31):
be shared by anyone to visit, matter your age. A
lot of people who are an older adult remember songs
from their childhood. So if you had kids, encourage them
to sing songs that the kids might know, like you
are my sonshye or Oh my Donald had a farm.
You know, songs that everybody knows. That way they can
(12:52):
sing together. But the best thing to do, you know,
if you want to really spice things up by out
what your parents liked when they were twenty or when
they were thirty years old, put on that music, sit
and listen to it together. If you know the song,
sing the song and you'll find that it really will
(13:13):
open up a world of conversation and memories and laughter
and joy for both of you.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
If you'd like to participate in doctor Ray's home based
music study program, you can find out more at MJHS
dot org slash study. Doctor Kendra Ray is the director
of the Dementia Program at MJHS Menora Center for Rehabilitation
and Nursing Care in Manhattan Beach. Thank you for being
on deeting up.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
This has been get connected with Nina del Rio on
one oh six point seven Light FM. The views and
opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the views
of the station. If you missed any part of our
show or want to share it, visit our website. We're
downloads and podcasts at one oh six to seven lightfm
dot com. Thanks for listening.
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