Her hands were the only thing in frame, dancing across the keys as she played a complex, classical piece on the piano. She hadn’t played in 20 years, and though there was no songbook on the music stand, she remembered the piece clearly.
Sophomore Aidan Fishkind received that video of their 90-year-old aunt with dementia playing the piano from her live-in caretaker. Their aunt later did not believe that the hands in the video were hers.
To Fishkind, who was involved in Music For Dementia in their high school, this experience fueled their passion for the organization, especially after their aunt died in 2020.
Music For Dementia is a Michigan-based nonprofit organization that offers free musical performances to memory care facilities.
Music — particularly music with which dementia patients are familiar — is proven to benefit the mood, behavior and cognitive function of those suffering with dementia, and even delay the decline of their memory, according to the Alzheimer's Association.
“The music we choose is intentionally supposed to be [heard] before any onset of their dementia symptoms because the way it stays in your brain and interacts with your brain is very different than other memories that might be affected negatively,” Fishkind said.
Fishkind joined the chapter at their high school in Michigan as a junior, and when they graduated, they looked into bringing the organization to Elon — officially creating its first out of state chapter in the spring of 2024.
“I thought if we can have just one more group of people be able to get such a wonderful service, then might as well put in a couple hours of work in the last spring to make it come to fruition,” Fishkind said.
Fishkind said they want to help a new community of people at their new home in Elon.
The Elon chapter’s first performance was in the spring, when the organization performed at Blakey Hall Retirement Community, and that was when Fishkind had the realization to bring Music For Dementia to the Elon community.
“I was looking at their activities calendar, and I saw Music For Dementia there on their little poster outside,” Fishkind said. “It made me so happy just to be like, ‘I did that’ and just the fact that it’s not about ego, and it’s not about the fact that I as my individual self managed to make something happen. It’s not about that. It’s about the fact that there’s one more service going on for these people.”
Fishkind has been a musician since 8 years old, and with a psychology major and human service studies minor, this organization is the perfect combination for them.
“This is basically all my favorite things wrapped into one,” Fishkind said.
This year, in addition to performances at memory care centers, Fishkind said they hope to host workshops to spread awareness of the misconceptions of dementia and even create playlists for memory care facilities, something that the organization did during the COVID-19 pandemic when they could not go to the facilities.
Fishkind said anyone can join the organization, even if they are not a skilled musician.
“I play music, I’ve been playing music, but I am not a professional musician at all. Even if you want to just come by like one time and see how it goes and help out with some audio stuff,” Fishkind said. “There’s always time for everybody, everybody is welcome here. Even if you just want to turn on a karaoke track and sing, the residents that are there are so happy with any song or anything just to hear it happen.”