Posts Related to: Health Benefits

In the mid 1970’s, I formed the Chuck Anderson Trio with Al Stauffer and Ray Deeley. The East Coast jazz group focused primarily on my original writing but also included unique interpretations of jazz classics. We gave concerts and recorded our first critically acclaimed album called “Mirror Within a Mirror.” My reputation as a rising …

“There’s no wrong way to play” is usually my mantra when facilitating a drum class or music therapy session with older adults. In music, dance, and art, there is no wrong way to express yourself. Whatever comes out is an extension of yourself. (Leave the judgment and criticism behind during this article.) Truly, as much as …

Nearly 20 years ago, I had a guitar teacher who made most of his income playing concerts in nursing homes. I never knew such a career existed, and it was years before I met anyone else who did this work. Now, a confluence of events has made playing music in senior facilities a sought-after career …

A college friend with whom I have not spoken in years contacted me recently. Just as she and her husband were looking forward to the next phase of their lives, she learned last year, at 49, that she has Parkinson’s disease.
 
She saw the Music After 50 site, and asked me if I knew what instrument …

In the late 1980s, Roy Ernst, then a professor at the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music, envisioned the creation of a music program for retired adults. He thought it would be great fun for the players, but that there would not be much of an audience. Fortunately, he was wrong.
Today, Ernst’s 19-year-old organization, New Horizons …

Music is as old as mankind. And yet, the physical, emotional, and biological effects of playing music have not been widely studied. Over the past several years, the Yamaha Music and Wellness Institute has been on a quest to change that. The institute supports what is probably the largest body of scientific research in the …

A thread was started on the Music After 50 forum about joint and muscle pains of guitar players, and how to treat these problems. We didn’t know how to advise one another and then … eureka! I remembered that there is an orthopaedic surgeon in the Philadelphia area who is not only a prominent hand surgeon, but …

Music therapy, a field in which specially trained therapists use music to educate and heal, is growing  in health care, oncology, and in geriatric settings, particularly with Alzheimer’s patients.
This is good news for two reasons: we and our loved ones can benefit from music therapy as clients and patients – and – the late-life job seekers among us can investigate the field …

There are few things in life that offer more rewards than music. Unlike many forms of sports, music has no age restrictions at all. It is not competitive. It is creative, interesting and challenging. The health benefits both physically and psychologically have been understood by researchers for many years but I’m not so sure that the …