Music has the power to entertain and move us; Beatie Wolfe's is also being used to treat dementia. Read more: Alzheimer's disease and dementia: what's the difference?
The British singer-songwriter, 27, became interested in music's alternative uses after her grandmother was diagnosed with the disease. Inspired by the late neurologist Oliver Sacks' book Musicophilia, about the effects of music on the brain, Wolfe had an idea. "Every time I would visit, I would perform for her," she says. "The effect was profound: at first she'd be desensitised, not know who I was. After two songs, she'd be back, and able to recall not just me, but much earlier memories, back to her childhood."
The impact inspired Wolfe's Power Of Music project, for which she partnered with 20:20 Research and Spirit of Creation, a design agency. Over four months, Wolfe played in care homes across the UK. "I remember one performance of 100 or so patients. Almost everyone was asleep, or in a comatose state, not paying attention; afterwards, they would be talking, humming along. The nurse told me it was the most stimulated he'd seen them." The performances were followed by four months of having patients listen to iPod playlists, curated with the help of their families (20:20 tracked its effect).
The results were positive: "Over four months, communication and memory were improved in a lot of patients," she says. Wolfe is developing the project further with her partners, with the aim to raise awareness of the potential benefits.
Next, she is back in the studio recording her second album. No stranger to embracing alternative approaches -- her first record, 2013's 8ight, was distributed as a 3D iPhone app -- she is releasing her second, Montagu Square, on November 8.
It will include a number of experimental tie-in projects. Among them: a collaboration with the design startup Beatwoven, which translates sound waves into woven patterns, and the tailor David Mason, to produce a song in wearable form.
The album, and the Power Of Music project, Wolfe says, share a goal: "To be able to think about music differently".
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
