• Students collect ipods and donations for a local retirement home.
• The groups hopes music will help those with Alzheimer’s and other mental degenerative diseases.
• Music can allow those with Alzheimer’s to show emotions to loved ones.
Tyler Sparkman never got the opportunity to get to know his great grandmother.
She was always physically present, but Alzheimer’s rendered her unable to recognize the freshman telecommunication major’s face.
“I just remember every time I would go to visit her, she wouldn’t know who I was,” he said. “She would call me mean names and stuff, because she thought I was there to hurt her.”
Motivated by his experience with his grandmother, Sparkman joined Ball State’s chapter of Music & Memory, a nonprofit organization that delivers musicians to patients in nursing home dealing mental and physical ailments.
The organization plans to collect iPods and monetary donations from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Atrium this week, working to spread the word of the cause and rally contributions.
The aim of the chapter is to trigger long buried memories and increase the quality of life through the power of music.
According to the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, music with especially strong ties to a memory can help those suffering from Alzheimer’s remember the past.
Music helps because the individuals can experience well rehearsed responses to a musical piece that requires little cognitive processing, according to Alzheimer’s Foundation of America.
The connection can be so strong that hearing a tune long after the occurrence evokes a memory of it, according to the organization.
Those with late-stage dementia can lose the ability to share emotions or thoughts, however people often retain the ability to move to the beat of a musical piece.
Dancing can lead to hugs or kisses, and singing is often associated with safety and security from earlier in life.
Ball State’s chapter aspires to bring the program to the Woodlands, a nursing home in Muncie.
People who donate iPods are immediately entered into a drawing for a desk and chair set from Gill Brothers Furniture. Monetary pledges of $46 also warrant entrance.
“I think it’ll be something really neat to have, especially if you have an apartment,” said Sparkman about the $500 furniture set.
Sparkman started the organization when Michael Gerhard, associate professor of telecommunications, brought the idea to the attention of his introductory telecommunications class.
Ten students came together and raised $1,600 at a Music & Memory variety show last semester.
Vivien Pong, a freshman telecommunications major and new member of Music & Memory said, “I think it’s great that they started off college by bringing an organization with such a good cause to Muncie.”
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