Many caregivers, myself included, have written about how music touches some mysterious joy button down deep in our hearts. When I visited my dad in the Alzheimer's wing and pressed TAPE PLAY on his little boom box, he'd snap from a slumping senior to a baton-waving conductor. The nursing home's piano gets lots of use, and singalongs are well-attended and enjoyed. For years now, my mom has most successfully fallen asleep to CDs of soft music. My day's anxieties also drift off most peacefully to music CDs.
Recently, a friend invited me to "attend" a Chicago Symphony Christmas concert online "with" her and then discuss it afterward in a FaceTime call. We really enjoyed talking about various numbers and voices and selections. This particular offering is a Christmas tradition for my friend, and I felt honored to share it with her this year.
This week I watched a Piano Guys Christmas concert YouTube on my computer. One guest singer's tenor voice captivated me, and I have since shared various YouTubes of his songs with one friend and my mother. I know they both enjoy tenor singing.
So, Hanukkah is here and Christmas is ten days away. Do I have a Christmas gift for my mom yet? No. Do I have any clue what to get a 100-year-old? No. What about an experiential music gift? What if I asked her what music she really enjoyed from past decades, found a YouTube or audio recording online, prearranged when we listen, she in the nursing home and I in my home, and then we talked on the phone about it? Maybe beforehand I could drop off a special snack and beverage at the home so that she and I could make a party of it.
Lawrence Welk? Andy Williams? Frank Sinatra? Elvis? Perry Como? Doris Day? Maurice Chevalier? Show tunes from old musicals?
I bet Mom would have some great memories to share about whatever music we shared.
