Create a notice

What type of customer are you?

General Public Funeral Directors

Why create a notice?

Announce the passing

Publish funeral arrangements

Remember a loved one gone before

Raise charitable donations

Share a loved one’s notice

Add unlimited tributes to this everlasting notice

Create a notice

Interest

How music can trigger your memories

by Victoria Bottomley

• Published 14/07/2022

Music sits side by side with our experiences, forming emotive connections that stay with us throughout our lives. Research shows that listening to a song that was played during a significant life event, such as a wedding or funeral, can trigger a deeply nostalgic emotional experience. Even a seemingly insignificant time in our lives can be recalled in a meaningful way when associated with a particular piece of music.

Whenever I hear Uptown Girl by Billy Joel., I am transported back to my dad’s car as a child. I can recall small details like the grey leather seats, and the rickety window levers, that otherwise would surely be lost forever.

As we age, our explicit memory fades, but our implicit memory is more enduring and can last a lifetime. Implicit memories are our unconscious and automatic memories. For example, playing a musical instrument, or recalling the words to a song when someone sings the first few words. A large part of memory takes place in the unconscious mind.

how_music_can_trigger_your_memories_photo_right_0

Conditions such as Alzheimers and Dementia affect the explicit memory but not the implicit memory, so music can be a great way to help patients recall things they would otherwise have been unable to reconnect with. Patients have been known to retrieve vivid memories by listening to music they heard when they were young, despite profound memory loss and even a loss of knowledge about who they are.

So well known are the benefits of music for Alzheimer’s and Dementia patients, that there are many wonderful charities already set up, providing great awareness and resources for patients and their families.

Music for Dementia is a campaign set up to highlight the value of music for people living with Dementia. They have some great information, advice and resources.
Connected with the campaign is radio station M4DRadio which provides nostalgic era-specific music for Alzheimer’s and Dementia sufferers 24 hours a day.

Connecting with our past experiences and the emotions connected with them can also be extremely therapeutic and beneficial for our mental well being. So sit back, relax, put on some music and remember the good old days.