Pawel Moczulewski, Jewish Care’s Innovations and Activities Lead explains how Room to Room Music initiative is engaging residents through the power of music
Jewish Care has been working with City of London Sinfonia for over 20 years as part of the organisation’s participatory arts programme, sharing a belief in the transformative power of music for all. Their specially trained musicians have been enhancing the lives of care home residents with interactive visits, especially working with care home residents who are living with moderate and advanced dementia.
City of London Sinfonia’s Room to Room Music initiative brings musicians directly into care homes using responsive, spontaneous music-making and improvised pieces to create connections with residents. The initiative is a vital tool for emotional and cognitive engagement for those living with dementia. It offers a rare opportunity for residents to connect with their past, engage with their present, and find joy and stimulation through the universal language of music.
I couldn’t be happier with City of London Sinfonia’s work across our Jewish Care homes. They provide unique interventions focused on the most isolated and hard-to-reach residents. The sessions at our care homes are interactive experiences, and the trained musicians invite residents to participate in creating music, often sparking memories and emotional responses.
Music is such a universal language and can reach beyond traditional communication barriers. I love to see residents really open up and engage with musicians and music in often the most unexpected ways creating lifelines of connection and joy.
Sarah is one of the residents at Jewish Care’s Sunridge Court care home who the musicians visited over one of our five week programmes. It was great for her family that they were also present at the sessions. They were able to share in the pleasure of the experience of making music with the musicians together. The musicians played music in response to her welcoming smiles, tapping fingers and the focus of her gaze on the musicians and instruments. Together they create bespoke musical moments that resonate deeply with individuals.
After one of the music sessions, Jonathan, Sarah’s son, remarks to his mother who lives at Jewish Care’s Sunridge Court care home, “When we come to see you, we know if there has been music right before because you are much more alert, so much more engaged and you welcome people into the room. Music speaks to your soul, doesn’t it?”
Sarah, nodded enthusiastically, agreeing, “yes, it does”.
“It’s like we are in the 19th century, and we can just summon musicians to come and play at our whim. We have a gift from these super talented musicians coming and engaging with us, trying to see what memories they can stir and whether they can create something in the room that speaks to us.”
The sessions’ impact on residents like Sarah is profound. Jonathan shares, “The sessions help to reconnect me and my mum afterwards and give us things that we can sing. It gives us access to the past. It’s a concert that we are all taking part in. We improvise together and take a lead off each other. It’s like a jam session, but with classical musicians.”
This approach allows CLS musicians to tailor their performances to the responses of each resident, creating deeply personal and moving experiences. The musicians tell us, “it is their privilege to be welcomed into the resident’s room to share moments of connection and joy through music.”
These sessions are a vital part of Jewish Care’s collaborative arts projects to stimulate and engage people living with dementia within their own rooms and lounges. in their care homes. The musicians from CLS are adept at using both improvisation and well-known classical repertoire to respond to individuals, allowing residents to partake in creative music, reigniting memories and fostering a sense of connection.
For Sarah, who has lived at Jewish Care’s Sunridge Court care home for over five years, these music sessions have become a highlight. Her son, Jonathan, has observed how music helps his mother become more alert and engaged. He says, “The special part about having these fantastic musicians coming to sing is that they are here just for us, and it’s our private concert. But it’s not a concert where they are performing to us; it’s a concert that we are all taking part in. They decide what to do according to what we like and how we react.”
The Jewish Care residential care home carers and Living Well Team, and the musicians also feel the impact of these sessions, expressing a deep sense of privilege and gratitude for being able to share these moments of genuine connection. These sessions inspire the way we interact with residents and the way that the musicians perform at concerts. Seeing music bridge gaps in communication and reach residents, highlights the power of the arts in care settings.
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