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Great little article on how you can “participate” more with your doctor to remember what is said.
Click HERE to read article or paste the link below in your browser.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/26/magazine/remember-what-your-doctor-says.html?searchResultPosition=1
Paul, piano player with Alzheimer’s and founding member of The 5th Dementia band, continues to play piano everyday at his assisted living facility….flawlessly.
Music Mends Minds and The 5th Dementia band have been highlighted in Brain and Life Magazine’s April/May issue. The connection between music and the brain is discussed as well as the Zoom sessions still happening three times per week. Click HERE to read.
Paul is residing in an assisted living facility with memory care. There is a piano on each floor so he may walk out of his room and play on his own or go down one floor and play for the others living in the home.
He played “Misty” for the group today.
As you can see and hear, Paul still plays flawlessly despite his advanced Alzheimer’s. Pretty crazy what those music cells in our brains can still do!
HOPE Dementia Support Group will be screening TONIGHT 2.23.21, The 5th Dementia Documentary at 6:30 PM Pacific Time.
Link to register for screening and Q & A to follow with Maggie Johnson, Music therapist with Earth Tones Northwest.
”HOPE Dementia Support Groups is presenting The 5th Dementia, a documentary showing the transformative power that music has on the singers and musicians in The 5th Dementia Band, all living with Alzheimer's, Dementia or Parkinson's.
Following the video will be commentary from Maggie Johnson, Certified Music Therapist with Earthtones Northwest.
This is sure to be a fascinating webinar, please join us!
To register visit www.hopedementiasupport.org or call (360)513-5754 for more information.”
Irwin Rosenstein, husband and co-founder with Carol of Music Mends Minds has passed.
Irwin was the comedic half of the Rosenstein duo. Constantly tossing one liners off-handedly until the very end. Somehow through the fog of dementia and late stage Parkinson’s, Irwin was able to maintain the occasional sarcasm that he was known for.
The one-liner that sticks in my mind was when we were filming The 5th Dementia documentary one day at the church. I told Irwin how handsome he looked in all black. His response was that…”Black is very slimming”.
The road from diagnosis to now (about 5 years) was long but not always sad. Carol had been able to keep him at home with the help of his wonderful care-takers, Narcisso and Dorothy, all the while, keeping Music Mends Minds up and running through the pandemic. Irwin was able to play the piano almost until the very end, proving once again that the music cells in the mind are not completely erased with neurodegenerative disease.
Irwin’s legacy will continue through Carol and Music Mends Minds, the musical group they co-founded for those living with the neurodegenerative diseases, Alzheimer’s, dementia and Parkinson’s.
Please join them every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 1-2:00 pm on Zoom (Go to www.Musicmendsminds.org for link and more details.)
RIP Irwin. You were a prince among men.
Our beloved singer, Leola, passed away last week. Leola lived for many years with Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s did not take away her ability to sing. And sing she did….while getting dressed, riding in the car, watching tv and most times she was awake! Twice a week, her daughter Denise, would bring Leola to Music Mends Minds rehearsals. They would settle themselves on stage in front of the mic. Denise would brush Leola’s hair so she looked pretty and Leola would begin to sing her heart out. While filming the documentary, Leola and I would catch each other’s eye and she would beam at the camera. I would have a hard time finding a shot of her not smiling! Leola was warm and kind to anyone she met. Only three days before Leola passed, Denise filmed her singing Jingle Bells for the upcoming Music Mends Minds holiday concert to be aired on Zoom December 5th. Here is a preview of her performance and one of my images of her gorgeous smile.
The 5th Dementia Documentary will be shown on Zoom through the Clinical Neuroanatomy Seminars in France. (https://www.clinicalneuroanatomyseminars.com) at 7:00 AM PST (4:00 PM Paris time)
Q and A to follow with Serene Meshel - Dillman.
It’s free!
Join on Zoom by clicking here.
The 5th Dementia band members are featured on Anderson Cooper’s CNN Heroes playing and singing on Zoom.
Click here to watch.
“While quarantine measures help protect seniors from catching Covid-19, social isolation is having a devastating effect on their mental well-being. Carol Rosenstein is finding that her mission of using music to help people battling neurodegenerative diseases has a new importance.”
The 5th Dementia documentary will be screened on Zoom as part of the Clinical Neuroanatomy Seminars October 22nd at 7:00 AM PST (4:00 PM Paris, France). (#CNSmovie)
Visit www.Clinicalneuroanatomyseminars.com for the Zoom link. Or click here.
You may also watch the seminar on their YouTube channel.
Michel Thiebaut de Schotten, PhD, HDR, CNRS from the Brain Connectivity and Behaviour Laboratory, Sorbonne Universities, Paris, France will be hosting.
Q & A with Director immediately after.
The group is part of the Groupe dd’Imagerie Neurofonctionnelle, Institut des Maladies Neurodegeneratives in Bordeaux, France.
If you’re in the US, you’ll need to get up pretty early!
See website for further information.
Our trumpet player’s wife, Janice, let us know that Mike’s early onset Alzheimer’s advanced quickly over the last year. She tried to find help during the pandemic which wasn’t easy and quite often felt as if she was suffocating. She was finally able to find Mike a place to live that gives him the care that he deserves. It has been a hard road for her and their 2 daughters who had been helping every week. Mike now seems happy and Janice feels confident that he is with kind and compassionate people who will care for him as well as she has.
Paul L, our piano player has been living in an assisted living facility for the last year or so. The home has a piano and Paul plays for everyone each day. He usually has a crowd watching, singing and clapping along. His wife, Marina, visits with him twice per day on Zoom. She is allowed to hold his hand outside with masks on at the home once per week.
Paul F, percussionist, piano player and singer is now living with a “family” that has a home with several patients. His wife, Franne, is able to see him on Zoom as well as in person, with masks on. She is relieved that he is with such loving caretakers who just last week, took him on “vacation” for a few days.
Leola, our smiling singer, is continuing to live in a small home that cares for a few patients at a time. She is happy there and her daughter, Denise, is able to pick her up for doctor’s visits. She has an iPad that plays the songs she loves to sing and Denise queues the music up whenever she visits.
Pat, our reluctant singer living with Parkinson’s, misses the in-person rehearsals a lot. (Due to Covid19, all weekly rehearsals are now held on Zoom.) Believe it or not, Pat is now the main caretaker of her husband and son. She is from New York and still has that “get shit done” attitude despite her own disease! Go Pat.
Irwin, Music Mends Mind’s co-founder and Carol’s husband, has entered hospice. His Parkinson’s and dementia have advanced to the point where he is no longer able to play the piano or walk. Carol feels like she may occasionally “get through” to him but for the most part feels as if she is living alone. She is lucky to have a caretaker for Irwin who is strong enough to lift him in and out of a wheelchair or bed. Her weekly Zoom sessions for Music Mends Minds are her sanity and happiness. Please join in and say hello! (link on April 6th blog entry).
Gene, our illustrious band leader and drummer, recently had deep brain stimulation….again! The procedure was a success and he is able to continue to live alone, drive and cook for himself. He values his independence and doesn’t understand why more people with Parkinson’s don’t have the same surgery! Yay Gene.
There are good options for help and caretaking if you know where to look. For anyone interested in some of the places noted here, please contact Serene@The5thDementiaDocumentary.com. I will be happy to pass along any information.
Irwin
Mike
Click here to listen to Matt’s winning KCRW segment about his father, Paul, The 5th Dementia’s piano player.
One of the most talented and beloved members of The 5th Dementia band has passed away. Ed Fox will be remembered as a fun loving, warm, ever-present friend to all. His booming voice, with perfect pitch, could be heard leading the group every week at rehearsals and then again online during the tri-weekly Zoom sessions. He will be missed.
We interviewed Ed and his wife of 56 years, Lorraine, back in 2017 for The 5th Dementia Documentary. Ed didn’t make the cut because he insisted that he did not have any neurodegenerative issues. So this is Ed’s premier of sorts!
Here is a clip of a poem he put to the tune of Some Sunday Morning around the time he joined the group. Little did he know that his words would fit our film perfectly. Sing it Ed!
Ed
Music Mends Minds hosted several soloists for their weekly online Zoom session this week.
One singer, Bryan, a former Broadway performer, knocked his rendition of Fly Me To The Moon, out of the park!
When the Covid 19 virus fiasco is over, you can hear Bryan sing with the Jazzanovas, another band under the Music Mends Mind banner.
Have a listen….
The 5th Dementia band’s trumpet player, Michael, has taken to whistling his songs during the weekly Zoom sessions. Click the Vimeo link below to have a listen.
Music Mends Minds hosts the Zoom meetings M/W/F from 1:00 - 1:45 pm PST every week.
Please join in anytime. Click here for a link to the Zoom sessions.
I interviewed the director of Getting to The Nutcracker, Serene Meshel-Dillman, class of 85, on my podcast to chat about her career story and how she got into documentary film and ended up working on this project.
Serene was originally on a path to become a lawyer, but a wild circumstance changed that path. There are shorter clips on the same site for people who don't have time to listen to the full thing.
Click here to listen to Jonathan’s podcast
Sit back and enjoy singing along with Music Mends Minds members from all over the US and Canada.
Check out our soloists, Paula and Sam, from today’s Zoom meeting. (click on white arrow in center of screen)
Join Music Mends Minds 3X PER WEEK for ONLINE sing-a-longs
THIS IS NATIONWIDE WITH CANADA INCLUDED
Sessions connect through the ZOOM app
If you need help connecting, WE CAN WALK YOU THROUGH SET UP
contact (818) 326-0500 or email info@musicmendsminds.org
On Instagram @Musicmendsminds.org. Zoom link in bio
EVERY Monday, Wednesday and Friday 1:00-1:45 PST
Join the virtual party!
Click here for link to interview on YouTube.
Click here to read this step by step guide!
