Music soothes Alzheimer's

0 Comments | USA TODAY, July, 2006 | by Kim Painter

My column on music and medicine (Your Health, July 10) prompted readers to share stories about the power of music in the lives of people with dementia.

Allen Pfenninger of Brooklyn Heights, Ohio, wrote: "Music is a wonderful balm for Alzheimer's patients. My mother-in-law (who just passed away) ... didn't remember my wife or myself, but she could recognize music from her past. We took an iPod into the nursing home, split it with three sets of earphones and listened to songs we knew she liked. She would hum along. She would laugh at the funny ones (Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah by Allan Sherman, Tiptoe Through the Tulips by Tiny Tim). She would cry at the sad ones, and we learned to try to keep those to a minimum. I would throw her a curve every once in a while just to see what...