Reviving a Resident's Childhood Skill Through Music

Saturday, April 26th, 2025

By: Charlotte Hendrey

I have a piano competition coming up, which translates to double the piano practice this week. So I went to Greenwood Assisted Living to practice for two hours today.

I don't normally go there in the afternoon because the guests get sleepy. But today I was happy to find my elderly friends Natalie and Pat in the piano room. They were so happy to see me and told me they hadn't gotten any visitors recently.

I told them that today I was going to practice piano for my upcoming competition. They were excited to hear me play. I introduced new practicing methods to them as I used them, and explained how "two touch" helps me memorize the song by heart on the piano. I had a good conversation with both of them, and when I asked both of them if they ever played an instrument when they were younger I was pleasantly surprised.

Natalie told me that she used to play piano! She began to try and say something about how her piano teacher made her do "this ten times" and gestured with her fingers what looked like a scale to me. I asked her if she was trying to tell me that she had to practice a lot of piano scales, and she nodded in excitement that I understood her.

I know just how strong muscle memory can be, and I immediately wondered if Natalie still remembered a simple scale on the piano: C- major scale. I helped her to stand up and we slowly walked over to the piano bench. I guided her fingers to the piano keys and asked if she could play something: she was apprehensive. So I showed her a couple times how to play C Major scale, and she watched how my fingers played it. I asked her to try, and she did it on her first try!

I cheered for Natalie and she had the biggest smile on her face. She began humming and clapping!

The care-takers must have heard the music switch from Invention 13 by Bach to this simple scale, and peaked their heads in the piano room curiously. When they saw that Natalie, a patient with dementia, was playing the piano, they were overwhelemed with excitement! Around five caretakers started cheering and saying "Ella toca musica!" (She plays music!). They were so excited that they began to take out their phones to record this huge achievement of Natalie's!

I took a video of Natalie playing her scale and sent it to the Activity Coordinators who work at Greenwood, to which I received text replies saying

"No way!!!!!! You are an awesome kid" - Activity Leader Vanesa

"Wow! Unreal! Great Going Charlotte" - Activity Coordinator Shelley

"Incredible" - Activity Coordinator Frank.

I felt so accomplished that I was able to improve my two competition songs AND revive a resident's childhood skill! It is so true what they say about music, it really does heal memory.

🌟 About Hearts & Hands

Hearts and Hands is a volunteer movement where students share their time, creativity, and compassion with seniors. From games and art to holiday cookie decorating, Hearts & Hands builds meaningful bridges across generations. Find out more at hhmarin.org.