As they were dancing and singing together through the Zoom application, Novianti, a 36-year-old woman living in South Jakarta who takes care of her 86-year-old grandmother, however, suddenly sent a text to excuse herself from the meeting for a while.

She had to go after her grandmother, who had suddenly walked out of the house to look for her husband – Novianti’s grandfather – who passed away several years ago. Novianti’s grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2016 and is in the severe stage of the disease.

Before we get too far into the story, Alzheimer’s disease is an abnormal aging process, which first strikes a person’s short-term memory beyond normal forgetting (say you get lost in your own house or put your smartphone in the refrigerator).

Then the disease will start ravaging a person’s long-term memory, making you unable to identify your loved ones or remember that your husband has already died, as happened to Novianti’s grandmother, before eventually destroying your autonomic nervous system regulating breathing and blood circulation – which is why the disease is a terminal one.

One important message the NGO Alzheimer’s Indonesia has tirelessly championed: You can actually delay or prevent the disease by, among other things, doing regular physical exercises, eating a healthy and balanced diet, engaging in social activities as well as stimulating your mind by reading books or learning new things.

Back to Novianti’s story: After she had found her grandmother and brought her safely back home, they resumed listening to the final songs played there.

From the remnants of her grandmother’s memory, she could still recall the oldies tunes that she used to sing with her late husband, such as Sepanjang Jalan Kenangan (A Trip Down Memory Lane) when the whole family watched the television program Tembang Kenangan (Nostalgic Songs) on the television station Indosiar with legendary host Bob Tutupoli, according to Novianti.

“She kept requesting Mandarin-language songs, but alas, the committee was not familiar with any of these tunes. A fellow caregiver joked that maybe she would learn a Mandarin tune for our next virtual meeting, for my grandma’s sake,” Novianti recalled fondly.

She added that singing helped distract her grandmother from thinking about the past and the online socialization brought the latter joy: “she shed a little tear when one caregiver greeted her”.

Contacted separately, Pao Pheng, a 40-year-old woman in North Jakarta who takes care of her 74-year-old mother with dementia, said she and her mother were very happy with the musical activity: “Mother’s face lit up when she heard people started singing. We need to do this more frequently”.

Music works wonders with the human brain, including the brains of people already afflicted by Alzheimer’s.

On mayoclinic.org, medical doctor Jonathan Graff-Radford cited various research studies that asserted that listening to or singing songs could provide emotional and behavioral benefits for people with Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia, as key areas linked to musical memory were relatively undamaged by the disease.

According to clinical neurologist Yuda Turana, musical memory is stored in a person’s emotional or implicit memory, thus capable of influencing people’s moods in a huge way or sparking nostalgia or positive emotions.

Being a caregiver is tough, especially during the constraints of the COVID-19 period, according to Pao. “My mother keeps asking me why she could not get out, why she couldn’t go to the traditional market with us? We have to explain the pandemic to her over and over again,” Pao explained.

Therefore, to break the tension related to COVID-19 stresses of caregiving, Yuda advised families to pepper their interactions with their elders with music on a regular basis.

“Sing karaoke; play music which is associated with the happy times of your elders’ lives. Be mindful, however, not to play music that reminds them of sorrowful times,” Yuda advised.

These caregivers also remember how Alzheimer’s Indonesia Asia Pacific regional director DY Suharya’s late mother Tien Suhertini, who died after several years battling dementia, used to nod her head in joy whenever the 1930s American country song You Are My Sunshine popularized by Jimmie Davis and Charles Mitchell was played.

DY’s late mother used to sing that song to her children when they were young.

DY’s personal story inspired her to celebrate National Elderly Day by hosting an online concert with new music composed by prominent Indonesian composer Andi Rianto titled Jangan Maklum dengan Pikun (Stop Tolerating Memory Loss), in an event featuring opera singer Aning Katamsi, tenor soloists Farman Purnama and Michelle Oswari. Musical artist Shinta Priwit will also help popularize the song.

The concert, joined by 222 people on Zoom and another 610 on Facebook not only from across Indonesia but also from Qatar, Northern Ireland and the United States, sought to alleviate the sense of loneliness and isolation that some elderly people and their caregivers might feel in the face of the coronavirus outbreak, according to DY.

“I reckon just listening to people speaking on webinars might be boring, so why don’t we have a singing session together?” she said. The online concert also featured some dance movements to stimulate brain cells.

The organization also challenges youngsters to post pictures with their elderly family members on social media to show their love in its Sayang Orangtua campaign.

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