B Flat to Stay Sharp?

Diane Duthweiler

Painters/musicians Lenore and Emanuel Vardi

The Vardis displayed their jazz-themed art at the May 2009 Bellevue Jazz Festival

Lenore Vardi's "Jazz Trio" _________________

"I think it's crazy—older people are practically badgered to walk, swim, dance, lift weights, travel, play games, socialize, read—but music is rarely mentioned. Why aren't older people being encouraged to play music and to listen to music?" exclaims Emanuel Vardi, a 94-year-old North Bend resident whom many musicians consider the greatest living violist in the world.

Emanuel and his wife Lenore, a concert violinist and painter, say they are stunned by the number of adults who proclaim they are too old to take music lessons! "Not only is that not true, but I've taught older students who learn faster than children," says Emanuel. "Adults are generally more focused on their lessons, more excited about learning. They retain more, and they tend to practice more."

What Emanuel and Lenore have long witnessed is actually becoming a scientific field of study. A theory on aging minds creating a lot of "buzz" right now is that the human brain actually goes through a creative phase of approximately 20 years somewhere between ages 50 and 80.

Because the number of neurons in our brain decline as we age, it has long been thought that our mental abilities do too. But a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) study concluded that when older people have regular exposure to music, the communication connections between their brain neurons, called dendrites, increase in number and get stronger. The NEA study and others have many scholars leaning toward the possibility that quality dendrites are more important than the quantity of neurons—meaning the heads on older shoulders may be better at handling complex tasks than younger brains. 

Studies on music and the human brain indicate that, along with building dendrites, playing and listening to music has dozens of social and health benefits. This includes the ones you might expect—better physical and mental health, an improved social life—but also some unexpected findings. Research that includes firsthand accounts from caregivers and relatives of people with brain injuries or a brain in decline shows that:

• Familiar music is sometimes the last thing recognized, and a shared song can be the final connection with a loved one.
• Seniors who took group keyboard lessons had increases in human growth hormones, which are believed to improve energy, fight muscle and bone loss, aches and pains—even wrinkles. 
• Music can improve the brain chemistry of people suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
• Music activates the cerebellum, so work is underway to see if music can help stroke victims regain their language capabilities.

"To make music with other people is one of the great pleasures of life," says Emanuel. "I hope people would feel free to take up music lessons whenever they want to, but if anyone over 50 needs a little extra encouragement, perhaps they should talk to a scientist."