The brain and singing- Remembering Tony Bennett

On July 21, 2023, the great American singer, Tony Bennett, passed away at the age of 96 due to complications from Alzheimer's disease.

What a voice....what a legacy...what a leader...what an incredible spirit.

If you aren't aware of this interview with Anderson Cooper, take a look.

Alzheimer's robbed Mr. Bennett of most of his ability to effectively communicate, but as we have heard so many times before, it didn't rob his brain of remembering the music.  The minute the music came on, he could still sing it...every single word...even in 2021.

Lady Gaga paired up with Mr. Bennett in 2014 for an album and that started a really special relationship that lasted until he passed away.  In 2016, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.  She talks about their special connection in the links above, and if you do some digging on Google/YouTube, you'll find more than I have supplied here.  

I am not a doctor.  I am not a brain expert.  I haven't researched much about it at all...but as with everything I've ever written related to teaching, my research lab was my 30 years teaching middle school chorus and musical theater while teaching my beginning students to learn to sight sing.  

I taught ages 11-14.

Their brains are still developing at that age.  And as we age, many of us have the opposite issue...our brains decline.  

During my teaching career, I loved watching my students "brains" awaken when they slowly started to develop, step by step, the skill sets needed to figure out how to take the dots and symbols off the page and effectively read the music on their own a capella without any help from me.  

I could see it in their eyes...Their eyes looked different as they worked to figure out a sight singing example.  They were so determined to take the new skill set I was methodically teaching during any given week and adding the new tool into their toolbox...and bit by bit, they became more fluent in the language of music. 

Combining the kinesthetic, auditory and visual skills needed to figure out how a sight singing example happens does something to the brain...something good.

Same with crescendo's and decrescendo's in our repertoire...and the focus required to follow a conductor successfully and to respond to the cues.

All of it does something good to the brain that is so good for the children who sing in our choirs.

I am a Pickleball enthusiast and coach these days, and I play in Open Play events with a lot of people all over the country when I travel to conduct or teach teachers.  

I play with an 80 year old woman sometimes.  We will call her Shea.  I think Shea has some dementia happening...again...not sure because I haven't asked...but she forgets the score a lot.  She looks down at the ground for a really long time before serving the ball.  I wait.  And wait...out of respect...until she looks up at me.  Then, I say the score for her.

I have a theory that when dementia starts, people who have it sometimes become way more visual.  

It's no secret that I am older (59) and that I've had a bit of...let's say...maintenance...done.  Yup...and that includes some hair dye.  I see my hairdresser every three weeks.  Coloring isn't an exact science.  So, if you have your hair done that frequently, the result isn't always going to be just right.  So, every time it's not "just right", Shea's eyes light up and she says..."Did you do something to your hair?"   Every single time...because she has forgotten that just 3 weeks ago, she did the same thing.

Her eyes look different...just like my students eyes change as their brains awaken with music...just like my father's eyes...He also has dementia.  Shea's eyes and my father's eyes light up when something visually stimulating happens...like my hair color change...or beautiful clouds in the sky...or a rainbow...And I love watching it.  

At least until 2021, and maybe longer, music continued to awaken Tony Bennett's brain, and it is/was magical to see and hear.  

What we do by teaching music and singing is so important.  Treasure it...and know that you are making a huge difference.