Music therapist Kelly Kalden is seen here performing 'Don't look back,' co-written by the three ladies in the background: Brenda Jones, Noella Paul and Val Leopold, and two other late residents. (Alberta Health Services)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

hope

Didsbury continuing care residents write inspiring song

Aug 13, 2020 | 4:23 PM

For many residents at the Didsbury Continuing Care Centre, life is far different from what it was in their younger years.

Since last summer, five of them, with the crucial help of music therapist Kelly Kalden, have written and composed a song that is said to have brought many others at the facility — staff included — inspiration and hope.

“Don’t look back” was written by residents Paul Harrison, Victoria Bartram, Brenda Jones, Noella Paul and Val Leopold. Unfortunately, Harrison and Bartram passed away this year, but with the help of Kalden, the group’s legacy will live on forever with the song soon to be recorded in a Calgary studio for potential radio play.

“Music is one of the few activities any creature, in this case humans, where multiple areas of the brain will respond at the same time,” Kalden explains. “Just one part of the brain is active for typical activities, but music stimulates many areas, so when you have people with dementia and memory loss, you can trigger memories. I’ve had people go from non-verbal to verbal in two songs.”

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The song has been a ray of hope, says Kalden, a musician and songwriter in her own right.

“Seeing how people have responded is the best gift we could get. Barbra Streisand, whom the residents love, posted the AHS video to her social media and if you read through the comments of her fans, so many are asking Barbra to sing the song.”

Streisand’s people have messaged her privately to share their admiration of the song, Kalden shares, so she agrees that we can never say never on that possibility.

Mary Ann Kurtz, the centre’s Recreation Therapy Assistant says music therapy has been huge for residents over a period of decades in Didsbury.

“People that have dementia can remember words to songs from years ago. This group really took the challenge and wanted to see it come to light,” she says.

“Week after week, they’ve put out there whatever came to mind. Every week they asked Kelly to play it for them and they’d say something would need to be changed. All of our staff, and the other residents on this unit are supportive and happy, and it’s validation for them. They’re so proud of themselves to see this evolve because they’ve poured their hearts and souls into it.”

Meantime, the song has been entered into the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, an international competition started in 1997.

“As a middle-aged person, I’ve really seen the life experience that these people have, and it can sometimes be overlooked. We forget that every person still feels like their 20-year-old self,” Kalden adds.

“An 80-year-old person still feels that way. That’s their identity. We need to honour them by giving them as much opportunity to talk about their life experience, and to speak about who they are because that’s their identity and how they identify with the world.”