Thanks for refreshing this, Splott Man. It predates my time on Mudcat, and I hadn't read it. I've not done music specifically for Alzheimer's patients even though I regularly have done programs in nursing homes. For the last two years, I've done it monthly at one home, and several times a year at a second, with more occasional programs at several other homes. I also had a neighbor my wife and I visited regularly who recently died of Alzheimers.

Perhaps as folk singers we put too much emphasis on memories. I've done programs of my own songs, other folk songs and less familiar gospel in nursing homes where everyone was clear minded, and yet very few were familiar with the songs. When you sing for a nursing home whatever the afflictions, it's equally important that you just cared enough to come. Sometimes, holding someone's hand and telling them that you're glad to see them means more than an hour of songs they know by heart. They can listen to the old songs on a CD (and often do.) Holding a CD in your hand can't compare with holding a stranger's hand who has come to visit you because they care about you.

Jerry