Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Music and memory

"From absolute loneliness and sadness to a completely different experience."

Letitia Rogers : Music is her life, gives life
Letitia Rogers : Music is her life, gives life

Can music be a cure? Letitia Rogers says yes, in the right circumstances.

“In my personal life, music was a great way to get to know people,” she says. She’s a San Diego-based Hollywood movie music expert. There ain’t a singer she doesn’t know. “You’re in the cab. The cab driver is being quiet, and it’s like ‘Where are you from?’ ‘Africa.’ ‘Where in Africa?’ ‘Nigeria.’ And so, you say ‘Oh. Do you like Timi Dakolo, D’Prince?’ Nigerian musicians. And suddenly this person opens up. If you ask someone their favorite song, they’ll tell you a title. But if you actually ask them why it’s their favorite song, then their life unfolds. History unfolds! Geography. ‘Oh, I listened to that when I was a kid in Israel.’ ‘Oh, my mom used to sing that to me.’ Or, ‘It reminded me of when I was in the army.’ Or, ‘When I was a pilot during World War Two.’ All of a sudden, people open up.”

What awakened her to the medical possibilities of music was a documentary clip someone sent her. “It was of this old man in a nursing home who didn’t recognize his daughter, was very physically withdrawn, and quite sad. So they hunted down his favorite music, and then they put an iPod headset on him. And he went from all hunched over and disconnected to... his body changed! He straightened up. His eyes opened up. He became communicative. He started telling stories about his childhood.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“I was really just, wow! Here’s folk using the favorite songs of people to connect back to them, to spark life into people with, say, Alzheimer’s.”

That clip (from the documentary Alive Inside) inspired her to volunteer in a home in Lemon Grove. “One month I came in and I could hear this yelling, down at the end of the hallway. A heartbreaking yell. I went down, and it was a woman from Iraq with mid-stage dementia. She only spoke Arabic. So I go down there. TV’s on, but in English, and I thought, how lonely! So I called the son, and said ‘We have this program with music, and maybe your mom might enjoy this.’

“And he said, ‘You wouldn’t know the music.’ And because I like Muslim music, I said, ‘Well I thought I’d start with Oum Kalthoum (the famous Egyptian singer).’ And he got quiet, and then he gave me a list. I downloaded the songs, put them on an iPod, and left. I came back the next week, and the nurse’s notes read: ‘Resident singing, smiling, laughing.’ From absolute loneliness and sadness to a completely different experience. And then two other women from Iraq came in. So we were able to build out from there. And every time I passed, one of them would blow me kisses and say ‘Shukran, habibi!’ ‘Thank you, dear.’”

But does it work?

“We have a three-year UC Davis study of 300 skilled nursing facilities [that use personal music programs]. It shows a reduction of [the need for] anti-psychotic, anti-anxiety, anti-depression medication. Also a reduction in falls, and aggressive behaviors. The residents are just happier.”

Rogers is now a regional director for Music and Memory, a non-profit in 6,000 nursing homes, bringing personal choice music to 75,000 patients.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Gonzo Report: Three nights of Mission Bayfest bring bliss

“This is a top-notch production.”
Next Article

The vicious cycle of Escondido's abandoned buildings

City staff blames owners for raising rents
Letitia Rogers : Music is her life, gives life
Letitia Rogers : Music is her life, gives life

Can music be a cure? Letitia Rogers says yes, in the right circumstances.

“In my personal life, music was a great way to get to know people,” she says. She’s a San Diego-based Hollywood movie music expert. There ain’t a singer she doesn’t know. “You’re in the cab. The cab driver is being quiet, and it’s like ‘Where are you from?’ ‘Africa.’ ‘Where in Africa?’ ‘Nigeria.’ And so, you say ‘Oh. Do you like Timi Dakolo, D’Prince?’ Nigerian musicians. And suddenly this person opens up. If you ask someone their favorite song, they’ll tell you a title. But if you actually ask them why it’s their favorite song, then their life unfolds. History unfolds! Geography. ‘Oh, I listened to that when I was a kid in Israel.’ ‘Oh, my mom used to sing that to me.’ Or, ‘It reminded me of when I was in the army.’ Or, ‘When I was a pilot during World War Two.’ All of a sudden, people open up.”

What awakened her to the medical possibilities of music was a documentary clip someone sent her. “It was of this old man in a nursing home who didn’t recognize his daughter, was very physically withdrawn, and quite sad. So they hunted down his favorite music, and then they put an iPod headset on him. And he went from all hunched over and disconnected to... his body changed! He straightened up. His eyes opened up. He became communicative. He started telling stories about his childhood.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“I was really just, wow! Here’s folk using the favorite songs of people to connect back to them, to spark life into people with, say, Alzheimer’s.”

That clip (from the documentary Alive Inside) inspired her to volunteer in a home in Lemon Grove. “One month I came in and I could hear this yelling, down at the end of the hallway. A heartbreaking yell. I went down, and it was a woman from Iraq with mid-stage dementia. She only spoke Arabic. So I go down there. TV’s on, but in English, and I thought, how lonely! So I called the son, and said ‘We have this program with music, and maybe your mom might enjoy this.’

“And he said, ‘You wouldn’t know the music.’ And because I like Muslim music, I said, ‘Well I thought I’d start with Oum Kalthoum (the famous Egyptian singer).’ And he got quiet, and then he gave me a list. I downloaded the songs, put them on an iPod, and left. I came back the next week, and the nurse’s notes read: ‘Resident singing, smiling, laughing.’ From absolute loneliness and sadness to a completely different experience. And then two other women from Iraq came in. So we were able to build out from there. And every time I passed, one of them would blow me kisses and say ‘Shukran, habibi!’ ‘Thank you, dear.’”

But does it work?

“We have a three-year UC Davis study of 300 skilled nursing facilities [that use personal music programs]. It shows a reduction of [the need for] anti-psychotic, anti-anxiety, anti-depression medication. Also a reduction in falls, and aggressive behaviors. The residents are just happier.”

Rogers is now a regional director for Music and Memory, a non-profit in 6,000 nursing homes, bringing personal choice music to 75,000 patients.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Everything You’ve Ever Wanted To Know About doTERRA

Next Article

Big swordfish, big marlin, and big money

Trout opener at Santee Lakes
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader