Elderly
Aged Care includes a live musical afternoon with singing together (normally the Pentatonic music scale for easier comprehension) and short Mozart Concert with Flute.
Dementia/Alzheimer’s Patients
Music therapy, customized to the needs of Dementia sufferers, opens a window to the patients by tapping into their childhood memories. Songs from their childhood as well as their favourite dishes (mama food) unlock further memories, aiding communication.
Case Example: Judy Cassab
BIO: Judy Cassab (Judit Kaszab) was a world renowned Painter and Writer born in Vienna in 1920. She emigrated to Australia in 1951 and resided there until her death in November 2015 at the age of 95. Judy was the first woman to win the Archibald Prize twice – 1960 for a portrait of Stan Rabotec, and 1967 for a portrait of Margo Lewers. She had held more than 50 solo exhibitions in Australia, Paris and London over her career. She also was appointed the Commander of the Order of the British Empire for ‘recognition of service to the visual arts’ among many more awards, a Doctor of Letters (honoris causa) from the University of Sydney, and most recently Hungary’s Gold Cross of Merit in 2011.
“I sang the last lullaby to Judy Cassab on her deathbed. Judy Cassab has a public profile online by Judy Cassab Trust. I was her personal music therapist in aged care in Sydney for the last two years of her life until she died at age 95. I sang to her in her native language in Hungarian and in German. After one month of one day per week of spending time with me, Judy joined me in singing, started to recognize me and expressed the wish of painting again. I organised Filippa Buttitta to paint Judy’s last portrait which entered the prestigious Australian Archibald art prize. Judy had her last media appearance at the opening of the Archibald art prize exhibition. The family confirmed that Judy’s last period of her life had been enriched by me.” Adriana von Runic
