To watch Henry—an elderly man who has spent over ten years in a nursing home, barely able to answer yes or no questions—come alive when listening to music from his past is a reminder of the powerful, inspiring, and affecting power of music.
A new documentary, Alive Inside, follows the “awakening” that occurs when people suffering from memory loss and Alzheimer’s are given music they have a strong emotional connection to — often, music they grew up with. In the clip, Henry is barely responsive before one of his caretakers puts headphones on him and starts up one of his favorite tunes. Almost instantly, we see Henry swaying from side to side and singing, his eyes wide open.
“The philosopher Kant once called music the ‘quickening art.’ And Henry is being quickened, he’s being brought to life,” says Dr. Oliver Sacks, a neurologist and author of Musicophilia, who is involved with the documentary./.../
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