Fighting Alzheimer's with music,Wickshire Sessions

THE WICKSHIRE SESSIONS

The Resident Fiddler Holding Forth

Hi. My name is Joe McNally and I am a banjo player. My partner, Jill McGlauchlin, is a fiddler, has dementia, and is living in an assisted living facility in Madison, Wi. Jill and I have been making fiddle/banjo music together for over 40 years.

I am on a mission. A mission to fight Alzheimer's with music. A mission to celebrate how a musician with Alzheimer's can still play her tunes. A mission to share her music. A mission to help people living in senior facilities. A mission to bring a ray of light, a ray of music, into their lives.

I am not a scientist. So I make no claim of science supporting my mission. Nevertheless, I see music as a superhero fighting Alzheimer's in particular and dementia in general. I have named that superhero Euterpe, after the Greek muse who presides over music.

And tho I am not a scientist I do know this...music fires the neurons of our brains...when we listen to music...but especially when we play music. So I see my new superhero, Euterpe, zapping energy between the neurons of our brains...helping to create neural connections...helping to keep neural connections healthy...helping to reinforce connections that already exist in our brains…helping to fight dementia....which clogs up those neural connections.

I am seeking funding to video tape sessions with my partner; fiddle player Jill McGlauchlin. My end goal is to distribute these videos to senior living facilities via the wonders of the internet. My goal is to reach all over the English speaking world....at a minimum.

In 2018 Jill was diagnosed with dementia...most likely it is Alzheimer's. Since early spring of 2021 Jill has been living at an assisted living facility in Madison, Wi... 5-6 days a week I go and play tunes with Jill. We play the tunes that are in Jill’s repertoire. There are well over a hundred tunes on her list; a list she compiled over the decades.

Our typical session is about one hour long. Although Jill’s list is fairly substantial, we do tend to play many of the same tunes every day. This is partially because we limit ourselves to one musical key signature (this is an old time banjo thing if you must know...staying in one key for a long time that is).

We typically play in one of the common areas; outside if the weather is nice. Other residents regularly come and sit and listen to us play. Even though we are playing a somewhat limited selection of tunes, we still get a cadre of residents to eagerly come and sit and listen to us every day.

So it occurred to me that if residents at Wickshire keep coming back...day after day...to listen to us...then other folks...living in senior facilities...might also benefit from listening to us too.

At first I saw our sessions rather narrowly. My initial purpose was to try to stay connected with Jill thru the music we have shared over the decades. If the other residents wanted to listen...that was OK...but it was only a side benefit. Over the last 20 months my view has evolved. I have come to know many of the residents...to know them by name. I have come to respect the fact that this is their home...as it is Jill's home too. And tho I still do it to connect with Jill, I now have learned that some residents like a specific tune...and I find myself choosing "their" tune more and more frequently. I have learned how much our sessions mean to some of the other residents. One lady...smiled at us after we played her favorite tune...a smile worth a thousand bucks...at least! Another lady...perhaps our biggest fan there...who recently told us how our music has brightened her stay at Wickshire.

Neither Jill nor I are seeking to be paid for this endeavor. I am only seeking funds to pay audio/visual engineers to help me record the sessions, to pay an artist for some visual art to accompany the project, for printing and snail mailing that artwork to donors at a specific level and to get IT help in getting the completed videos out to the world via the wonders of the Internet.

My goal is $6,000.00

If you contribute at a level of $100.00 or more I will send you a print depicting the dementia fighting new superhero, Euterpe.