Music is a time machine. As anyone who loves it knows, it can take you back to people, places and memories that would otherwise have gone for good.

I’ve worked in music all my life – I started out in a band as a music-obsessed teenager and I’ve now been a TV and radio presenter specialising in music and culture for over 20 years. In all that time, I have yet to encounter a genre that didn’t offer something I could love. I’ve been lucky enough to interview everyone from Dolly Parton and Beyoncé to Metallica and Sir Paul McCartney, and in my experience the best way to get artists to open up is not to ask them about their own work, but to talk to them about the music they love listening to and the memories it evokes. What did they listen to growing up? How did they come by their first record? Was there a gig that changed their life? What’s the song that makes them cry, or makes their heart soar? These are questions that will get any artist talking – you can’t become a musician without already being a music fan – but they often work on the rest of us.

But music doesn’t just take you back, it can take you forward too – into a new mood or a new frame of mind. It can soothe or revive, offer celebration or catharsis. Music can change your day, and if it does that often enough, it will change your life. Even better, music can connect us with other people – friends, family, and lovers of course, but also strangers. In 1912, French sociologist Émile Durkheim coined the term “collective effervescence” to describe the powerful human ability to come together as a group and share the euphoric experience of (temporarily) forsaking our individuality to become part of something “sacred”. At the time, he was looking at the role of religion in society. He saw collective effervescence as a valuable escape from the drudgery of day-to-day life, and as a vital means of bonding a community.

It’s easy to see the way music performs the same function for so many of us today. Anyone who has shared an unspoken understanding on a dancefloor or felt part of something bigger than themselves at a gig will understand. To become part of an audience is an escape, it’s also a way of joining a tribe and – as intensely social creatures – an activity that connects us with the deepest parts of our humanity. These experiences are open to everyone, even those who wouldn’t describe themselves as “musical”.

So it’s always perplexed me that we seem to treat these activities as if they are unimportant or frivolous, and why it’s not always offered to the people to whom it can arguably make the biggest difference. In my role as ambassador for Music For Dementia I’ve seen first-hand how music can bring someone living with dementia out of their own private world and connect them with the here and now again. For a priceless moment they once again feel fully themselves – alive and uninhibited, just like when they were 17. Plus, when music is used to help people living with dementia it can help to create routines, evoke memories and to bring about new moments of joy and connection. It can comfort them when they’re sad or calm them if they’re agitated. 

It can do the same for carers and loved ones too – as we already know, the power of music is such that it can help with anxiety, depression and other mental health issues. It may well be the last thing on your mind when dealing with the many urgent challenges of a health condition, but it can make a huge difference. I know this first hand. My dad and I made a nine-hour playlist not long before he died. Music was a huge part of his life and identity – having it surround him when he was ill helped maintain those things right up until the end of his life. It gave us our last good day together and the music we collected was an enormous comfort to me at the time and once he was gone.

Music and memory are powerfully interconnected – and musical memories run incredibly deep. Often, people with dementia who have lost almost everything else can still recall the sounds of their younger days. Songs that are personal, and (research shows) especially those from our formative teenage years are the ones that stay with us the longest. This isn’t about Vera Lynn and the Andrews Sisters. For the 70-somethings of today, it’s about the Beatles, the Stones, Trojan reggae and disco. For me it’s Pulp, Pavement and 2Pac. In 50 years’ time, care homes will be banging out tunes from Taylor Swift, Stormzy and Billie Eilish. 

Music For Dementia has campaigned tirelessly to make music an integral part of dementia care and a part of support packages in homes, care homes and daycare settings. They’re hoping that, eventually, everyone will have the confidence to use music more as a health tool with our loved ones when they fall ill, whatever condition they may have. To find out more about how to use music in everyday dementia care, visit musicfordementia.org.uk. Music can help, whether you’re musical or not.

Images: Iain Cash; Music For Dementia; Lauren Laverne