Often times, listening to music is dictated by moods and helps people get through the problems encountered in everyday life. Ron Lodge and Jean Palmer@@checked@@ have found a use for music that goes beyond the little problems of everyday life.
They use their music in the form of music therapy to help people with Alzheimer’s as well as others who are in assisted living and retirement homes. The two created the music group “Love Music Revival” two years ago.@@checked@@ They have gone up and down the Colorado River, performing from Las Vegas to Yuma, Ariz. On July 1-2, Love Music Revival made their way to Eugene.
The two sing a lot of old, classic love songs. Lodge and Palmer like the messages that are presented and found that much of their audience is able to connect with the older songs. Being able to connect gets the audience more involved.
“There are no restrictions,” Lodge said.
They encourage the audience to sing along and interact with them. Lodge brings a wireless mic with him to every show and lets members of the audience sing along with them in the mic. A screen is also brought in to display the lyrics for the crowd to see. Although crowd participation is encouraged, the shows are not karaoke shows.
Together, the duo sing a lot of harmonies in their shows. They also sing duets and solos. Among their most popular songs is “Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Polka Dot Bikini.” All the songs that they sing bring back wonderful memories for the audience, Lodge said.
He recalled two elderly women from previous shows, one woman was 102 years old and was in a gurney, and the other woman had been mute before the show — the latter of which Lodge and Palmer were able to get to sing with the two of them.
“She never talked before that and said to us don’t go,” he said.
Both Lodge and Palmer have sung their entire life. Lodge, growing up in Eugene, was very active in his community. He sang in many different music groups, one being the Men’s Cascade Chorus, which received placed second in an international competition of 40,000 competitors; he still wears the medallion he received for that. He also volunteered for his 50-year class reunion. He graduated from the University of Oregon in 1960. Palmer was also active in her community where she grew up in Ohio. She sang with her sisters and tap danced.
The duo like working with Alzheimer’s patients specifically because they feel that the music that they sing allow for the audience to reconnect with their past. The American Cancer Society reported that music therapy helps patients — from any medical background — with emotional expression, social interaction and relieving symptoms. Music therapy has also been shown to lower heart rate, blood pressure and breathing rate.
Lodge likes to work with the crowd in breathing exercises. He believes that the physical aspect of the breathing — combined with the mental aspect of the music — really helps the patients and gives them so much more than just physical therapy can. Lodge and Palmer truly believe in the power of musical therapy
“It does magical things to their brain,” he said.