Stories like these are why I love the ttrpg community. No question of does she belong in the hobby, just "how can we make her feel comfortable joining the party?". Being cursed to only sing is also a perfect backstory for a bard.
Oh that's actually a known phenomenon music is a different part of the brain from speech for some reason. Lemme get on the computer with a keyboard I've got a few more fun comments...
Here's a ballerina getting activated like a fucking sleeper agent to the score from Swan Lake. I'd also like to comment that the way she's in the wheelchair and kinda slumped over to me suggests that the dementia has likely progressed enough that she's having trouble walking (it even affects muscle memory, eventually she may even forget how to swallow) so the fact that music can activate her muscle memory anyway is pretty cool.
If you ever have a relative with dementia that requires caregivers that are not family or friends (nurses, home health aides, etc) please put together two music playlists for me (or spiritual me 😉):
one set of chill music I can play if I need them to relax for bedtime and stressful events
one more upbeat set of songs physical or recreation therapy can play if they need to get them up and out of bed.
If I don't know what songs they like I'll usually try whatever was popular in their demographic when they were 15-25y/o but that's never gonna beat knowing the exact song they danced to at their wedding.
for older folks like those currently suffering from dementia - try christmas carols or religious music played/sung during the big religious ceremonies.
i spent years thinking what sort of music i could play my great grandma, because what music was even there in the 1930s in rural poland? but the last christmas we had with her we put on some christmas carols, and she came back alive a little. it was magical
That's awesome. A certain bat eating musician has a similar condition. Speaks with an impediment but can sing perfectly well, because it uses another part of the brain! Or something. This is a Lemmy comment, not an academic paper.
It's been a hot minute since my college days, but I do remember learning about singing as one possible avenue of speech therapy in one of my classes. Something about using different parts of the brain I guess.
Yup, it's a different part of the brain. My wife's speech and memory are still worse for wear after she suffered a series of strokes in her left hemisphere several years ago, but she can belt out any tune she's heard in the past fifty years like it was nothing.
Neat! Others have mentioned similar events in this thread, but no one has yet mentioned ‘wielding a red sword’ which is a book in the incarnations of immortality series by piers Anthony. War himself is afflicted in the same fashion and sings to communicate. Oh and get your mind out of the gutter.