Abstract
Gene Cohen leaves us with a challenge: he has demonstrated that elders benefit from creative activities, but he has left unanswered the questions of how creativity fits into late-life learning and why it is important. In response, this article uses ethnomusicology, the study of music and culture, in order to uncover how nursing homes function as villages, and thereby makes explicit the reasons why music enables elders and their caregivers to create homes out of institutions. By recognizing the significance of music within institutions, we can lay the groundwork for more humane models of custodial care for our elders.
Notes
The research for this project was approved by the Committee on Human Research at the University of California, approval number H1153-27356, and the Research Committee at the Jewish Home, San Francisco. The research was additionally approved by the Institutional Review Board at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, approval number 11006. This research was carried out, in part, with the resources of the Jewish Home, San Francisco. Salary support was provided for one year of the research by Health Research Service Administration grant 4D01HP00015-04-02. The author retained full control over the data and analysis.
An earlier version of this article was read at Geriatrics Grand Rounds at the University of California, San Francisco. I am grateful to Bruno Nettl, Kenneth Covinsky, Seth Landefeld, Kala Mehta, Brian Allison, and Ronald Walent for their careful readings and comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. Credit is due to Louise Walter for being the first to recognize the utility of this type of research in the development of more humane models of custodial care for our elders.