With an emphasis on personal expression, group support, and quality-of-life enhancement, recreational music-making (RMM) has great potential for engaging seniors in enjoyable, empowering, group-based activities that reduce loneliness, while building selfesteem, creative expression, and mutual support.  To test these contentions, two real-world laboratories were established at Wesbury United Methodist Retirement Community, Meadville, Pa., a facility with independent living, skilled nursing, assisted living, and memory support (skilled and assisted); and Fredericka Manor, Chula Vista, Calif., a retirement campus with independent living, assisted living, and skilled nursing, including 60 beds for persons with dementia.

Long term care activities personnel familiar with the participants were enlisted and trained to rate each subject using a specialized scale, the Visual Analog Recreational Music-Making Assessment (VARMMA), designed by the program’s lead author.

A total of 3,740 VARMMAs reflecting 22,440 individual parameter assessments (six parameters per VARMMA) were performed. As expected, the highest VARMMA scores were noted in independent and assisted living groups, while the lowest scores were recorded in residents with dementia in the memory support unit. All groups, with the exception of memory support-skilled, received mean total VARMMA ratings over 12, signifying an average parameter score of 2 or more. Even the skilled care group received a mean rating of 2.99, equal to “often,” for the “attentiveness” parameter.

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