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Here's a wonderful article from the NY Times detailing the incredible power of music to unlock old memories and speech:

George Gershwin's melodies, many of them with lyrics by his brother Ira, have kept fingers snapping, feet tapping and hearts melting for decades. It seems they may also have the power to keep minds working, specifically minds afflicted with Alzheimer's disease.

This is hardly a new thought. It is accepted wisdom that with Alzheimer's patients, music can help slow memory's inexorable drift toward that distant shore.

But it is not a bad idea to have fundamentals reinforced at times. That's what happened the other day at a center for older people in Bayside, Queens. There, families were invited to see for themselves how words and music may keep embers of the past alive in their stricken relatives.

The idea, basically, is that the power of the song form with lyrics unlocks old memories and neural pathways:

"When you play a familiar tune, it sort of wakes them up," said Ms. Rosenstein, the program's music therapist. "Some who can't even converse will remember the lyrics of every song. It's amazing." Naturally, one hope was that the music would produce the additional benefit of jogging personal memories.

Beyond providing memory jolts, music sometimes "physically stimulates people who have developed mobility limitations," said Diana Salowe, a social worker with Selfhelp. She told of one woman who is "basically mute, having lost her communications skills." This is someone who struggles to provide simple yes-or-no responses to questions. "But when a popular old song is played, she can sing word for word the entire song," Ms. Salowe said.

Jazz is a powerful tool, indeed...

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