For people under your care, consider the following advice when you become a music detective or even a Private Investigator Consultant:
The Fundamentals
Let’s begin with the basics:
When you were younger, did you listen to music?
Which song is your favorite?
Who in your relatives performed music? Did you not?
At your wedding, what music did you dance to?
Do you have any praise songs that you particularly like listening to?
Asking simple questions like these is always worthwhile since they could lead to a more in-depth discussion. However, keep in mind that they are straightforward questions, so don’t give up easily. Depending on her specific cognitive difficulties, the person may not always be able to recollect the answer or may not know it straight away.
At that point, you should sharpen your detective abilities and search for hints in music.
Age-Related Hints
You can locate a side entrance into someone’s preferred music with a few basic details about them, such as age and previous residence. Letitia gives this illustration:
“One of the dementia patients I initially worked with indicated she had no idea what genre of music she like. “I was told you moved to Hollywood in the early ’40s,” I inquired. When you were there, did you ever go out? She recalled having dance classes with her brother, she said.
“Have you ever gone dancing?”
“Yes, we visited the Paladium a number of times,”
Small Parts
Sometimes the answers to your opening queries are as simple as a sentence and an approximate musical genre: “It was something about waving black hair or wavy black hair.” It was an elderly country music performer from my youth. It is reasonable to assume that if the person is in his 90s, he may be listening to 1940s music.
And if they are unable to communicate?
The secret to success is calculated guesses. Your best option is to learn as much as you can about the person’s past from other sources if they have memory problems or are unable to talk. Find out the person’s birthplace, residences throughout his life, and first language in addition to his age.