A longtime resident, Beverly, had been a piano teacher for many years but due to her dementia, had not played for at least a decade, according to her family. Beverly had been living in our community for two years and although she had been invited...
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A longtime resident, Beverly, had been a piano teacher for many years but due to her dementia, had not played for at least a decade, according to her family. Beverly had been living in our community for two years and although she had been invited to play the piano many times, she always declined. Beverly had been hard to engage, as her attention span was short, which is why playing the piano had become so challenging for her. One day, one of our Life Enrichment assistants, Wayne, asked Beverly if she wanted to play the piano. Beverly responded with her usually boisterous “no,” but Wayne kept asking, hoping she could eventually be redirected to play. After some time, Wayne finally got the idea to roll the piano over to where Beverly was seated and sat down beside her. He started tapping the keys and talking to Beverly about her years playing the piano. Within a few minutes, Beverly began tickling the ivories, slow and steady at first, but soon was playing a beautiful piece without prompting from Wayne. This was such a sentinel moment as the staff had always heard of Beverly’s talent on the piano but had never witnessed it in person. Since that day, Beverly has enjoyed sitting at the piano and playing alongside another resident, Polly, and the two have played to a large audience much to the joy of Beverly’s family!
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Artis Senior Living of Princeton Junction 
