Ep 75: Music and Mind Series - Part 5 with Renée Fleming: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness

Music and the arts have a positive impact on brain health, mental well-being, and quality of life. Renée Fleming, World Renowned Soprano and Global Arts Health Advocate shares the latest science behind the healing power of music and the brain with BrainStorm host Meryl Comer. 

Fleming’s anthology, Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness, is a collection of essays about the powerful impact of music on health and human experiences, particularly how it plays a critical role to help preserve memory. In part 2 of the interview Fleming discusses the need for greater integration of the arts into the healthcare system and the role AI can play in advancing music related medical research.  You won’t want to miss this conversation highlighting the intersection of art, music, and science.

Support for BrainStorm by UsAgainstAlzheimer’s is provided by Eisai. 

Produced by Susan Quirk and Amber Roniger

Transcript

Renee Fleming (00:00):

Anybody who has witnessed this, you don't need to tell them about the benefits of the arts and elder care. And also for caregivers, they say, we know. We know we've seen it because people come back to themselves, they reengage with their own identities, even if they don't know who the people are around them. They can remember all the lyrics to songs that they sang when they were young, and it is quite extraordinary. And there are researchers who are trying to sustain the benefits from this engagement.

Introduction (00:32):

Welcome to BrainStorm by UsAgainstAlzheimer's, a patient center, nonprofit organization. Your host, Meryl Comer, is a co-founder, 24 year caregiver and Emmy Award-winning journalist, and the author of the New York Times bestseller, Slow Dancing With a Stranger.

Meryl Comer (00:49):

This is BrainStorm. And I'm Meryl Comer. Our guest is Renee Fleming, world renowned Soprano and WHO, global Arts and Health ambassador, her new anthology, music and Mind Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness. In part two of our conversation, I asked her, what in your opinion are the healing elements of both art and music that are universal?

Renee Fleming (01:13):

It's ancient. You know, Ani Patel's chapter on evolution for me was the way in. I really was having a hard time understanding why science would be interested in the arts. And then when I started to a learn about basic science, but also Ani Patel's work, then I said, okay, this is it. It's been with us for so long, it's part of our DNA and we don't evolve quickly. So that was enormously helpful for giving me that. So-Called Weigh in and I think people could benefit from that knowledge, but also Dan Leviton talking about neuroanatomy, how the brain functions, how beneficial these arts are, what they do for us, what they do for children, for instance, that also helped the whole thing as a whole. If you can pick and choose various chapters in the different sections, you get a sense for why it's powerful.

Meryl Comer (02:03):

Researchers say that music has what they call a whole brain effect now. Now that we know the science behind how the brain reacts to music, has it influenced your performance repertoire?

Renee Fleming (02:15):

Well, I'm in the hours at The Met, which is a very relevant work. It's brought in a whole new audience, but I'm mainly touring a beautiful National Geographic project that compares our relationship to nature a hundred years ago with now. And they created beautiful films to go along with it. So we remember to love the planet basically. And we also see a little bit of the effect that we've had on the planet, which is not so great. So it hasn't changed my repertoire so much, but it has changed my life. So I started just really wanting to enjoy these artistic activities that has made a big difference. Just honoring how it impacts me has made a big difference in how I'm feeling

Meryl Comer (02:54):

When we talk Brain health. Does the science demonstrate the value of playing an instrument versus singing?

Renee Fleming (03:01):

Well, interestingly, I would've answered that question even six months ago differently than now, because six months ago I wasn't seeing evidence of a huge amount of research on singing. And suddenly it seems to be everywhere. I would say they're pretty equal now. They're finding tremendous benefits with singing in a choir or women with postpartum depression that really surprised me. People in some form of cardiac failure, that's surprising. Also, tremendous benefits in vascular function with singing and for mental health, for anxiety and depression, singing in is really beneficial. So instrumental music. So playing an instrument has been extremely helpful for children developing their brains focus into self-discipline, even reducing a DD and A DHD. So there are lots of benefits. And of course music in patients with dementia and Alzheimer's is the last memory to go, and I saw that firsthand with my husband's aunt. It's shocking.

Meryl Comer (03:59):

The growing body of research shows that music and art therapy provide relief not only for pain, anxiety and depression, but also music has the capacity to reawaken those lost, deepened dementia. And it's a highly emotional moment for families when those who have been silent respond to the music.

Renee Fleming (04:20):

Anybody who has witnessed this, you don't need to tell them about the benefits of the arts and elder care. And also for caregivers, they say, we know. We know we've seen it because people come back to themselves, they reengage with their own identities, even if they don't know who the people are around them. They can remember all the lyrics to songs that they sang when they were young, and it is quite extraordinary. And there are researchers who are trying to sustain the benefits from this engagement. But even in those few minutes, it's also relief to caregivers and families be together with the person that they love in a way. So this is a very strong form of an area of research and people are afraid. Everywhere I present, I've given 60 presentations around the country and around the world. People are very much afraid of dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

Meryl Comer (05:12):

Renee, what do you think it will take to embed the arts in the healthcare system now that you have validation and data in hand?

Renee Fleming (05:20):

Well, there are several initiatives. One is licensure for creative arts therapists in every state. It's a state by state pursuit and with the licensure, then we have a chance of getting this paid for by insurance companies rather than philanthropically, which it currently is. Also, neuro arts is pursuing economic models that are showing the incredible savings of having these arts forms. They're low cost, they're non-invasive, they're non-pharmaceutical, and they work. And so it takes the research for that to actually be funded in that way. But it's happening and it's happening very quickly now, just a a matter of time. And then dissemination is the final problem because it takes a long time for this to all trickle down from the research through doctors, through to their patients.

Meryl Comer (06:08):

Renee, our policymakers and practitioners now paying closer attention because of the economics of a three to one return on investment of these non-pharmacologic therapies.

Renee Fleming (06:19):

I think they're beginning, there are great chapters in the book that underlying this. For instance, from the NIH, there are two major chapters from institutes at the NIH and one is the integrated medicine and the other is aging. And they go into detail about all of these efforts. Kennedy Center, also, because we're based in DC it's a logical place for us to try and get this message across. Medicare is of course really important because many of the actual interventions in the research is focused on disorders of aging, so Parkinson's and movement disorders, but also stroke. Singing and acquire if you've had a stroke, is extremely helpful. And having VR with music-based interventions when you've just had the stroke can even reverse some of the damage. This is the kind of information we want to really have widely disseminated.

Meryl Comer (07:06):

Renee, I'd like to share some essay topics in music and mind and have you tell us what you learned, for example, on the Power of Music to reach those with dementia and other neurological conditions written by Dr. Connie Tono. What was striking to you?

Renee Fleming (07:23):

She founded this neurologic function organization in Westchester County with Oliver Sacks. So they started that together. And so she's continued the work and done this her whole career. And by the way, when she started, the treatment of patients with Alzheimer's was draconian. It was just terrible. People gave up on them. They just had them really put away. And so it's very different now. We really are talking about it being more humane and helping people with brain health all through the life to try and make a difference in how a disease like that would progress and hopefully eventually they would find ways of having it not progress at all. But the main thing that neuro arts has done is found a three to one return on investment with arts initiatives.

Meryl Comer (08:05):

Renee, what about the chapter on art-based therapies and integrative health by Emily Edwards?

Renee Fleming (08:11):

First of all, integrative health is the area that's changed the most in healthcare. I would say. I didn't even know it existed as an institute. I knew nothing about the NIH when I started this project. And so I go to their website now. Every time somebody is looking for help with something unusual, I immediately go to their website to see what the latest research is on any given health topic because they fund it. Emily Edwards chapter with her group in integrated medicine is powerful, as is Corey's her chapter on aging.

Meryl Comer (08:42):

How about the Al Habibi on the benefits of music engagement across the lifespan, which is the point you continue to make?

Renee Fleming (08:50):

Antonio DiMio and Hannah DiMio, the married couple at USC with Asal have done tremendous research. I mean, Antonio DiMio and his wife have been real leaders in the world of arts research, but Asal has really done tremendous work with the LA Philharmonic on childhood development and learned so much because again, they had technology. They were able to do scans of the brains of these children over a long period of time, and so they could really see what the benefits were. So that's a fascinating chapter. If you read some of this work on children in particular, you would keep the arts in schools K through 12. It really makes a difference in their development beyond just this pro-social behaviors and allowing kids to have identity and be expressive and creative, and also giving them a reason to stay in school. We're having a horrible truancy problem in DC having the arts and schools really gets kids coming back.

Meryl Comer (09:44):

You have another one on music, memory, aging and science.

Renee Fleming (09:48):

Definitely. You wanna have this connection to memory. Memory is so powerful in us, and that's the why. It's the last thing to go, and our brain is deteriorating and and it's also thought now possibly that it's because that part of the brain is very deep in the tissue and so it's affected later in terms of the disease. I love the work being done at MIT, for instance, around the 40 Hertz initiative that's being tested now that might have us going to CVS and going into a booth and having brain hygiene performed on us in terms of sound and light in a specific vibrational level. They've also just discovered that brainwaves are consistent in every layer of the brain, not just in humans, but across all mammals. This is a new discovery and they said, we can't believe we're just stumbling onto this now. We should have known about this for a long time. That will spawn a tremendous amount of research. And brainwaves are vibrational. It's the foundation of music, it's the foundation of rhythm. And the same is true for highly focused ultrasound, which is now being used in place of surgery for many things.

Meryl Comer (10:55):

Renee, on the subject of memory, I recall in your book the Inner Voice, you devised tricks to help you memorize your repertoire, and you wrote that you were trying to imprint it into the muscle memory of your throat. Now how does that happen? I mean, is it like a golfer who takes that shot 1000 times to create muscle memory? Is that possible for other parts of the body?

Renee Fleming (11:18):

It is. Get out of your own way is the idea. And I need to be able to perform something, even if I'm distracted or even if I'm nervous, it needs to be able to just come out. That's muscle memory. Especially because a lot of the languages that I've sung in, I don't speak them, so I speak some of the romance languages fluently. But singing in Portuguese or Russian or Czech or some of these other languages, I learn them by rote. And so then it has to really be automatic.

Meryl Comer (11:46):

So that secret behind memorizing is what?

Renee Fleming (11:50):

It has to be imprinted through repetition, getting it beyond the point where you have to think of your next word or think of your next phrase. You can't even get in the way if you wanted to. Same is true for the actual music itself. Things that are very difficult to learn, stay much longer. I mean, at some point in my life I've always laughed at, I'm gonna be in an elder care facility singing operas in Russian 'cause that's still gonna be there because it was so hard to memorize in the first place.

Meryl Comer (12:16):

So Renee, what's on the horizon?

Renee Fleming (12:18):

There's this massive network is what we're trying to create. We need the advocacy. We need policy changes. The investigator awards that I just announced will be followed hopefully soon with fellowships that will be public and private partnerships at the NIH. So I'm really excited about that. So both initiatives are seeking to create a pipeline for the research that's strong.

Meryl Comer (12:43):

Renee, what's your view about artificial intelligence and the musical environment today?

Renee Fleming (12:49):

I think that will help medicine quickly get through large swaths of data and find things that would be very difficult to find if you were doing this all manually. That will improve the rigor of the research that will improve so many aspects. We'll be able to find cures for things, for instance. It needs to be protected. It needs to be highly protected. And that's one of the challenges.

Meryl Comer (13:11):

Renee, a testimonial for your new anthology was offered by the music artist Sting. And I quote Renee's book is a timely reminder that music is the meta language that connects all individuals and spans all cultures, religions, and race music has never been more important. Renee, I'm sure you agree.

Renee Fleming (13:32):

So thrilled that he wrote that he himself participated in an experiment with Dan Leviton some time ago. I think it was at McGill. He's definitely interested in this. There are a lot of musicians. I mean, frankly musicians, they get it because we understand and we've seen it in our careers, how our work affects people. I mean, I've had so many people come up to me over the years, said, your recordings got me through loss or cancer, and those are the best reviews we could ever have.

Meryl Comer (13:58):

Our guest has been world renowned soprano. Renee Fleming, Renee, thank you for your contributions to the arts, your generosity and critical advocacy. Her book, music and Mind, harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness.

Renee Fleming (14:13):

Thank you Meryl.

Meryl Comer (14:14):

That's it for this edition. I'm Meryl Comer. Thank you for brainstorming with us.

Closing (14:20):

Support for BrainStorm by UsAgainstAlzheimer's comes from Eisai. Early Alzheimer's disease, sometimes called mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia due to Alzheimer's disease is a progressive type of brain disease that causes problems with memory, language and thinking. You cannot stop Alzheimer's disease from getting worse, but you can take steps to slow how fast it progresses. If you or someone you love is experiencing memory loss or problems with thinking, it's important to speak with a doctor about your concerns and available treatment options that may help. To learn more about a treatment option for mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia due to Alzheimer's disease, visit treatalzearly.com. That's treatalzearly.com. Subscribe to brainstorm on your favorite podcast platform and join us on the first and third Tuesday of every month.