Juan Arturo Brennan: Music for Troubled Minds

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Israel Castillo Hernández's main professional activity is playing the viola da gamba, the secrets of which he learned first in Mexico and later in the Netherlands, where he earned his mastery on this evocative ancient instrument. But it is not his only vocation: he has also dedicated years of effort and work to researching alternative ways (beyond conventional recitals and concerts) to highlight music as a vehicle of communication and, above all, as a cohesive entity between individuals in society. One of his projects, of particular relevance, is designated Music and Dementia in Mexico: New Practices for the Well-being of Older People. In a recent online discussion, Israel Castillo informed me about the basic elements of this project.

The seed of the project: England, three decades ago, with Linda Rose and her Music for Life project . The result: a series of musical activities for people with dementia and their family and social circle, which is still carried out at London's Wigmore Hall. Years later, the project reached the Netherlands, where Israel Castillo, during his musical studies, had the opportunity to meet it and became attached to the idea of ​​the possibility for performing musicians to carry out activities with a truly community-based approach. Castillo has been involved (for 11 years) in various activities related to this idea, and in the last five years has made several attempts to extend the project to Mexico. Recently, there has been an important collaboration with INGER (National Institute of Geriatrics), an organization that, among other things, designs public policies for the care of older adults in Mexico.

In practical terms, Israel Castillo and the performers who collaborate with him perform what is known as relational improvisation, in which the fundamental motivation is the person standing in front of the improvising musician, which requires very specific additional training. It also involves involving caregivers and close family members of older adults with dementia in these processes. In addition to Castillo himself and his viola da gamba, Mauricio Ceballos and his violin, Mélodie Michel with her bassoon and bassoon, Gabriela Orta and her percussion, and Josafat Larios with his participate in the improvisation sessions. The format of the improvisations can change according to specific needs: one musician in front of a single patient, or several at once; the entire group in front of several people with dementia, or just one. Importantly, this interesting project fits organically into the context of the comprehensive care plan that INGER has designed (and rigorously practices) for its patients.

A vital contribution to the launch and continuation of this project is that made by the Dutch Embassy, ​​the result of an open call in which Castillo's project was selected for its artistic and social merits. At the beginning of this year, with the help of Dutch funds and other private contributions, Castillo was able to carry out three practical interventions, stemming from the theoretical basis of his project, at Alzheimer Mexico IAP and at INGER. As a result and continuation, this summer, four eight-week projects will be carried out more systematically at INGER. In addition to their direct results, they will generate the first clinical, qualitative, and musical study conducted in the world on the effects of improvisation on people living with dementia. After a certain period of time, four complementary projects will be carried out, and the comparison and analysis of both series will yield conclusions that will help shape the subsequent stages of the general plan for Music and Dementia in Mexico. Castillo and his collaborators hope that the scientific evidence gathered from these initial cycles of relational improvisation will provide the conditions for extending the project to other locations in the country, emphasizing one of the important pillars of the concept, which is the awareness that this project also has a significant educational component.