Moments that matter in dementia care

Music therapists, musicians, people living with dementia and their carers, and researchers have co-created improvised music sessions that deliver powerful moments of connection – a research-led, community model now embedded across Greater Manchester and supported by a £1 million National Centre of Excellence for Music and Dementia hosted by Manchester Camerata. 

How the impact happens 

Manchester Camerata’s Music in Mind is an award-winning, improvised group music-making programme for people living with dementia and their carers. Each session is led by a music therapist alongside orchestra musicians specially trained in dementia care. The programme runs in care homes and community venues across Greater Manchester, including a Music Café at The Monastery.  

From the outset, the research asked a simple but important question: what happens when we stop centring dementia care on memory and instead centre it on presence, creativity and embodied communication?  

Rather than testing whether people could recall songs or facts, the partnership between Manchester Camerata and researchers at The University of Manchester explored whether improvised, responsive music making could create moments of connection and wellbeing in the here and now. 

Co‑facilitated by musicians and trained music therapists, the initiative has now reached 11,000 people across the city-region since its inception in 2012, and the magic behind this music-making? Focussing on observing what naturally unfolded in sessions: how participants initiated sounds or gestures, how musicians mirrored and amplified those contributions, and how relationships shifted over time. 

Music Therapist and Manchester Camerata’s Principal Flute, Amina Hussain, explains: “This work asked something very different of me: to listen first, to respond slowly and to let the music be shaped by the people in the room.” This responsiveness during improvised music sessions echoes the tone of the partnership behind Music in Mind: a collaboration deeply focused on nurturing small, fleeting moments that are hard to measure but powerful to experience. 

Early on, the team had to embrace new ways of working. “Letting go of familiar measures like memory recall felt uncomfortable and I had to accept that not everything meaningful could be easily captured in numbers,” explains Professor John Keady. The research therefore evolved to focus on moment-based frameworks – examining how connection, agency and shared attention emerged in real time. 

“Researchers were asking carefully framed questions; carers were thinking about safety and care; we as musicians were learning to trust silence as much as sound,” says Amina, “But those differences forced us to talk, reflect and adapt together. The collaboration has taught me that impact doesn’t come from playing louder or better, but from listening deeply and working together.” 

Shared practice, shared impact

Music in Mind takes place within the everyday lives of people living with dementia, in familiar sites such as care homes and community spaces – reducing barriers to participation and helping to build trust and wellbeing more quickly. Everybody involved in the project collectively shaped the sessions week by week, guided by what participants brought through gesture, sound or silence. Amina reflects: “We constantly learned from carers and participants themselves – tiny gestures, a breath, a tap of a hand – showing us how to follow rather than lead.” 

By sharing decision-making and valuing musicians, carers and participants equally, the partnership prioritised quality and relational depth over rapid expansion. The result is a model of impact rooted not in memory retained, but in presence experienced. 

Moving forward 

Building on more than a decade of collaboration, the £1 million National Centre of Excellence for Music and Dementia is extending training, evaluation and resources while protecting the improvisational, person and relationship‑centred core. As John notes: “We keep returning to one guiding question: does this honour the person with dementia in front of us? When it did, the impact followed.” 

International partners in Sweden, Taiwan and Hong Kong are now adapting the approach to local cultures, ensuring the core principles – improvisation, creativity, inclusion and moment-based connection – remain responsive to local cultures and communities. New doctoral and interdisciplinary studies are extending research into creative health and care aesthetics.  

By continuing to work alongside music therapists, musicians, people living with dementia, carers, communities and policymakers, The University of Manchester is helping shape a future where creative, compassionate and research-informed approaches to dementia care are recognised, supported and shared. Meaningful impact emerges when people living with dementia are present and fully engaged in the moment.