Holland teen uses cello to help dementia, stroke patients
HOLLAND — A 17-year-old cellist from Holland is playing concerts this week in hopes of helping people with dementia or recovering from a stroke.
Daniel Hotchkiss said, for him, it’s personal: He discovered his cello teacher having a stroke. As he watched his teacher work to recover, he decided he wanted to use his gifts to help.
“I’ll be having some concerts at The Warm Friend (in) downtown Holland and Maple Woods,” Hotchkiss said. “These concerts are dedicated to victims of stroke and dementia.”
The concerts are Hotchkiss’ Eagle Scout project.
The late Tony Bennett is one of the most famous examples of how music can help someone with dementia. He had Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.
Erin Baumler, a music therapist at Corewell Health Cancer, said she's seen the effects of music on her patients firsthand.
“I started singing ‘You Are My Sunshine,’ and the whole room broke out and started singing,” Baumler said. “When you hear music or play music or sing, multiple areas of your brain are activated and so, because of that, that music is also stored in many areas of the brain.”
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She said the goal of music therapy differs for patients recovering from stroke and patients with dementia.
“They’re very different because with stroke and rehabilitation, the goals of music therapy are that — they are rehabilitation. Whereas with dementia, because it’s a progressive and irreversible disease, music therapy is really more addressing maintaining the cognitive function that's there."
Hotchkiss hopes his concerts will be impactful to people in the crowd. He'll be playing an original piece composed alongside his friend and pianist Brandon Blake.
“I hope that they’re able to take away some of the struggle that people go through when they’re recovering from these events. Because it’s not an easy track, it’s not a short track. It’s a fight, it’s a fight with your own body to get control of it again,” Hotchkiss said.
He has dreams of being a professional musician.
“I’m practicing, I’m researching, I’m writing, I’m reading. It’s just become a huge part of my life,” Hotchkiss said.
He'll head to Boston next month to attend the New England Conservatory Prep School.
This article originally appeared on Ionia Sentinel-Standard: Holland teen uses cello to help dementia, stroke patients
