Welcome to "The Memory Show" // Re-imagining the musical to encompass the elusive

Full Article Here // Excerpt Below

by Ben Brantley

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — “The Memory Show,” which recently opened at Barrington Stage Company here, is a musical in search of a melody. That is what it intends to be. In shaping a portrait of a mother with Alzheimer’s disease and the angry, impotent daughter who cares for her, the young composer Zach Redler has written a score that follows the patterns of minds grasping, often in vain, for clarity, conviction and lost time.

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Music as Ministry // "The Songs They Can't Forget"

Hey everybody!

This is the inaugural post for New Creation's new blog.

To start with: A piece that's a few months old, but absolutely profound in its implications for the intersection of ministry and the arts.

From the third and fourth paragraphs in:

Researchers and clinicians are finding that when all other means of communication have shut down, people remember and respond to music. Familiar songs can help people with dementia relate to others, move more easily and experience joy.

Music memory is preserved better than verbal memory, according to Ms. Clair, because music, unlike language, is not seated in a specific area of the brain but processed across many parts. “You can’t rub out music unless the brain is completely gone.”

Check out this essential piece on music as ministry below in its entirety by clicking below:

The New Old Age: The Songs They Can't Forget

The New York Times

Sara Davidson

April 23, 2009