This post was last updated Nov. 14 at 9:40 p.m.

A global music nonprofit is building a stronger community for those affected by neurodegenerative diseases one song at a time.

The worldwide nonprofit organization Music Mends Minds began in 2014 and has received funding from the Herb Alpert Foundation every year since. In 2023, two administrative assistants at the organization created a corresponding MMM club at UCLA.

MMM creates music support groups all over the world for older people with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, as well as other conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries, said Kayla Arellano, co-president of the MMM club at UCLA. The fourth-year neuroscience student added that participation is free.

“The mission is honestly so beautiful, and it’s all about empowering seniors and improving their quality of life,” Arellano said. “This vulnerable population can often be neglected, but I think Music Mends Minds really brings so much love and compassion to these seniors who deserve so much more.”

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Third-year neuroscience student Angela Yang is the other co-president of UCLA’s MMM chapter and said the club hosts educational workshops and weekly general meetings. One of these workshops was led by a speech-language pathologist named Susan Kohler, who taught students how to talk with people who have dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, Yang added. She said MMM also has weekly music sessions where UCLA students play music at locations in Los Angeles. Music is beneficial because it works both the mind and the brain and can also help with gait and rhythm, Yang added.

“You’re keeping that beat, and you’re really engaging that multimodal integration in your brain,” Yang said. “When it comes to integrating the sound and then being able to output it and keep the beat on a drum for example – that’s both your motor and your audio cortex.”

When people or their loved ones are diagnosed with neurodegenerative diseases, many of them struggle with negative emotional states, said Carol Rosenstein, the founder of the MMM organization. People with diagnoses of neurodegenerative diseases can often feel terrified and embarrassed by the uncertainty that comes with having a condition without a cure, Rosenstein added, but some of these anxieties can be alleviated through the power of music.

Rosenstein’s husband, Irwin Rosenstein, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s when he turned 70 years old. After 10 years of medication, Carol Rosenstein said Irwin Rosenstein began to have hallucinations and was extremely agitated. One day, Irwin Rosenstein began playing the piano, finding the notes with difficulty, she said. However, after a few minutes of playing music, Irwin Rosenstein became noticeably happier, Carol Rosenstein said.

Arellano said neurotransmitters such as dopamine, oxytocin and serotonin are released when participating in music by singing or playing an instrument. These neurotransmitters can improve someone’s emotional state, she added. In addition, music can help with regaining lost memories, Arellano said. Someone can forget their name or the name of a loved one, yet they can still remember songs from their childhood because music memory storage cells survive even after the onset of neurodegenerative diseases, she added.

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Playing music for older people can also improve the emotional states of the students performing for them, said club member John Bhaskar, a fourth-year computational and systems biology and music education student. Bhaskar said being a part of MMM has given him opportunities to share the happiness he receives from playing music with others.

“Playing music is a lot more than just trying to record something or make a song or get something that’s going to be playing on the radio,” Bhaskar said. “It’s really a language, and it’s a way to connect and communicate and be happy with other people.”

Fourth-year human biology and society student Anubhav Chandla said UCLA students can apply what they learn in class to their experiences at MMM. With an Indian classical background and a strong interest in medicine, Chandla said he was hoping to find a role to explore both his artistic side with music and his science-oriented side with medicine. At MMM, he said he found a fulfilling way to learn about medicine through working with older people directly. Chandla added that most of the time, people view music as being recreational with little to no physical or scientific value, but he thinks music has value as a medicine or treatment.

“We’re hoping to push music therapy as a public health initiative, where it’s a very inexpensive form of treatment for the world around us,” Chandla said. “It’s everywhere, and I think it’s one of the most universal languages we can take advantage of and treat many people around the world with.”