Since November 2019, Music Lab has collaborated with Taipei City Hospital to implement “Concert Prescription”. The healthcare team invited people with dementia, their families, and their caregivers to attend a live classical music concert in the concert hall. In this way, all parties could explore how music can be combined with medical care to enhance the quality of life of people with dementia.
Photo|Rina Chen
Photo|Rina Chen
The concept of "Concert Prescription" makes reference to 'social prescribing', one of the recommendations adopted by the United Kingdom from the 2017 Jo Cox Commission Report on Loneliness. This policy allowed doctors in the UK to refer patients feeling the impact of loneliness to community activities such as cooking classes, walking clubs, and other social activity groups.
Photo|Taipei City Hospital
Photo|Taipei City Hospital
The NSO has organized more than 39 such "Concert Prescription" so far, including opera, ballet, symphony orchestra, and chamber music, featuring music ranging from classical to contemporary Taiwanese works. The goal is to enable people with dementia to experience the live impact of the symphony orchestra on their emotions, and to share these emotions with the people around them.