Jill McGlauchlin and Joe McNally trusting in the power of music.
Our Producer of the Month, Independent Producer Member Joe McNally, has a special musical project he is doing with his long-time partner, Jill McGlauchlin, who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. With the help of Buzz Kemper of Audio for the Arts, the musical repertoire of the duo will be recorded on video to share with all WCM member media centers throughout the state. WCM is very pleased we were able to introduce Joe to Buzz and are looking forward to sharing the completed programs with our local audiences. Here is Joe’s story in his own words.
The Resident Fiddler Holding Forth
Hi. My name is Joe McNally. Among other things, I play the 5-string banjo. Been doing that for nearly 50 years now. My partner, Jill McGlauchlin, is a fiddler. Jill and I have been making fiddle/banjo music together for over 40 years.
In 2018 Jill was diagnosed with dementia...most likely it is Alzheimer's. Since early spring of 2021, Jill has been living at an assisted living facility in Madison. Five or six days a week I go and play tunes with Jill. We play the tunes that are in Jill’s repertoire. There are well over a hundred tunes on her list; a list she compiled over the decades.
Our typical session is about an hour long. Although Jill’s list is fairly substantial, we do tend to play many of the same tunes every day. This is partially because we limit ourselves to one key signature (this is an old-time banjo thing if you must know...staying in one key for a long time that is).
We typically play in one of the common areas -- outside if the weather is nice. Other residents regularly come and sit and listen to us play. Even though we are playing a somewhat limited selection of tunes, we still get a fairly regular cadre of residents who eagerly come and sit and listen to us every day.
I am working with Buzz Kemper, from Audio for the Arts, to create a series of professional quality videos of some of our sessions. To raise funds to pay for Buzz’s production work, an artist for some visual art to accompany the project and IT help in getting the completed videos out to the world I am doing a GoFundMe campaign. Here is the link to my fundraiser: https://gofund.me/9378bee8.
I am on a mission. A mission to fight Alzheimer's with music. A mission to celebrate how a musician with Alzheimer's can still play her tunes. A mission to share her music. A mission to help people living in senior facilities. A mission to bring a ray of light, a ray of music, into their lives.
I am not a scientist. So I make no claim of science supporting my mission. I see music as a superhero fighting Alzheimer's in particular and dementia in general. I name that superhero Euterpe, after the Greek muse who presides over music.
Music fires the neurons of our brains...both when we listen to music...but especially when we play music. So I see my new superhero, Euterpe, zapping energy between the neurons of our brains...helping to create neural connections...helping to keep neural connections healthy...helping to reinforce connections that already exist in our brains…helping to fight dementia.
