Although the sound was squeaky and strained for the first few years, I persisted until the awe-inspiring melodies of Beethoven, Mahler and other favorite composers swept me off my feet. While performing such pieces, I felt a deep sense of wonder akin to what I experienced when encountering the natural world.
I was 12 years old when I started playing my violin in nursing homes for people with Alzheimer’s disease, a condition that causes some people to lose their memories. I tried to incorporate music from the younger years of my audience members, including songs like “You Are My Sunshine” and “This Land is Your Land.” To my amazement, some nursing home residents who could not remember their own children’s names were suddenly singing along to lyrics they had not heard in years! In high school, I decided to conduct a clinical study to determine which types of musical enrichment activities best improved the cognitive abilities of people with Alzheimer’s disease. With my findings in hand, I created a non-profit organization called Harmonies for the Elderly to provide musical enrichment services to people with this disease.
I attended college at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee and decided to major in Neuroscience because my exposure to the different manifestations of Alzheimer’s disease piqued my interest in how the brain works. I joined the Vanderbilt Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery and, for three years, I worked on developing a new medicine that would improve memory and stop the progression of Alzheimer’s. I also completed a minor in Violin Performance so that I could continue learning about Bach and Mozart alongside the wonders of the brain.
