Yodeler Dwayne Ferris’s sound is definitely an acquired taste, but there’s no denying its impact on people with Alzheimer’s disease.
Ferris performs at the Memory Café in Fredericton, a place where people with the disease and their families gather for support.
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“Some of them will try to yodel along with me,” he said. “And it feels good because they can remember that it’s helping them to remember that stuff.”
Although it might seem like a challenge to take people suffering from dementia on a trip down memory lane, café co-ordinator Jana Jones says it’s not the case.
“We have seen people get up and sing after their family members may not have heard them talk for even years,” she said.
She says music and even yodeling resides in the part of the brain not affected by Alzheimer’s disease.
“It brings out part of their background that they may not have been able to access for years in part of their memories,” she said.
It’s why Ferris sticks to playing older, traditional country music songs, which are familiar to the crowd of seniors. He says they’re just like the ones his late father used to perform. Now he volunteers to play in memory of his dad.
“He used to sing all those old Wilf Carter songs, so as a boy growing up I’d always attend the campfires and listen to him,” he said.
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