EUTERPE_adn, an acronym that references both the muse of music and genetics, looks to jnvestigate typical challenges faced by the elderly population in Galicia and the north of Portugal, such as depopulation and social exclusion. By taking advantage of the therapeutic power of music, the project aims to improve the wellbeing and quality of life of people with dementia, Alzeimher’s, brain damage and elderly adults.

EUTERPE_adn (www.euterpe-adn.com) will contribute to improving the wellbeing and quality of life of people with dementia, Alzeimher’s, brain damage and elderly adults, by promoting music as an activity for healthy aging, which combats the loneliness and morbidity that growing older often brings, through an extended group activity. EUTERPE_adn draws on the sources of the global project in biomedical research SENSOGENOMICS (www.sensogenomics.com), led by the research groups Génetica de Poblaciones en Biomedicina (GenPoB; www.genpob.eu) and Investigación en genética, vacunas y enfermedades infecciosas (GenViP; www.genvip.eu) at the Institute of Health Research (IDIS – Galicia; www.idisantiago.es).

EUTERPE_adn is a cross-border co-operative project between eight groups, four in Galicia and four in the north of Portugal. Thanks to the contribution of the Faculty of Psychology at the University of Minho (Portugal) it will address the impact of music on health from a multidisciplinary perspective that unites the study of genetic expression and other molecular variables with neuropsychology and psycho-physiology.

For this, music workshops will be carried out throughout a full academic  year, with professional musicians who have experience in attention to diversity, from the Músicos ao Vivo co-operative and the Casa de la Música in Oporto. The musical project will be based on listening to different types of music, research into the music of their lives, singing as part of a choir, musical improvisation, and making music as part of a group. One aim that this longitudinal research project has is to be able to study the benefits of different musical activities at different biomedical levels. For this reason, 5 evaluations will be carried out, the first in June, to study the impact of music on the health and wellbeing of the participants. The neuropsychology research team from the University of Minho will carry out an evaluation of the cognitive, psychomotor, communication, quality of life and emotional wellbeing decline, among others, before starting the musical project, and at four other points during the academic year. In the same way, the driving force behind this project, the Sensogenoma team from IDIS, led by Federico Martinón, Antonio Salas and Laura Navarro, will collect biological samples (blood and saliva) in order to carry out a study of the impact of music on gene expression.

Following the success of previous editions of the Sensogenoma experimental concerts, performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra  of Galicia in the Auditorium of Galicia; now, EUTERPE_adn is carrying out the first longitudinal study, in which the participants are going to attend 60 musical sessions, marking a before and after in the research of music as a non-pharmacological therapy.

This project is born of social vocation and for health. It will implement music in places where there normally isn’t music, organising the execution of participatory workshops in day centres with active aging programmes, as well as in day centres and nursing homes for people with Alzheimer’s and brain damage. Music professionals, artists and active musicians with recognised experience will direct thematic music workshops through the academic year, with two sessions a week (1 hour per session), visiting the corresponding centres.