95-year-old woman with dementia displays the magic of music
Elaine Lebar is a 95-year-old with significant dementia who has gone viral on Tiktok for performances of classics like Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, Debussy’s Claire de Lune, and Chopin’s Waltz In C# minor.
Elaine’s daughter, Randi Lebar, began recording her mother after moving her into a memory care facility near her home in Sagamore, Massachusetts. During the pandemic, Randi realized the recordings could be therapeutic.
“With pandemic lockdown, all of a sudden, I couldn't visit her. I could only see her through a window,” Randi said. “At one point, I just said, I need to put a face to these people who were locked up with no voice.”
Randi continued posting old recordings of her mother on Tiktok until one fateful day, a viewer requested the third movement of the Moonlight Sonata. Her mother’s first response was, “I don’t know it.”
Then, magic happened.
Watch the video to see the viral Tiktok of elderly woman with dementia performing Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata.
“I remember I posted it in the morning, and my phone started to blow up. I couldn't even open TikTok because it just crashed every time I tried to open it,” Randi said. “By that evening, that video had four and a half million views. And the rest is history.”
According to Randi, her mother began playing piano as a young child. She can sight-read music and has perfect pitch. She got a bachelor’s degree at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, then a master’s degree in music pedagogy at the University of Missouri, where she met Randi’s father.
After marriage and three children, Elaine became a full-time mother. But music remained a big part of her life. She regularly taught piano lessons, composed music, and performed concertos.
“As a kid, your parents, they're just normal,” Randi said. “I always knew my mother had this amazing musical ability, but I didn't realize what a special person she was until later in life.”
Since Elaine has gone viral on Tiktok, Randi has been able to spread awareness to millions about dementia education, music therapy, and the magic of the human brain.
“There was a whole cadre of music therapists that were chiming in,” Randi said. “Isn't it magical what music can do, even with a fairly debilitating brain disease?”
In addition to sharing her mother’s musical ability, Randi wants to convey the real struggles inherent in caring for a loved one with dementia.
“If you see her away from the piano, she is a lost little old lady with dementia who doesn't know where she is or where she's going,” Randi said. “I really wanted people to understand … don't give up on these people. They might still have something very real to offer in the world.
On Elaine’s 95th birthday this past January, Randi said she had about 50 TikTok cards to hand out to her mother.
“She has fame now that she would never have had in her earlier years,” Randi said. “You just never know.”
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 95-year-old with dementia viral on Tiktok for playing Moonlight Sonata
