[Dixielandjazz] Follow-up: "Dementia may affect musical tastes"

[Norman Vickers]

Re:[ScienceDaily: Study Finds Dementia May

      AffectMusical Tastes 

 

Listmate Fred Spencer ( author of "Jazz and Death") wrote:

 

( snip)

>Thank you for this report and for your control in not commenting on it. >As
a fellow physician you well know the "anecdotal" nonsense based on a >few
cases which fills the press and TV news every day, and which has no
>scientific validity whatsoever. Often all it does is to raise the hopes >of
unfortunate sufferers from a disease which "MAY" or "COULD" (watch for
>those words!) be cured in a few years!

 

>Mind over music was used by the Greeks and Romans in classical times.

 

Thanks Fred and Jerry Gordon who wrote:

 

 

>This was last Friday's word of the day from wordsmith.org:

 

>tarantism (TAR-uhn-tiz-uhm) noun

 

 >  An uncontrollable urge to dance.

 

>[After Taranto, a town in southern Italy where this phenomenon was
>experienced during the 15-17th centuries. It's not clear whether >tarantism
was the symptom of a spider's bite or its cure, or it may have >been just a
pretext to dodge a prohibition against dancing. The names of >the dance
tarantella and the spider tarantula are both derived from the >same place.]

 

Yes, I am much aware of specious data and unwarranted claims.  Thanks both
for your comments.  I forward this in hopes that we'd get some clever
answers back.  One of my friends-not on this list, of course-comments:

" I must be getting dementia-me with all my opera record collection-since
I've begun to like country music!"

 

Thanks, all.

 

Norman-let's all dance the tarantella--Vickers