(ABC 6 News) – As part of its monthly Memory Cafe series, the Mower County Senior Center is incorporating a musical therapy day every three months with help from the MacPhail Center for Music and Our House Senior Living.

The program is designed to provide a supportive environment for those struggling with memory loss and their caregivers.

For many who attended the first session held August 1st, it was their first time attending one of the Memory Cafe meetings.

Bonnie Dalager is one such resident.

“I really enjoyed it because there were songs that I could sing and a couple that I didn’t know,” she said.

Dalager also says music is always a part of her life.

“Sometimes in the break room (at Our House), we do sing,” she said. “A couple of us try to sing a song.”

The session featured a local music therapist from the MacPhail Center for Music, Emma Evans-Peck.

Evans-Peck sang songs, played guitar, and led the group in interactive portions where they played their own instruments and danced along.

Evans-Peck says music can bring a lot of benefits to people.

“So many areas of the brain are lit up when we’re engaged in music,” she said. “That’s why music can address such a wide breadth of goals.”

There’s a lot of science behind why music can help people, but even Evans-Peck admits there’s an almost supernatural quality about it.

“Seeing people who they believe to never be able to have intentional movement again, be able to reach their arm up to hit a drum; it’s just like magic,” she said. “It’s not magic, but it feels like magic when you see it.”

For Bonnie, the experience can be summed in one simple feeling.

“Happy,” she said. “Very, very happy.”

The Memory Cafe is held on the first Thursday of every month at the senior center, and the music therapy sessions will be every 3 months going forward.

For details on dates and times, visit the Mower County Senior Citizen Center’s website.