WEST CHESTER TWP., Ohio — Russ Rosen asks for help.
He's already carried one big speaker down a path to the amphitheater. Now, he needs to get another one. But when the musician he asks hesitates, Rosen hikes back up to his car again.
He's not surprised. After all, this is practice for a band he started specifically for older adults. A few minutes later, after Rosen sets the second speaker down on the stage, he takes a deep breath.
“Not bad for an 80-year-old guy, is it?”
Rosen's the leader of New Horizons Band of Cincinnati. This is a band you don't have to try out for. Because this is a group for everyone, regardless of skill level. In fact, that’s the point.
“My mother had Alzheimer’s,” Rosen said. “It was nine years in a facility. To me, it’s probably the most difficult form of aging.”
And it’s how he ended up here, playing clarinet at practice a few days before a concert in Butler County — even though he quit playing music after high school.
“I didn’t play for 45 years,” Rosen said.
Then, he found out music could help reduce the risk of developing dementia. Because of the way music can stimulate the brain, one recent study found musicians are 64 percent less likely to develop cognitive issues than people who don't play.
“We see ourselves as a family — not a band,” Rosen said. “It’s a very unique experience.”
Go inside band practice in the video below:
For Rosen, this band is about trying to avoid dementia. For others, it’s about avoiding isolation. For almost everyone, it’s about more than just the music.
For Julie Peterson, it's been life-changing.
"I had a stroke," Peterson said. “I had to learn the whole language again. And I’ve always said English is horrible.”
She’s holding a French horn, and she’s laughing. Because she had to learn to play that again, too. Even though she played it her whole life.
“All of them have been wonderful to me," Peterson said.
Want to hear for yourself?
The band is scheduled to play Saturday May, 31 at 7 p.m. at Keehner Park in West Chester. For more information about that, or how to join, visit the band’s website by clicking on this link.
