Shop now open! Share your love of music and support Playlist for Life. Visit now.

Shop now open! Share your love of music and support Playlist for Life. Visit now.

Listen to our featured playlist: Sea Shanties

A personalised playlist is entirely unique, and can unlock memories that span a lifetime for someone living with dementia.

Exploring artists, songs, or genres from different periods of life can help to identify personally meaningful music, so we’ve compiled over 250 playlists on our Spotify account to help you become a Music Detective!

Every month we’ll share a brand new featured playlist with a person or group who have used our resources to inspire your playlist journey. We’re kicking things off with Sea Shanty songs from Shetland….

The Shalder Shanty Singers in Scalloway on Shetland are a fully inclusive dementia friendly crew of mixed ability, set up with funding from Luminate’s Dementia Friendly Singing Initiative. Huge thanks to the crew for creating and sharing their playlist with us!

Find out more about The Shalder Shanty Singers here.

"Working closely with our friends from Alzheimer Scotland on Shetland, who are the wind in our sails, we have been singing these songs every week and are keen to share them with you.

So, how are sea shanties dementia-friendly? The familiarity of many of the tunes, the repetitive nature of the rhythm, and the simple call and response of many shanties enable people of all ages and abilities, including people living with dementia, to sing along - and so they make us feel like we’re all in the same boat."

Featured playlist: Sea Shanties

“I didn’t think it would be his thing – he was a punk rocker – but my husband looks forward to singing sea shanties every week! 

We don’t worry about the words, singing in tune or the quality of our voices because singing sea shanties together makes us smile.”

Playlist curated by
The Shalder Shanty Crew with Luminate Scotland

Create a playlist on Spotify

Would you like to make a playlist on Spotify but don’t know how to get started?
Our Playlist Maker can help!

 Get started by searching for some songs you love.

 Click ‘Add’ to add them to your playlist.

 Click ‘Save’ when you’re finished adding songs.