Effects of erhu distance learning on cognitive and upper extremity function in elderly

The purpose of this research is to improve the cognitive and upper extremity functions of the elderly by teaching Erhu via distance learning. In this study Elderly Music Taste Survey showed the preference scores of Taiwanese folk rhyme (M=24.62), popular music (23.46), traditional Chinese music (M=18.92), Chinese folk rhyme (M=14.23), and western classics(M=9.69) respectively. Significant improvement can be observed of both the dominant hand grip strength between pretest (M=20.60) and posttest (M=26.546) (t=2.313, p<; .05), and non-dominant hand grip strength pretest (M=18.369) and posttest (M= 24.708) (t=2.746, p<; .05) of the upper extremities. However the cognitive function test MMSE of the elderly between the pretest (M=27.67) and posttest (M=27.42) revealed no significant difference (t= .256, p= .803). The results were not affected by Gender nor by Age. We conclude that music instrument learning can effectively improve the upper extremity function and maintain the cognitive function of the elderly. By developing distance learning courses with mobile music instructors via both real-time interaction, video on demand demo, and uploads of learning records it can effectively energize the music learning experience of the elderly.