Purpose: This study was done to identify the effects of a music program on cognitive function and disturbing behavior in elders with dementia. The program consisted of listening to, percussion accompaniment, and singing along with popular music, and folk and children's songs. Method: The design was a nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest study. Participants were 32 elders with dementia (experimental: 17, control: 15). The program took place for fifty minutes , six times a week for four weeks. Cognitive function was assessed using the MMSE-K (Mini Mental State Examination- Korean Version) and disturbing behavior, using a disturbing behavior measurement tool developed by Kang. Descriptive statistics, Chi-square and t-test were used to analyze the data. Results: Scores for cognitive function (orientation, attention and calculation) for the experimentalgroup increased significantly (t=5.616, p=.000) and scores for disturbing behavior (aggressive psychomotor behavior, passive behavior and nonaggressive psychomotor behavior) decreased significantly (t=-3.348, p=.002), especially, decreased. Conclusion: The results indicate that the music program was an effective intervention for cognitive function and disturbing behavior in elderly people with dementia admitted to hospital. Therefore, the music program is recommended for use in clinical practice as a nursing intervention for the patients with dementia.