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AMNA NAWAZ: Nashville,
Tennessee, is called Music
City for good reason.

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Now John Yang reports on
a program that connects
the city's musicians
with its older residents,

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bringing benefits to both.

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It's part of our
ongoing coverage of arts
and culture, Canvas.

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JOHN YANG: It's morning at
Nashville's East Park Community
Center, and these seniors are

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getting into the groove.

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Kyshona Armstrong leads a
rousing chorus of old favorites.

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She's a professional
musician with a background
in music therapy.

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When not on the road touring,
she sometimes plays gigs like
this for a nonprofit group

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called Music for Seniors, which
connects Nashville's talent
with its older residents.

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KYSHONA ARMSTRONG, Music for
Seniors: Out on the road, I'm
meeting people all the time

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and it's about me, right?

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And it's just like, I'm sharing
my story, I'm sharing my story.

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But when I come to the community
groups, I feel like it's
my opportunity to feed into

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others.

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It just feels good to really
kind of root into the community
and to see a difference

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in the people.

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JOHN YANG: It was Sonny
Collier's first time at a
Music for Seniors session.

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SONNY COLLIER, Participant: It
was -- kind of surprised me a
little bit how I can rattle

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them off at the top of
my head at age I am now.

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JOHN YANG: Former
singer-songwriter Sarah
Martin McConnell started
the program in 2007,

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combining her love for music
and her degree in social work.

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SARAH MARTIN MCCONNELL,
Executive Director,
Music for Seniors:
Music for Seniors really

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is a hybrid of music and the
social services, because every
program that we do is about

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taking music out
to the community.

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JOHN YANG: There are
free daytime concerts
every month, and local
musicians lead sessions

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at nursing homes and community
centers across Middle Tennessee.

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Now Music for Seniors is
teaming with researchers
here at Vanderbilt
University to see if the

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effects of their
programs can be measured.

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Studies already show that
exposure to live music can
improve seniors' brain function,

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emotional wellness
and even mobility.

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Carrie Plummer, a geriatric
specialist at Vanderbilt's
nursing school, is designing

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the research.

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Plummer says the Music for
Seniors program could be
particularly useful for dementia

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patients.

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CARRIE PLUMMER, Vanderbilt
University: One of the things
that we're really having to

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think about, are there are
other ways for us to improve
their quality of life?

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The more you have patients with
better social networks and are
able to socialize, that there

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seems to be a reduction in
their risk for dementia.

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SARAH MARTIN MCCONNELL:
My mother loved music.

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JOHN YANG: McConnell's
experience with her
late mother, who had
Alzheimer's, was at the

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root of Music for Seniors.

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SARAH MARTIN MCCONNELL: I,
being a musician, decided that
I would start going to her adult

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day services program.

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So, I would go and bring
my guitar, my dulcimer,
and we would sing together.

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JOHN YANG: She said the
sessions struck a chord.

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SARAH MARTIN MCCONNELL:
They just would light up.

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And they were a different
group as I was leaving than
they were as I was coming.

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JOHN YANG: And if it helped
them, McConnell thought, why
wouldn't it help others, whether

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they have an impairment or not?

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SARAH MARTIN MCCONNELL: A
lightbulb went off that this
should be an organized effort to

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connect all of the musicians
in Nashville with the
isolated older adults.

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JOHN YANG: Musician Matt Bridges
helped designed the program.

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MATT BRIDGES, Music for
Seniors: And what we're going
to aim for is to make a joyful

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noise.

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That's it.

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JOHN YANG: He led this drum
circle at Second Presbyterian
Church, the same adult day care

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program where McConnell
and her mother once sang
and danced together.

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MATT BRIDGES: What we saw
today is a little bit of
reservation on the front end.

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Once we give it a shot, once all
of us typically try something,
our guard kind of starts to

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come down and we're able to
really express ourselves.

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And that's really the
beauty in these programs
and these sessions, is
that we're trying something

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new.

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JOHN YANG: Something
new that brought back
memories for Shirley Green.

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SHIRLEY GREEN, Participant:
Someone in my house
was always singing.

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Someone in my house was
always playing something.

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So, just as I get a little
older, you get more and more
into background, and you listen

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to others.

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But I enjoy music
as part of my life.

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JOHN YANG: Music for Seniors
also offers the chance to learn
a new instrument, like the

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ukelele.

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Students in this class offered
by Nashville's adult education
program strummed classics

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they'd spent months learning.

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Their teacher, Todd
Elgin, is a songwriter
and plays in a ukelele
band called the Ukedelics.

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TODD ELGIN, Music for Seniors:
They're not being forced by
their parents to come in and

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take lessons.

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They're there because they have
either wanted to make music
their whole life or used to

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make music and maybe
there was a hiatus.

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JOHN YANG: And they're hoping
many more older people will
soon be sing their tune.

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Last year, McConnell
won a $50,000 grant
from the company WeWork.

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That helped the program expand
to Knoxville, Tennessee, where
the first free concert launched

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in August.

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SARAH MARTIN MCCONNELL: I would
like to see there be a Music
for Seniors in every city.

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Every place has talented
musicians and every
place has isolated,
underserved older adults.

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WOMAN (singing):
Change going to come.

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JOHN YANG: That change, as
simple as an old favorite song,
can make all the difference.

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For the "PBS NewsHour,"
I'm John Yang

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in Nashville, Tennessee.