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

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

bringing benefits to both.

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

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

getting into the groove.

Kyshona Armstrong leads a
rousing chorus of old favorites.

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

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

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

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

and it's about me, right?

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

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

others.

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

in the people.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

taking music out
to the community.

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

at nursing homes and community
centers across Middle Tennessee.

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

effects of their
programs can be measured.

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

emotional wellness
and even mobility.

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

the research.

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

patients.

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

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

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

seems to be a reduction in
their risk for dementia.

SARAH MARTIN MCCONNELL:
My mother loved music.

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

root of Music for Seniors.

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

day services program.

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

JOHN YANG: She said the
sessions struck a chord.

SARAH MARTIN MCCONNELL:
They just would light up.

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

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

they have an impairment or not?

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

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

JOHN YANG: Musician Matt Bridges
helped designed the program.

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

noise.

That's it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

new.

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

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

Someone in my house was
always playing something.

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

to others.

But I enjoy music
as part of my life.

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

ukelele.

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

they'd spent months learning.

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

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

take lessons.

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

make music and maybe
there was a hiatus.

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

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

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

in August.

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

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

WOMAN (singing):
Change going to come.

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

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

in Nashville, Tennessee.