PBS高端访谈:田纳西州的音乐之城（在线收听）

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.

阿姆纳·纳瓦兹：田纳西州的那什维尔被称为音乐之城是有原因的。我台记者约翰·杨将报道一个项目，将那什维尔的音乐家跟年长的市民联系起来，为双方都带来福祉。本期节目是帆布系列报道的部分内容。

约翰·杨：那什维尔东部公园社区中心迎来了早上，这里的老年人都纷纷走进了树丛中。阿姆斯特朗领着活力满满的乐团演奏经典老歌。阿姆斯特朗是职业音乐家，有音乐疗法的背景。没做路演的时候，阿姆斯特朗有时候会为一个叫老年人音乐的非盈利组织演奏这样的乐曲。该组织会集结纳什维尔有才艺的人来陪伴当地的老年人。

阿姆斯特朗，老年人音乐：我在路上会遇到各种各样的人，但其实是逐渐发现自我的过程，不是吗？就像我在分享我的故事，我自己的故事。但当我来到社群组织之后，我感觉我可以帮助其他人。能扎根于社群的感觉真的很棒，我能看到很多不同的人。

约翰·杨：这是老人索尼第一次来参加老年人音乐的活动。

索尼，参加者：我这把年纪了，竟然能跟着一起哼唱，我自己都很吃惊。

约翰·杨：前创作型歌手萨拉是2007年开始这个项目的，她将她对音乐的热爱和社会工作的参与结合在了一起。萨拉，老年人音乐的CEO：我们的组织真的是融合了音乐和社会服务。因为我们所做的每个项目都跟将音乐带入社群有关。

约翰·杨：每个月，我们都会在白天举办演唱会。当地的音乐家会在田纳西州中部的养老院和社群中心开展活动。现在，我们的组织也加入了很多范德堡大学的研究员，我们想看看项目效果如何。研究已经表明，置身于现场音乐中可以提高老年人的大脑运作情况、心理健康甚至是行动能力。卡里是范德堡大学护理学院的老年专家，他设计了这项研究。卡里说，该项目对患有老年痴呆的病人来说尤其有用。

卡里，范德堡大学：有一件事是我们必须思考的——还有没有其他方法能提高老年人的生活品质？我们病人的社交网络越良好、社交能力越强，他们患上老年痴呆的风险就越低。

萨拉：我母亲热爱音乐。

约翰·杨：萨拉跟过世母亲的回忆都根植于这个项目。萨拉的母亲就患有老年痴呆。

萨拉：我是一个音乐人，我绝对去参加老年人服务项目。我会带我的吉他、扬琴来，我们会一起唱歌。

约翰·杨：她说这个项目在许多人身上产生共鸣。

萨拉：很多人因此而欢欣鼓舞。我加入这个项目前后，项目本身已经发生了很大的改变。

约翰·杨：如果项目帮助了他们，那萨拉就在想——为什么不能帮助别人呢？是否有缺陷呢？

萨拉：他突发灵感，这应该成为一个有组织性的项目，将纳什维尔的所有音乐人以及老年人联系在一起。

约翰·杨：音乐人马特助力设计了这个项目。

马特，老年人音乐：我们的目标是发出声音，为其他人带来快乐，就是如此而已。

约翰·杨：马特倡导了第二基督教长老会的鼓圈，这也是一个照顾成年人的项目。萨拉和母亲曾通过这个项目一同唱歌跳舞。

马特：今天，我们发现，去这里已经需要预定了。一旦尝试之后，我们就不再那么戒备，就可以展现自我了。这正是这类项目的美丽——不断尝试新鲜事物。

约翰·杨：新鲜事物也勾起了雪莉的回忆。

雪莉，参加者：我听到房子里有人在唱歌；有人在玩音乐。随着年龄的增长，我们越来越能融入环境，越来越能听取他人的心声。但音乐始终是我享受的一部分。

约翰·杨：老年人音乐项目也提供了学习新乐器的机会，比如尤克里里。班上参加了纳什维尔成年人教育项目的学生历时数月学会了敲打古典音乐。他们的老师托德是词曲作家，是尤克里里乐团Ukedelics的成员。

托德，老年人音乐：他们不是父母逼着来上课的。他们之所以在这儿，是因为他们想终身做与音乐有关的事，或者他们曾经做过音乐，只是中间有一段时间没做了。

约翰·杨：他们希望更多的老年人能唱出自己的旋律。去年，萨拉获得了WeWork公司5万元的补助金。这笔资金帮助该项目扩张到了田纳西州的诺克斯维尔，在这里，第一次免费演唱会于8月召开了。

萨拉：我希望每个城市都有这样一个老年人音乐的项目。每个地方都有才华横溢的音乐人，每个地方都有与世隔绝、没有得到周到照顾的老年人。

女（唱）：改变即将到来。

约翰·杨：这个改变就像古老又让人喜爱的歌谣一样，会产生巨大的影响力。感谢收听约翰·杨从田纳西州纳什维尔发回的报道。