AARP Hearing Center
Tryn Rose Seley leading a music therapy session during a Mindful Art class for people with cognitive impairment and their caregivers.
Cassidy Araiza
For Jim Keylon, music remains one of the few pastimes where Alzheimer’s loosens its grip. Diagnosed in 2021, Jim, now 82, responds to music therapy with a consistency and emotional openness that his wife, Lisa Kurtz Keylon, does not usually see elsewhere. Each week, structured programs — from a music therapy class to an Alzheimer’s-focused choir called Sing for Life — offer him rare moments of connection in a disease otherwise marked by disorientation.
The response is not dramatic recall or sudden virtuosity. Instead, the changes are subtle but more durable: Jim sings along, reads music, plays simple pieces and, most importantly, engages.
“Music reaches him in a way nothing else does. Even as his short-term memory fades, the songs remain and bring him comfort,” says Lisa, an attorney in Phoenix. “He may not remember what he did yesterday, but he remembers the music, sings songs; and after music therapy, he’s calmer, more engaged and genuinely happier. Those familiar songs connect him to parts of his life that Alzheimer’s hasn’t taken away.”
At home, Lisa reinforces what Jim enjoys through his music intervention programs, particularly the class in Scottsdale, Arizona, run by music therapist Tryn Rose Seley, author of 15 Minutes of Fame. Almost every day, Lisa streams Jim’s favorite tunes through a Bluetooth speaker, and she recently added piano lessons to their routine, hoping to tap into long-term memory. While the recall she expected didn’t fully emerge, the piano still gives Jim pleasure, structure and a sense of accomplishment, especially when he returns to familiar songs like “Heart and Soul.”
Seley plays familiar songs on a string instrument to bring people together into a shared rhythm of singing, smiles and participation.
Cassidy Araiza
Seley describes music therapy not as entertainment but as a clinical tool that helps people with Alzheimer’s disease and other chronic conditions reconnect with themselves, their caregivers and the world around them.
In her weekly sessions at senior centers, hospitals and long-term care facilities, Seley uses familiar songs to calm anxiety, orient participants and establish a shared emotional rhythm with the group. “When people walk in, they’re often confused or agitated,” she explains. “Once we start singing, the room unifies and people start to relax, smile and participate.”
The effects often extend beyond the session. Caregivers report that loved ones are calmer at home, sleep better, eat more consistently and show fewer signs of agitation for days afterward. Lyric sheets and prompts are intentionally designed to be taken home and reused, offering families a way to reorient someone who is anxious or awake in the middle of the night. “This isn’t just for the hour we’re together,” Seley says. “It’s a tool for daily life.”
For caregivers, the benefits can be equally significant. Many describe seeing their partner or parent at a higher level of functioning than they experience at home — singing, joking, sharing stories and engaging socially. That shift can restore hope and delay difficult decisions about institutional care. “Caregivers tell me, ‘I didn’t know my spouse could still do this,’ ” Seley says. “Now they’re building positive memories again.”
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