AMY ZHOU

SCALING IT: Senior Emma Hedrick plays scales on the piano as part of her morning warmup for Jazz Ensemble. Hedrick is a member of Share the Music and also sings and plays jazz music for the club.

Share the music club, a club that performs a variety of music pieces at nursing homes, will host its annual Winter Benefit Concert at 4 p.m. tomorrow. Typically, the club dedicates all of the ticket funds to charities such as Save the Music Foundation to the Gleaners Food Bank; however, this year the club intends to donate all of the funds to Smile Train, an organization that raises funds for medical procedures for children born with cleft lips and palates.

Yet the underlying charitable intentions of Share the Music’s Winter benefit concert do not end at just the funds raised for Smile Train. For Anna Li, Share the Music co-president and senior, the widespread benefits and influence of music extend throughout the Carmel community.

“I am currently reading a book called that talks about how some patients with Parkinson’s disease — one that paralyzes people  — start to move or free up when they hear the sound of music,” Li said. “I have started to notice that, too, when I play at nursing homes. At one nursing home, many residents are handicapped. But then when I start playing, I see their heads sway and feel the music. It’s nice knowing that although they can’t express it, they’re feeling and appreciating what you’re playing.”

Li’s experiences with music and the elderly are not isolated events. In fact, according to the National Association of Music Merchants, a foundation that promotes active participation in music through philanthropic and public service programs, involvement in participatory arts programs has been shown to have a positive effect on mental health, physical health and social functioning in older adults, regardless of their ability.

Similarly, Maggie Hite, Share the Music club sponsor, said she notices the widespread psychological benefits Share the Music has on citizens within the community. According to Hilt, the benefits of Share the Music are multifaceted. On one hand, the music brightens the lives of many community members, and on the other, the music is therapeutic to many senior living residents who have undergone trauma or suffer from memory loss.

“My grandma, when we played music together would always remember song lyrics because she fit them together with the melody,” Hite said. I think there is really a power there, and I think that music is more than just pleasant sounds, it’s really a powerful thing that can bring people together and touch people on a deep level.”