This will be a randomized controlled study to evaluate the effectiveness of live, one-on-one zoom musical performances on alleviating loneliness in older people (55 years and older) living in the Hershey, PA community. After identification of at-risk individuals, I would like to introduce live, interactive music interventions to half of the identified individuals through zoom. The other half will not receive the music intervention until the end of the study. We are planning to recruit 50 participants, allowing for 25 participants each for the experimental and control group. Loneliness scores measured before, during and after the study will be compared using the UCLA Loneliness Scale.

This project involves participating once a week in a 30-minute live music session through zoom and taking a survey regarding your feelings of loneliness. This is a randomized control study, which means that you will be randomly placed in a control group or experimental group. The experimental group will participate in music sessions once a week for 8 weeks, whereas the control group will not receive the music intervention until after 8 weeks.