How One Senior Living Community Is Creating Connection Through Outdoor Music

At Percussion Play, we're continually inspired by the creative ways communities use outdoor music to enrich everyday life. One inspiring example is the Harmony Garden at EverTrue Laclede Groves, a senior living community in Missouri, where music, nature, and meaningful connection come together in a welcoming outdoor setting.

Created under the leadership of Board-Certified Music Therapist Emily Sitzes MT-BC, the Harmony Garden has become a place where residents, families, caregivers, and visitors can gather, create music, and share moments of joy. In this guest blog, Emily shares the story behind the project, how it supports wellbeing and engagement, and why outdoor musical spaces have become such a valuable part of community life at EverTrue.

The Harmony Garden at EverTrue Laclede Groves grew out of a desire to create a sensory garden at its senior living community, similar to those often found in parks, schools, or healthcare settings. With inclusion, accessibility, music, and joy at the forefront of the plan, the music therapy team at EverTrue Laclede Groves designed an outdoor space where residents of all abilities could explore and connect through music.

How the Harmony Garden Came to Life

Funded by the auxiliary group at EverTrue Laclede Groves, the installation was met with overwhelming enthusiasm and support from residents and donors.

Named the Harmony Garden, it features four accessible Percussion Play instruments: Rainbow Chimes, Calypso Chimes, and two sets of Harmony Flowers. The vibrant, nature-inspired instruments bring new energy to the Chapel Courtyard, located outside the community’s historic 100-year-old chapel, the heart of EverTrue Laclede Groves.

The Harmony Garden is now an inviting space where residents, family members, caregivers, visitors and team members can discover moments of musical creativity, connection and joy.

The garden is regularly incorporated into programming led by a Board-Certified Music Therapist, including garden meditations, intergenerational experiences, and music therapy groups for individuals living with dementia. Because the instruments are accessible and require no prior musical experience, participation can occur naturally in many different ways. Residents can explore music independently, with grandchildren and visitors, or alongside team members.

Expanding Outdoor Music Across EverTrue Communities

What began with one Harmony Garden has also inspired growth. Outdoor music spaces can now be found across multiple EverTrue Life Plan Communities in Missouri and Illinois. They have become particularly meaningful within Memory Support environments, complementing EverTrue’s trademarked StillYou® approach to supporting individuals living with dementia by creating opportunities for engagement, self-expression, connection and joy.

More recently, EverTrue Laclede Groves was selected as a research site for the Sounding Out study, a project conducted in partnership with Percussion Play that explores the role outdoor musical instruments can play in senior living communities.

As the only senior living Life Plan Community in the United States to participate in the research study, the project sparked conversation and reminiscence, encouraging residents to spend more time outdoors and offering new ways to connect through shared musical experiences.

Creating Places to Age Well with Purpose and Joy

The Harmony Garden serves as a reminder that creating a place to age well is about more than the physical environment. It is about creating opportunities to still play, still create, still connect, and be “StillYou®”.

Continuing the Conversation

The experiences shared by Emily and the EverTrue team reflect many of the themes explored in the Sounding Out research project, including connection, reminiscence, creativity, and spending more time outdoors. As more senior living communities embrace outdoor music, projects like the Harmony Garden are helping to demonstrate how thoughtfully designed spaces can support healthy aging and enrich everyday life.

• Request the Sounding Out report
• Listen to the Stories Behind Sounding Out podcast
• Explore senior living case studies