Musical Retirement

In Musical Retirement: Enjoy Your Senior Years, Ivgeni Kriger outlines a new approach to the typical assisted living or nursing home environment. Along the way, Ivgeni shares his own musical journey and how he came to combine music with senior care to inspire individuals to have a joyful life at any age!

The new book, Musical Retirement: Enjoy Your Senior Years, is a guidebook to incorporating music into every part of a senior's daily life. Ivgeni not only shares how facilities can weave music into their daily routine, but he also shares tools and ideas that can help seniors still living at home to incorporate more joy into their days and thus improve their quality of life. Ivgeni is a nursing professional, trained musician, and owner/founder of Musical Retirement. Ivgeni's journey began in Russia where he received an education and musical training before he left for Israel where he received education in nursing. Ivgeni ended up immigrating to Canada, where he put his ideas regarding the benefits of music to work. Today, he continues to bring joy to seniors through his saxophone playing and various musical activities. Working with different facilities, his team has incorporated music into exercise, creative projects, and even birthday celebrations.

"My purpose in writing this book is to introduce a new concept, a new way of approaching senior care that encourages them to find joy in their everyday activities. I outline how my musical retirement home functions, but also share how facilities can use these methods to bring music into their daily routine. Even if a facility has a limited activities budget, these tools and tips can be incorporated with just a little work by the staff," said Ivgeni.

This book dives right into the types of senior activities that music can support. Ivgeni begins with a typical senior's ideal morning routine, using music to lighten the mood and give seniors a shot of joy at the beginning of their day. Then he shares how music can be used to bring enjoyment to mealtimes, even stimulating appetites. Even those individuals who might be suffering from dementia or Alzheimer's can still benefit from the music as a way to revisit old memories and get them talking.

Ivgeni also shares how music can be a form of therapy, thus helping seniors to express themselves on a variety of topics. For those dealing with depression or other challenges, music can be used to help lift their mood or as a way to help them express the challenges they are facing.