For Nan-Toby Tyrrell, spreading joy one musical note at a time is what the holiday season is all about.

“I know that music opens up people’s hearts and gives them good memories and spreads joy, especially during the holidays,” Tyrrell said as she set up for a solo piano concert Dec. 7 at San Juan Villa. The memory care center, at 112 Castellano Way in Port Townsend, specializes in caring for folks with cognitive disabilities. It currently serves about 27 residents.

“I love Christmas music, I love Hanukkah music,” Tyrrell said. “I love all good music.”

Channeling the great Duke Ellington, Tyrrell said, “there are two kinds of music, good and bad. And so, I hope I am in the good category.”

Sitting down behind an upright piano in the gathering room of the facility — initially on top of books and magazines stacked up to increase her height on the wooden bench — Tyrell began to sing a variety of holiday tunes from the “Easy Christmas Fake Book” to a delighted audience of gathered residents.

“Every song is in the key of C,” she said.

The Port Townsend matriarch, in her 70s, gleefully sang one holiday standard after another — her fingers nimbly taking flight across the ivory keys as if the arthritis in her hands had been cured.

“In spite of that, when I play piano, it makes me feel ageless,” she said with a bright smile.

Performing not only brings joy to Tyrrell, but to those she serenades, especially the memory care patients.

“I have noticed after we have (someone) like Nan coming, when talking to (the patients) after, we will get a lot more of a response,” said Amy Kress, activity assistant at San Juan Villa. “It is kind of like stretching before a workout.”

Being exposed to joyful music is important for the residents, Kress said. “When you are singing or hearing music, it interacts with many parts of the brain, so the more we can get those parts of the brain turned on, the more memory comes back and the more they may feel a sense of being present in the moment. And, it is a good way to build friendships.”

Tyrrell agreed.

“All of us can hear tones, pitch, timbre, harmony and melodies even though we are not always aware we are integrating and constructing music in different parts of our brains,” she said. “When we listen to music, it involves our auditory and emotional” attention.

Tyrell knows many of the residents won’t remember her the next time she comes to perform, but she said she still enjoys interacting with the residents.

“I like connections, and you don’t visibly get connections,” Tyrrell said. “They (may) remember, but there is one person that does and who knows every song. I depend on that one person.”

A musical ambassador

Tyrrell, a former teacher, tutor and poet, often can be found at venues across the city, where she can share her love of music with others.

In 2002, Tyrrell donated a piano to Jefferson Healthcare, so she can drop in and enliven the environment with music.

“It is up on the third floor,” she said. “That is where I play because everybody has a gift and so (music) is my gift. Music has always been the best part of my life.”

When she was a 6-year-old living in Lakewood Township, New Jersey, Tyrrell began to take lessons from a woman named Teressa.

“She lived a few blocks away from my home,” Tyrrell said. “She was Italian, and had a beautiful face and introduced me to the beginning scales and short pieces in the John Thompson book with illustrations. When I sat down at my piano, I felt that this was something I could do in spite of my nearsightedness and poor or little vision in my right eye.”

Tyrrell’s early years were filled with recitals in which she played the works of Mozart and Chopin.

“I recall how special I felt each time I sat down at the piano with my own brass light,” she said.

Later, Tyrrell began taking lessons from a nun named Sister Beatrice at Georgian Court University, a private Roman Catholic campus near her home.

“I realized I was not going to be a piano major,” Tyrrell said. “Those lessons were harder and I had to practice and work hard to improve. Sister Beatrice taught me the value of perseverance, and to this day, I credit her for the fundamentals which keep my hands and brain working.”

Although becoming a professional pianist was not Tyrrell’s calling, she never gave up on her passion to perform and continued to play for the “pure delight” of the experience.

“When I sit down at my piano, I leave the world of house chores, doggy walks, medical issues and bills (behind). I let my hands find a way to interpret the music that stirs my soul,” she said.

“For me, it’s always been my solace and joy — a chance to rise above the terror and violence in our world and find peace in the songs I play over and over each time to a new audience.”

Tyrrell will next perform holiday music at 2 p.m. Dec. 21 at Victoria Place, 491 Discovery Road in Port Townsend.

“When I play, I invite the audience to hum along or clap their hands or move their heads and shoulders,” she said. “I feel something good in my body and soul when I leave — a bit lighter knowing that I brought some fun and music into the lives” of the audience."