WBRZ - Baton Rouge

NEW ORLEANS - Longtime Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart came to New Orleans with a message for the thousands of attendees at the AARP's national convention: Music has therapeutic powers.

Hart attended the convention and spoke about the importance of music and playing instruments. He also led a drum circle with hundreds of drummers at the convention, which ended Saturday.

Hart and neurologist Adam Gazzaley a professor at the University of California at San Francisco, spoke to the convention about research that shows music has a positive effect on the brain and how playing music can help offset mental decline.

Throughout the convention attendees could stop into a music-making pavilion.

On Saturday, U.S. Attorney Eric Holder also spoke to the conference. He spoke about the Justice Department's efforts to fight financial fraudsters.