Music and Senior Citizens: Research Findings & Considerations for Music Education
Lisa J. Lehmberg
For many in the United States, the term music participation brings to mind music making during the K-12 schooling years, in a vari- ety of settings inside and outside of schools. However, most people spend more years out of school than in school. What can the mu- sic participation of adults - particularly older adults- tell us about scaffolding musical in- volvement throughout life? Research shows that as life expectancy increases, accompanied by an increased capability to maintain robust health well into older adulthood, many individuals choose to continue music participation through adulthood or even become involved in music for the first time as senior citizens (Fung & Lehmberg, 2016). Te relatively new and grow- ing body of research on the music participation of healthy, independent older adults (most of which has been conducted in the last twenty years) has already uncovered much about the role of music participation throughout life. Some findings are what might be expected, but others are a bit surprising!
One major group of research findings from the field of music education concerns how senior citizens participate in music. As might be expected, research illuminates a strong rela- tionship between music participation in earlier years and music participation later in life. A large majority of senior citizens who partici- pate in music also did so in younger years. It also may not be surprising to learn that most participate in the same types of ensembles as in their earlier years: primarily church and com- munity choirs and bands (now via New Hori- zons ensembles for many), with choral groups being by far the most popular with the greatest ease of entry. Additionally, research shows that individuals who begin music participation for the first time as senior citizens tend to choose musical activities that have fluid entry points (welcome to join at any time; formal musical
training not required), with choral ensem- bles again being the most popular. A perhaps more unexpected finding is that today’s senior citizens are also choosing to participate in alternative types of music-making opportuni- ties that revolve around popular music, such as bluegrass or rock groups and karaoke, as well as participatory music-making opportunities, such as circle singing or drum circles, in which everyone present participates and there are no performer/audience distinctions. In addition, seniors enjoy engaged music listening activities, dancing to music, and/or serving as support personnel for musical groups and consider these to be active forms of music participation even though they do not involve music making per se. Most importantly, research shows that senior citizens desire the opportunity to take music into their own hands by having many different choices available for music participa- tion (Fung & Lehmberg, 2016).
A second, even larger group of findings (also from the field of music education) relates to why senior citizens choose to participate in music. It is logical that music plays a positive role in the quality of
life of senior citizens who
participate in it, and research clearly points out the enormous breadth and depth of its impact. Seniors who choose to involve themselves in music reap multiple physical, psychological, and social benefits on many levels, ranging from superficial (enjoyment of making music) to profound (music serving as a lifeline in times of adversity) (Fung & Lehmberg, 2016). Pos- itive physical/psychological impacts of music participation that frequently surface in research include (but are not limited to) the following: (Note: though these findings are supported in multiple research studies, only one citation is provided for each in the interest of brevity)
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