Intergenerational Music Making: A Phenomenological Study of Older Australians With Children

Intergenerational music making: A phenomenological study of three older Australians making music with children

This phenomenological study examines three older Australians who actively engage in music making with children. The research explores intergenerational (IG) music engagement from the perspective of the older Australians involved, focusing particularly on the perceived benefits they derive from these musical interactions. Data were collected through a series of open-ended, one-on-one interviews with the researcher. Analysis of the data revealed five key themes about IG music engagement: (1) IG music experiences promoted social engagement; (2) IG music experiences fostered positive attitudes about young people; (3) choice in music making was valued in the IG music experiences; (4) involvement in IG music experiences resulted in the older Australians feeling valued and respected; and (5) reciprocity in learning was perceived in the IG music experiences. The article also discusses implications of intergenerational music engagement for music education.

Active engagement with music in later life provides ongoing benefits for older people, including positive self-esteem, feelings of competence and independence, avoiding isolation or loneliness, maintaining or building cognitive skills, and fostering socialisation. There is little consensus in the literature on the precise age at which someone is considered an "older" member of society. However, the literature surveyed in this article tends to define older people as those at least sixty years of age. This article reports on three older Australians active in music making with children. Three distinct cases of intergenerational music engagement are explored, focusing on the perspectives of the older Australians involved in these musical interactions.

Although engagement with music encompasses a variety of activities for older people, music performance dominates recent literature. This is especially evident in rich qualitative studies that foreground the voices of older people. In each of these cases, respondents were engaged in music making that culminated in performances for some kind of audience. In each case, there was minimal reference to intergenerational music making, which is the focus of the current study.

Literature on intergenerational learning tends to focus either on formal programs designed for school or community settings, or on the naturally occurring informal intergenerational learning that takes place in the home environment, frequently involving grandparent-grandchild interactions. The latter tends to focus on younger children (under 8). Such informal intergenerational engagement is considered important for the emotional and social benefits it provides for both child and older adult, and it highlights the important role grandparents play in co-constructing knowledge with young children. Formalised intergenerational programs are wide and varied, including literacy programs, history classes, and intergenerational choruses. In most cases the role of the older adult is that of tutor or mentor. The often-cited benefits of such programs include increased understanding of the "other" generation, enhanced knowledge and skills, and fostering of intergenerational relationships.

Research focusing on intergenerational music experiences is limited. The literature that does exist tends to focus on choral singing. Bowers examined the attitudes of college students and senior citizens who were part of a choir program, revealing positive experiences for both groups. Conway and Hodgman also focused on the experiences of college students and older people (aged 55-71, with the exception of a 33-year-old) in an intergenerational choral project. Results revealed positive musical experiences, better understanding of others (despite initial apprehension), and no signs of an age barrier. Whereas Bowers employed a pre- and post-experience response inventory, Conway and Hodgman used interviews, participant journals, and researcher logs in their phenomenological study. Darrow, Johnson, and Ollenberger focused on high school students' attitudes toward older people when part of an intergenerational choir, revealing that teenagers' participation over a year resulted in positive attitude change towards the seniors. Darrow, Johnson, Ollenberger, and Miller focused on attitudinal statements toward teens and older persons from audience members of an intergenerational choir performance. Both teen and senior audience members showed positive attitude shifts from pre- to post-test. Although not a research report, Frego outlines the benefits of Interlink, an intergenerational choral program in Canada. Like the Darrow, Johnson, and Ollenberger project, this program involves intergenerational choir rehearsal, performance, and social activities. The Interlink project unites children under 16 with people aged over 60. Identified benefits include improving generational awareness, promoting good mental health, multicultural awareness, and "pass[ing] down a living history and cultural identity."

The current study does not focus on intergenerational participation in choirs. Rather, the focus varies from case to case: Irene (67 years old) and her granddaughter Chelsea (11 years old) play piano together; Margaret (75 years old) accompanies a school choir as a volunteer and teaches one student in the choir, Kylie (8 years old), the violin; and Bruce (72 years old) invites his friend's son, Josh (15 years old), to play saxophone in his 1950s rock and roll band.

Research design

The project emerged from a larger study consisting of multiple case studies exploring the role of active engagement in music in the lives of nine older Australians (aged 63-79). Purposive sampling was used, whereby participants were selected based on the varying ways they were engaged in active music making in older age, combined with snowball sampling (one participant would recommend another possible participant). Participants were selected to reflect various ways they engaged in music making, including playing a musical instrument professionally, singing in an amateur choir, learning a musical instrument for the first time, listening to music, and teaching music. From the outset, a phenomenological approach was taken, exploring the participants' lived experience in terms of engagement with music. The emphasis was not on presenting objective facts, but rather on understanding the lived experience by focusing on the participants' perceptions about their situations. As O'Toole & Beckett point out, phenomenological research frequently takes the form of a case study or case studies.

When the study was conceived and the nine participants selected, intergenerational music making was one of the key areas to be explored. Since all participants had children, and eight had grandchildren, it was anticipated that all—or at least most—participants would have engaged in intergenerational music making. This was not the case, however, with only the three participants who are the focus of this study indicating they had engaged in such music making.

Data were gathered through a series of open-ended, one-on-one interviews with the researcher. After each interview, the researcher analysed the interview data, then re-presented it to each participant, frequently with questions to clarify what the participant had said in the previous interview.

This form of member checking was used to address issues relating to reliability and validity. Rather than waiting until all data had been analysed to check the validity, this was an ongoing process from interview to interview, and repeated following final analysis. In addition, the researcher sought prolonged engagement with each participant. Although interviews lasted from 20 to 55 minutes, additional time was often spent after interviews in conversation with the participants. During these times, participants would frequently share artefacts and documents, such as concert programs and sound recordings. These less formal interactions were documented in the research journal, along with thoughts and ideas relating to the researcher's own preconceptions and experiences concerning music making, specifically intergenerational music making.

In identifying personal beliefs about intergenerational music making, the researcher engaged in phenomenological reduction, setting aside their own assumptions and prejudices when interviewing and analysing data to remain as open as possible to each participant's lived and living musical experiences. The researcher's own experiences in intergenerational music making were twofold: firstly, playing piano duets with their grandmother as a young child; and secondly, engaging in musical play with their son through early childhood, then teaching him the piano. The latter is ongoing, so the researcher is acutely aware of the musical exchanges and the extramusical value in that ongoing relationship. Interestingly, in reflecting on playing piano with their grandmother, the researcher recollected memories of free-flowing, child-driven music making. When discussing this with their mother, she questioned this, recalling that their musical exchanges were actually quite formalised, with repertoire selection and music making being dictated solely by the grandmother.

A phenomenological approach was taken in data analysis, seeking to find the essence of the participants' lived musical experiences with children. An inductive approach to analysis was used, allowing themes to emerge as data was coded. Each theme constituted "a statement of meaning that (1) runs through all or most of the pertinent data, or (2) one in the minority that carries heavy emotional or factual input." A theme represents the form of capturing the phenomenon being examined; it describes an aspect of the structure of lived experience. Writing and rewriting were fundamental to data analysis, acknowledging that the interpretive act in phenomenological research occurs in the writing experience. Following a brief outline of the three cases, thematic analysis of interview data is presented.

The three cases

Sixty-seven-year-old Irene has returned to learning the piano nearly 60 years after taking lessons as a child. She stopped lessons at age 8 because her parents could not afford them, and was devastated for years afterward, spending hours at the piano playing pieces learned with her teacher. As an adult, Irene did not feel she had time to commit to piano learning. Since retirement, she not only has the time but also the inclination to learn with other retirees. She attends a 45-minute group keyboard lesson with two other older women once a fortnight. While she enjoys this, she finds even greater joy in playing with Chelsea, her 11-year-old granddaughter. Chelsea has been taking studio piano lessons since age 6 and undertakes annual music examinations. Chelsea visits Irene every other weekend and spends 30 to 60 minutes at the piano with her. Chelsea frequently performs pieces she is learning for Irene, and in turn listens to pieces Irene is learning. However, it is their shared music making—playing together—that Irene relishes most. She describes it as "a connection," a way of communicating and being together.

Seventy-five-year-old Margaret volunteers as the piano accompanist for a rural primary school choir, a role she has filled for two years. Over the last six months, the school principal invited Margaret to extend her volunteer work. She now teaches occasional music lessons to children in the lower and middle primary school, and for the last four months has been teaching Kylie (8 years old) the violin. When accompanying the school choir, Margaret identified Kylie as having "a spectacular voice and near perfect pitch." Margaret suggested Kylie learn a musical instrument, but Kylie's mother indicated she could not afford to purchase an instrument or pay for lessons. Margaret had a half-size violin at home, so she brought it to school and began teaching Kylie the violin for free. Margaret loves working with all the children and the variety it brings, but she is most pleased by what she can give Kylie: something she otherwise would not receive. Margaret can play multiple instruments, including piano, violin, cello, flute, and clarinet. Despite having no teaching background, she loves teaching music to children.

Seventy-two-year-old Bruce has played in rock and roll bands since his late teens. While he initially earned a living playing in a band in the mid-1950s, by the early 1960s he found that he needed supplemental income from his trade as a plumber. By the 1990s, he played in rock and roll bands solely for pleasure and continues today. Bruce has performed with a variety of people, different in musical experience and age. He considers himself the leader of his current band, by default due to his age and his longevity with the group. He plays keyboard, piano, and guitar and believes he has a lot of expertise to share.

Eight months ago, 15-year-old Josh joined the band on a semi-permanent basis as a saxophonist. Bruce didn't know Josh initially but knew his father from his days as a plumber. Josh's father had mentioned that his son had been learning saxophone for a few years but wanted to give it up because he was bored learning at school. He asked if his son could sit in with Bruce's band as a way of keeping him playing. A friendship has developed between Bruce and Josh, with Josh not only rehearsing but occasionally performing with the band. Josh is the youngest member by approximately thirty years.

Themes

Social engagement

All three participants considered their music-making experiences with children to be positive social experiences. Both Irene and Margaret spoke of their musical engagement as alleviating feelings of loneliness, a finding echoed in other studies. Irene noted that when her husband passed away, she sometimes felt lonely. She described a moment when, feeling blue and alone, Chelsea came over and played a new piece by Schumann, making Irene feel wonderful. Margaret, who also lives alone, always feels good on school days when she makes music with children, though she acknowledges feeling a bit lonely in the evenings.

All three agreed that their relationships with children extend beyond simply making music. Margaret described it as about sharing time and laughter. Bruce compared his band to a family where members become close through rehearsing, performing, eating together, and spending time getting to know each other. He now thinks of Josh "almost like a son — or a grandson." Irene enjoys conversation with Chelsea, describing her as a wonderful listener and storyteller.

Similar to findings in studies of choirs of older people performing for care facility residents, these participants viewed their music-making with children as a way to maintain relationships. Margaret felt that without music she would not have her relationships with Kylie and the children in the choir—it was through music that they got to know each other. Bruce similarly indicated that playing music together was essential to his relationship with Josh.

One unexpected finding related to positive social engagement was revealed by all three participants. This reciprocity in making music together offered them meaningful connections that extended beyond the immediate musical activity, creating genuine relational bonds between generations.

The participants all experienced expanded social networks as a result of their musical engagement with children. For Irene, this meant being introduced to friends of her granddaughter Chelsea when she performed on piano. She recalled three specific instances: two occasions when Chelsea invited her to hear her perform in eisteddfods, and once at a school concert. For Margaret, her involvement with children at school meant she not only interacted with the children but also with their parents, who sometimes attended choir rehearsals and stayed behind afterward to talk.

But this expansion of social networks had the greatest impact on Bruce. He explained that once Josh began performing with the band, he would invite friends to come to the shows:

Each time he plays there’s more and more of the kids … before [he joined the band] our demographic was the over fifties, but now we’re getting some of his teenager friends coming … and there’s a few of them who will stay after the gig and want to talk music, which is nice.

Positive attitudes about young people

Irene, Margaret and Bruce all felt that engaging musically with the children on an ongoing basis gave them a positive attitude about the children, and by extension about young people generally. Previous research has shown that sustained interaction in intergenerational programs frequently leads older adults to change their opinions about young people, becoming more positive (Bowers, 1999; Conway & Hodgman, 2008; Darrow, Johnson & Oldenberger, 1994; Newman & Hatton-Yeo, 2008). The comments from these participants reveal what it is about their relationships with the children that produced this shift.

Irene remarked:

Apart from raising my own three children I’ve had very little to do with children except for Chelsea. You could say that I didn’t think too much of teenagers and children. The ones I’d see on the bus tended to be quite rude and the stories I’d hear from friends about their grandchildren did not inspire much confidence in me about today’s children. But now that I spend a fair bit of time with Chelsea my attitude has changed. Talking with her has made me more understanding. Girls’ lives today are so busy, and they tend to do much more than I did as a child. So much sport, the music, [Girl] guides, ballet.

Margaret’s positive attitude toward young people had a different emphasis:

I must admit that prior to volunteering [at the school] I thought that children’s manners were really quite appalling. Some of the things I’d see on the street – mainly teenagers though … But what I see at school are, for the most part, children with lovely manners. And some of them are so thoughtful.

Margaret also noted that children today “have it harder emotionally than my generation,” pointing to the high numbers of children from single-parent homes. “And the stories the teachers tell about how the parents fight over the kids and use them, treating them like objects … it’s a testament to the children that they are so well adjusted.”

Bruce’s positive view of young children revolved more around their musical abilities, particularly Josh’s: “I’ve got to tell you that I always thought the musical skills kids today have just aren’t up there with my generation’s [skills].” Like Irene, this opinion was not based on first-hand contact with young people: “It’s the music they listen to and come out with, all the ‘doof doof’ music with no soul, energy, and you don’t have to be able to play an instrument to make it.” But when Josh started playing with the band, Bruce’s opinion changed:

I thought he just wouldn’t be able to cut it with us, no technique … but I was wrong. He’d been taught well – done his scales and other technical work, and [he] really practised … And when he told me the sort of things he has to do for his VCE [Victorian Certificate of Education] music I was blown away. They expect a lot.

All three participants previously held some negative opinions about children, but through being able to talk with the children, and in Bruce’s case, play music with Josh, their views became more positive. As the quotes above show, negative opinions were frequently based on misinformation and a lack of deeper understanding of young children’s lives.

Choice

In a review of intergenerational programs in schools, Kaplan (2002) stressed the importance of ensuring older volunteers in schools have a choice about the activities they engage in with young children. Being able to choose—in consultation with the children—the direction of their music making was seen as important by all three participants. Bruce said:

Josh’s dad said it was pretty much up to me how we involved Josh in the band … which was the only way I’d have done it. At first I didn’t know the kid and I was doing the favour. But Josh was good, he went with the flow, and now has a bigger say which I don’t mind at all.

Irene said that when Chelsea visits, their music making is unplanned and frequently “just happens,” with both of them choosing what to do and when:

Sometimes we’ll talk, sometimes I might play a piece I’ve been learning, or she might play something she’s been learning … more often than not, though, she might play me something and I’ll ask her if she can start teaching it to me. If it’s too hard I might then go out and find a simpler arrangement. I did that with a gorgeous Scott Joplin rag. Chelsea was playing the original, which is technically very complex and beyond me, but I did find a simple arrangement of it and started learning it with her.

The informal nature of their musical interactions also led Irene to suggest that she and Chelsea attempt some piano duets:

It was my idea and I wasn’t sure that Chelsea would be too keen, but she is now and we have such a good time playing. I’ve never performed in public before, too shy and not good enough, but I think I could do this with Chelsea, although I’m not sure where we’d play.

Margaret spoke most explicitly about valuing choice in terms of the musical activities she engaged in at the school:

Well the choir was established so I’m there to do a job, which is accompanying on piano. Janet [the conductor of the choir and a teacher at the school] chooses the repertoire, although she did say that if I’ve any suggestions to put them on the table, and I have … I suggested we look for an arrangement of “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square” which is one of my favourites … so the school bought some copies [of the sheet music] and the choir is learning it now. They love it.

Commenting on the occasional music lessons she teaches to the children, she said, “the school principal lets me do anything … it’s wonderful, complete freedom. And I learn so much doing this – what works with the children, what doesn’t.” Even with regard to the violin lessons she provides to Kylie, choice is valued:

Well it was up to me what time to teach her during the day … I settled on mid-morning, because she’s bright and fresh and so am I. And I was even given a choice about what room to teach her in – we’ve ended up in a nice little room that’s deliciously warm in winter.

Being valued and respected

All three older adults felt not only valued but also respected by the children they make music with, as well as by other adults involved. This sense of being valued contributed to feelings of well-being, motivating them to continue their intergenerational music making. Previous research has also pointed to the need for older participants in intergenerational learning programs to feel valued and respected in order to sustain their involvement (Gamliel, Reichental & Ayal, 2007; Newman & Hatton-Yeo, 2008; Strom & Strom, 1995). This was especially true for Margaret, who works at her local school. She felt she was part of the school community and respected not only by the children but also by the teachers. She mentioned that she is invited once a term to a volunteers’ thank-you morning tea hosted by the principal: “that’s really lovely, her taking the time to say ‘thank you’ and having a cuppa [cup of tea] with those of us who give up our time to contribute [to the school].”

Irene believes her granddaughter Chelsea values and respects their relationship: “She is the more advanced musician, there’s no doubt about that, but I think she genuinely enjoys the time we spend together playing [piano].” Irene later mentioned that Chelsea once told her she “really looks forward” to the time they spend making music and talking. Irene also sees Chelsea’s mother valuing the time they spend together: “Her mother says she thinks it’s important that she spends this time with me because I am older and I bring a different … perspective to things, to life than her friends.” Bruce said that Josh always thanks him for allowing him to sit in on rehearsals and “the occasional concert.”

Reciprocity in learning

Newman & Hatton-Yeo (2008) stress that a major outcome of intergenerational learning is the reciprocity of learning—not just children learning from older adults, but older adults learning from children. This was abundantly clear in the three cases presented here.

There were similarities in what Irene, Bruce and Margaret believed they taught the children and what the children taught them. All three highlighted two areas where they learned from the children: using technology to engage with music, and becoming familiar with contemporary music they would not otherwise have listened to or played. In terms of technology, Irene indicated that Chelsea “brought me into the 21st century” by urging her to buy an iPod, then showing her “how to put my CDs into iTunes … and how to buy music I hadn’t been able to find on CD.” She now has most of the piano music she learns “played by professionals” on her iPod, allowing her to think beyond her “own interpretation of how the music should be played.” Kylie, Margaret’s violin student, introduced her to Finale Notepad, free software for music notation. Margaret said:

If Kylie was interested in playing a short piece of music that we couldn’t find the sheet music for I’d generally scribble it down on manuscript paper. But my writing isn’t always that legible, so out of the blue Kylie told me that you can download free computer programs that let you do this really neatly, very professionally. She showed me one program that’s on the computers in the school computer lab … Finale.

Bruce was also introduced to a music software program by Josh—Pro Tools—which he learned to use. The children were also responsible for exposing Bruce, Margaret and Irene to contemporary music. For Bruce, this meant music Josh was listening to, mainly music featuring saxophone:

He’s really interested in the sax and how it’s used in music other than what we’ve been doing. He’s had me listening to the music I avoided over the last couple of decades –

particularly music from the 1980s. David Bowie, Huey Lewis, INXS. But the sax work in some of their music is really quite good.

Margaret spoke of the contemporary repertoire sung in the school choir, chosen by the conductor, as her window into popular music:

Most of it [contemporary popular music] is rubbish, loud and senseless, but there is some lovely material out there that works well for choir. We’ve performed “Beautiful” by Christina somebody [Aguilera], which has a lovely melody, and a song by Dido, silly name but a nice song. And of course some of the children have the original recordings and want to play them for me … so that’s been my introduction to today’s music.

Irene’s engagement with contemporary popular music came through listening to piano arrangements of contemporary songs Chelsea is learning (such as “Fallin’” by Alicia Keys), as well as sharing the music on her iPod.

Irene, Margaret and Bruce all believed they had contributed to the musical learning of the children. Irene felt her contribution to Chelsea’s learning was “quite minimal. She’s got superior music skills to me. But I was the one who initiated playing duets, which I think is not only fun but a good skill, having to listen to the other person.” Margaret, by contrast, saw her contribution to the children’s music learning at the school as “substantial. I’m it for any music lessons the children get … and I’m Kylie’s violin teacher. She wouldn’t be learning if it wasn’t for me.” Bruce believed he contributed to Josh’s technique on the saxophone through their rehearsals and performances, and in particular “we [the rest of the band] have taken him from being a kid learning sax at school and playing in the school concert band to a rock and roller!” Specifically, he pointed to encouraging Josh to improvise within the band context:

The kid had never improvised before. Ever. He’s been learning sax for five years and all he’s ever done is read music from the page. Personally, I think that’s criminal … and it turns out he’s got the chops for it, it was a matter of providing him with that opportunity to do it, show him a few things, and he was off.

All three believed they were responsible for exposing the children to new music—music from their own childhoods and teenage years. Apart from suggesting “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square,” a song from her youth, Margaret also exposed the children to other older performers through her music lessons:

I’ve played them Frank [Sinatra], told them a little about him, at just how popular he was, like Michael Jackson … then there are the show tunes, the Porter, the Rodgers and Hammerstein. And the one they really loved was Oliver. I don’t know why that musical hasn’t had a real revival, because the tunes are wonderful, and it’s a wonderful story.

For Bruce, it was “all about the fifties”—exposing Josh to music from that decade: “He had to listen to it, feel it, before performing it. And he hardly knew any of the music, just a couple of Elvis songs. I gave him plenty of CDs to listen to, to study, and he did.”

Discussion

Myers (2007) has noted that “we lose sight of the ways in which people spontaneously engage in music throughout their lives,” including through intergenerational music learning (p. 11). This phenomenological study has gone some way to articulate how both spontaneous and planned intergenerational music making has occurred in the lives of three older Australians.

Like Conway & Hodgman’s (2008) phenomenological study of college and community choir members’ experiences in an intergenerational performance project, the participants’ voices have been foregrounded in this article. Rather than paraphrasing their words, the participants “speak for themselves” through extensive interview dialogue. This aligns with a phenomenological approach, where participants’ lived experiences and their perceptions of that experience form the focus.

The themes that emerged regarding the participants’ beliefs about their intergenerational music experiences, and the perceived benefits for both themselves and the children, echo many findings in previous research on intergenerational learning. However, this study has gone further, explaining these findings through the participants’ voices and in some cases revealing the reasons behind them. To summarise, the themes emerging from participants’ experiences of intergenerational (IG) music engagement were: 1) IG music experiences promoted social engagement; 2) IG music experiences fostered positive attitudes about young people; 3) choice in music making was valued in the IG music experiences; 4) involvement in IG music experiences made the older Australians feel valued and respected; and 5) there was perceived reciprocity of learning in the IG music experiences.

Regarding perceived social engagement (theme 1), two of the three participants pointed to IG music experiences alleviating feelings of loneliness; these two lived alone. All three participants not only valued their music making with the children but also the additional social contacts that resulted, including time to share and talk with the children. The ongoing IG music experiences also provided a forum for maintaining relationships between the older adults and the children. This was not previously identified in the literature, nor was the expansion of social networks that the older adults experienced through engaging in IG music activities. This expansion was seen as a positive outcome, with the older adults meeting and socialising with new people through the children involved in the IG music experiences.

The development of positive attitudes about young people (theme 2) occurred through initial IG music experiences, ongoing conversation with the children, and in some cases, meeting other young people. All three older adults initially held—to varying degrees—negative attitudes toward young people. But sustained interaction through the IG music experiences broke down those negative attitudes as they encountered young people directly in the context of music making. These findings mirror those in the IG music education literature (Bowers, 1998; Conway & Hodgman, 2008; Darrow, Johnson and Ollenberger, 2001; Darrow, Johnson, Ollenberger & Miller, 2001).

The valuing of choice (theme 3) when it came to the IG music making experiences was

This theme also highlighted the significance of informal IG music experiences, especially for Irene and Bruce.

Equally vital was feeling valued and respected within IG music interactions (theme 4). This mattered both in their relationships with the children and in how they were regarded by others connected to the children—for Irene and Bruce, this meant the children’s parents, while for Margaret, it was the teachers and principal at the school where she volunteers.

The perception of reciprocal learning in IG music experiences (theme 5) indicated that older Australians believed they were contributing to the children’s musical growth while also learning from them. They felt the children taught them about technology and contemporary music. What each older person thought they provided differed: Margaret offered school music lessons and piano accompaniment for choral work, Irene initiated piano duets, and Bruce gave Josh opportunities to refine his saxophone technique and explore improvisation.

All three, however, shared the view that they were introducing the children to what they considered valuable music from the past.

Implications for music education

Every participant articulated a wide range of benefits from IG music experiences—for themselves as well as the children. This suggests a role for such reciprocal music making in the wider community, particularly within music education programs. Notably, both Bruce and Irene noted that Josh and Chelsea had become disengaged from school music. Bruce observed:

Josh joined us [the band] to remain interested in the sax because the music he was getting at school wasn’t interesting to him. But having said this, I think some of that interest at school has come back because he’s in the band. The music tech[nology] particularly, and he’s taken a bit of an interest in composition in his school music. I think that’s maybe come from the improvising he’s done with us.

With this statement, Bruce began to articulate how informal music making in his band could “feed into” more formal school programs and reignite student interest. For this to happen, school music educators must be aware of the kinds of musical engagement their students pursue outside school and be open to how learning happens in those settings. Rather than positioning school music as “formal” and Josh’s band involvement as “informal,” it may be more useful, as Folkestad (2006) suggests, not to treat them as binary opposites but to explore how both approaches can support each other.

Bruce’s and Irene’s experiences clearly show that older people engaged in IG music making with children can offer legitimate informal music opportunities that school music education can draw upon. It should be noted that more formal music learning—whether in classrooms or studios—also tends to be intergenerational, especially in master-class contexts where experienced older educators work with younger students.

All three participants believed older volunteers had a place in children’s school music experiences. Margaret already filled this role, and Bruce had worked in schools voluntarily. He noted:

I could never be a teacher. I come from rock and roll, which was all about being a rebel, not sitting up straight and conforming. When I’d come into schools it wasn’t as a teacher, but as a muso.[1] And I’d work with small groups of kids as musos, like I do with Josh. Sure you teach them, but not like a teacher teaching … if you know what I mean.

Bruce thus points to another dimension of school music education and another way to engage students. When I mentioned this to Margaret, she agreed that older Australians offer an “alternative to standard school lessons in music,” adding again the value of not being bound to any fixed curriculum.

Both Margaret and Bruce have participated in school music programs but clearly see themselves as having autonomy in how they facilitate experiences for children. Allowing older musicians to work this way in schools could offer real alternatives for expanding curriculum and pedagogical approaches.

These case studies are set in Australia, and much of the cited literature draws on Western research. However, IG learning—and IG music learning in particular—is not unique to Western contexts. Shehan Campbell (1991) documented it across many non-Western cultures. As Roulston (2010) indicates, music learning in many non-Western societies is not only lifelong but also often informal, echoing these three case studies. Another resonance with non-Western IG music learning is how older citizens participating in music making and teaching value their later years (Moore & Campbell, 2009). These older people do not view old age as the end of a journey but as a time for new beginnings (p. 224).

The experiences of Margaret, Irene, and Bruce suggest a place for IG music experiences in schools. Implementing them could help shift away from “seeing music education as an isolated or discrete area of inquiry” toward focusing on “the societal and cultural contexts in which it [music education] takes place” (Jorgensen, 2008, p. 331). By introducing or acknowledging the kinds of IG music experiences these participants described, there is potential to bridge what Jaffurs (2006) calls the divide between “formal music practices” in schools and informal practices shared “in any community” (p. 6).

The data from these case studies clearly shows that older people involved in IG music making initiate both spontaneous and planned musical interactions. It is strongly recommended that music educators bring older musicians into schools to enrich the curriculum, rather than confining such music making to the community. However, the case studies also revealed that school music educators need to understand issues raised by the participants—namely that older musicians value choice in selecting IG music activities (theme 3) and need to feel valued and respected for their contributions (theme 4). Students stand to benefit from reciprocity in learning (theme 5): not only will they learn from older musicians, but they can also teach their IG musical partners.

For Margaret, Irene, and Bruce, involvement in IG music making has been clearly positive. They have contributed to children’s musical experiences while receiving numerous musical and extramusical benefits. Although each represented a different form of IG music making, their stories may inspire other older people and children to enter such rewarding musical relationships. In particular, they may encourage music educators to tap into these naturally occurring connections to promote music making for both young and old.

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