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International Journal of
Population Studies Re-conceptualizing music education

and brain (e.g., Cohen, 2009). While cultural and musical established, for example, through community music and
participation opens wide possibilities for meaningful so-called care or health music, formal music education
experiences and social connectedness (Creech et al., 2014a; institutions are still limited in their offer of wider lifelong
2014b), a primary focus on social, emotional, cognitive, opportunities for the aging populations (e.g., Dabback,
and physiological well-being would risk ignoring older 2010; Creech & Hallam, 2015; Laes & Schmidt, 2021). It is
adults’ right to lifelong education, which may successively not clear who is given or taken away the opportunities for
safeguard an experience of a meaningful later-life more music learning and participation across the adult life course
effectively and sustainably than focusing on aging in terms and specifically against the backdrop of the UNESCO goals
of productivity and well-being (Pfaller & Schweda, 2019, for the development of arts education. Furthermore, much
p. 46). This study aims to interrogate the values and beliefs of the research associated with later-life music learning and
concerning lifelong music education, focusing on the participation, including non-professional adult learning
latter part of the adult life course and exploring the ways, programs, has emerged from dominant discourses
in which musical learning and creativity in later life have concerned with potential links between music, health,
been positioned, researched, and discussed. and well-being (e.g., Creech et al., 2013). It is now a timely
As observed through the UNESCO Developmental moment, more than a decade since the publication of the
Goals for Arts Education (UNESCO, 2010, p2), as well Seoul Agenda (UNESCO, 2010), to explore the emergent
as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and research themes and questions concerning the ways older
Development (OECD, 1996) Lifelong Learning for All adults are portrayed in music education research.
report, the purpose of lifelong learning for individuals In this article, we aim to address the state-of-the-art
beyond labor-market age continues to be overlooked research concerning older adults and music education,
(Schuller & Watson, 2009), consequently making it difficult published between 2010 and 2020 after the release of
to convince policymakers of its worth. Indeed, “the fields Seoul Agenda. Utilizing a sequential design comprising
of lifelong learning and later life tend to lead separate lives, a systematic literature review followed by a qualitative
and it is only recently that policies on lifelong learning and meta-synthesis, we interrogate the primary phenomena
population aging have been awarding space to each other” of interest, the rationales, and the key concepts that
(Findsen & Formosa, 2012, p. 1). Simultaneously, in 2010, comprise the recent research on later-life music learning
UNESCO’s Seoul Agenda set goals for the development of and participation. Through an examination of the main
arts education, including ensuring that learners from all focal points of this body of research, we consider the
social backgrounds have lifelong access to arts education contribution of research focused on later-life music learning
in a wide range of community and institutional settings. and participation to the wider international scholarship
Aligned with the stated commitment to accessible, high- concerned with older adult education practices (Findsen &
quality, and sustainable lifelong arts education, two goals Formosa, 2016) as well as lifelong education perspectives,
that concern music education for older adults in particular particularly in music education.
were:
1.1. Theoretical and conceptual starting points
• Point 1a: Affirm arts education as the foundation for
balanced creative, cognitive, emotional, esthetic and 1.1.1. Life course perspective as a starting point for
social development of children, youth and life-long defining “old”
learners (our emphasis) Conventionally, human life is divided into stages based
• Point 1c: Establish systems of lifelong and on chronological age, to which many life course theorists
intergenerational learning in, about and through arts have responded with more flexible alternatives (e.g.,
education (UNESCO, 2010 pp. 3–4). Bengtson et al., 2012). While different stages from
In the specific domain of music education, the ideas childhood and adolescence to middle age and old age may
of lifelong and inclusive learning and participation, as be viewed as socially defined and constructed, increased
expressed by the Seoul Agenda (2010), have been in life expectancy, changes in work life and economy,
contradiction tension with the traditional paradigms, and increased diversification of lifestyles and family
where the scholarly focus has always been placed on relationships also require that the lifespan must be viewed
training younger generations within a dominant European differently. Thus, human lives are no longer regarded as
conservatory tradition with an emphasis on early linear, moving from childhood to adulthood, work career,
identification of talented children and training toward retirement, and death. Instead, according to the life course
professional paths. While informal environments for approach, a human life course forms within transitions
older adults’ musical participation have been increasingly and important life events. Life course theory encompasses

Volume 9 Issue 3 (2023) 16 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.383