Book Review: Music,Senior Centers,and Quality of Life

Participation in leisure activities such as listening to and making music has been shown to support quality of life in older age (Kekäläinen et al., 2017). This book addresses the gap in literature that explores the use of music in senior centers. In a previous book, authors Lisa J. Lehmberg and C. Victor Fung described music and quality of life as “two of the most stable and everlasting human desires”(Fung & Lehmberg, 2016). In this new book, Music, Senior Centers, and Quality of Life, Lehmberg and Fung explore music in senior centers and how music interacts with the quality of life of those who participate.

This book is organized into three sections. The first section reviews the benefits of music participation for older adults and the state of music in senior centers. The second section—which was researched prior to the global COVID-19 pandemic—presents case studies of six senior centers across the United States. Each case study examines a center’s setting and operations, music opportunities, the older adults’ perspectives on music, and the impact of music on the older adults’ quality of life. The third section’s research happened after the pandemic; the authors surveyed 23 senior centers to understand how the pandemic influenced music programming. The authors end with recommendations for those running senior centers, policy makers, educators, and researchers.

In the opening chapter, the authors define music participation as “all forms of music-making and creating, music listening, and moving to music” (pg. 3). They highlight different social, psychological, and physical benefits from music participation. In chapter 2, the authors give a comprehensive look at the history and activities of senior centers in the United States. The synthesis includes examples of how senior centers’ missions have evolved from focusing on socialization to focusing on lifelong learning. It also discusses challenges that centers face in the future to attract baby boomers (future models may avoid the name “senior center” altogether due to its negative connotations). The authors identify the paucity of research that examines music participation in senior centers and its potential benefits.

The second section (Chapters 3–6) delivers six case studies to describe the use of music in senior centers prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors chose centers that served culturally and socio-economically diverse populations, in cities of different sizes and in different regions of the United States. The case studies were conducted as observational studies, in which authors visited three senior centers each for extended periods of time and conducted interviews.

In Chapter 3, the authors offer rich descriptions of each center’s setting (one center was “reminiscent of a 1960s strip mall,” pg. 45), information about employees and activities leaders, and how centers are funded and challenges they face (“almost everything at the center had to be done by volunteers” p. 48). The descriptions are extremely readable and relatable for anyone who has worked in or with a senior center. The chapter ends with the authors emphasizing that most of the programs offered at senior centers were supported by empirical research that showed health benefits, a potent area of opportunity for arts researchers.

Such a challenge sets up the content of Chapter 4, in which the authors describe the music activities that took place in each of the six centers. Some centers hosted live concerts, and others had activities coordinating movement to music, such as line dancing, swing dancing, and a chair exercise class that utilized maracas. There was a ukulele class, a polka band, choirs, and karaoke. Of importance, the authors note that more can be done to attract diversity into the music activities—in one center serving a culturally diverse area, 14 out of 15 music participants were White. The descriptions of karaoke programs, which attracted Asian and Hispanic adults, show a rich area of growth—one center hosted four-hour karaoke sessions.

In Chapter 5 the authors delve into older adults’ perceptions of music. Older adults who participated in music activities in senior centers often reported previous experiences in music, including participating in community bands and choirs, experience playing music during school, and making music with their families. Voice, piano, and guitar were cited as the music elements that the adults used most. The authors tracked barriers to participation, including health-related challenges (arthritis kept one musician from playing her flute), negativity that adults had faced in childhood music experiences, and the patience it takes to learn a complex skill. Despite these barriers, adults reported that music brought them pleasure, health, connection, an opportunity to give back, increased self-worth, and a safe space.

In Chapter 6, the authors examine the role of music in older adults’ lives. They mapped participants’ experiences onto John Flanagan’s Quality of Life Scale (Flanagan, 1978), as adapted by Burckhardt and Anderson (Burckhardt & Anderson, 2003). For the 18 items on the scale, the authors found related examples for 16 items. For example, one of the items on the quality of life scale is “relationships with friends” and the related findings in senior center music participation were “senior center clients were able to connect with others via music participation and develop and strengthen new friendships.” Though the findings are not a causal assessment, they provide critical groundwork for researchers to study the effects of music participation in senior centers on quality of life.

Chapter 7 reacts to the changes brought with the COVID-19 pandemic. In October of 2021, the authors conducted surveys with senior centers in the same six cities as in the previous chapters. Their response rate was low—only 26.1% centers responded fully. The authors postulated this was due to the absence of musical activities or the temporary closure of the center when the survey was sent. The authors found that while 87.0% of senior centers offered music activities prior to the pandemic, 56.5% of them were offering music in 2021 (p. 143). The authors point out the difference between the decline of musical offerings compared to physical movement classes, which were offered by all but one senior center in 2021. The authors reason that because physical activities have empirical research they would retain government funding, where other activities may be trimmed with budget cuts. They advocate that more empirical research should examine older adult music participation outcomes in senior centers. Center managers showed a mix of interest in how to begin offering programming again, including offering in-person and hybrid music activities. The authors endorse this opportunity, writing, “… we encourage senior center executive boards, managers, and staff to not only carefully and healthfully reinstate the musical activities they offered pre-pandemic, but also explore ways to offer opportunities for lifelong learning in music to the local self-isolating or homebound older adult constituency” (p. 150).

In the final chapter, the authors conclude with further recommendations for different sectors. They urge center managers to think about re-branding and tailoring music activities to attract baby boomers. They advocate that music activity leaders should come to the job with experience and education, and that they should be compensated. They urge policy makers and researchers to produce empirical research and embrace the “new normal” of technology use in senior centers.

This book’s strengths are its breadth and accessibility—anyone with an interest in the arts and aging would enjoy and learn from it. It would serve as an excellent supplemental text for a social gerontology or community-focused public health course. It serves as an inspiring base of knowledge for researchers looking to grow the evidence base of arts-based interventions. The cost, however, is prohibitive—at $110 ($98.99 ebook) the book is hard to recommend for those who may face tight budgets but would benefit greatly from its message, such as musicians who are looking to diversify their skill sets and those who work in senior centers. The future of music programming in senior centers will benefit from everyone being able to build from this work.