It is generally recognized that musical activity can have beneficial results for older people. These benefits come in different forms for different people depending on their circumstances.
“Music therapy” is a well-established method of helping people with physical and cognitive disabilities caused by conditions such as dementia. “MT”, as it is known, often involves relatively passive activities such as listening to music under controlled conditions. But it can also involve singing, drumming or tapping, and playing other simple instruments like the harmonica.
Research has shown that the relaxing effect of music leads to better social interaction and often helps improve communication skills when they have been affected by things like a stroke or have been the result of some other injury or disease.
For what we might call “ordinary” seniors, music is often used in retirement communities and senior centers in the form of special musical entertainment, singing songs, and even dance classes.
Participants are encouraged to participate in singing, clapping, and dancing according to old family standards. This type of musical experience provides pleasant and enjoyable social interaction, some valuable physical activity, and a jolt of positive emotional stimulation.
Can older people benefit from playing musical instruments?
Listening to music can be emotionally stimulating, but it is a relatively passive activity. Can older people benefit from being more actively involved in creating music, for example by singing or playing a musical instrument?
Of course, it depends a lot on the senior and the instrument. Many older people have physical limitations that make playing a violin or guitar almost impossible. But those same people could benefit from participating in a drum circle.
Participants in activities like this quickly get involved in making music, having fun, even dancing, singing, and singing.
As Shannon Rattigan of drumcircles.net says,
If a facilitated drum circle is presented correctly, in a matter of 10 minutes everyone can play a drum beat together … The key is to set the right tone to make this fun and fun. You can improvise, play games, and have a good time. Like we did when we were kids.
Can this be done with other instruments?
Again, it depends a lot on the senior and the instrument.
Many older people played a musical instrument when they were younger and stopped when family and work intervened. I often read on music instruction forums comments from older guys (most of them seem to be men) who have picked up the guitar after keeping it in the closet for 40 years.
Yes, 40 years! That is not an exaggeration. I am an example. I played guitar and trumpet in my teens and twenties, and didn’t actively play them again until I was 60.
The incentive for me was the opportunity to teach some of my grandchildren a little of what I knew. And that led to many opportunities to perform with them at family gatherings. And, of course, that has resulted in the joy of watching children become talented musicians in their own right.
The point is, old talents can be dusted off if the circumstances are right. Reviving old talents and playing in a small, informal band with friends or family is one possibility.
A retirement community seems like the perfect place where a group of people can come together to make music together in a more structured way, for example as a singing ensemble or a small band.
An enterprising social director in a senior community could even form a larger band, using regular or simple musical instruments such as whistles, harmonicas, and a variety of percussion elements (drums, tambourines, shakers, wooden blocks, etc.)
Playing traditional musical instruments
Is it realistic to think that a person in their 70s or 80s could still play a traditional musical instrument such as a keyboard, guitar, or trumpet? Or could you learn a completely new instrument, a keyboard, for example a banjo, a harmonica, or even a saxophone or a guitar?
Again, it depends on the circumstances the person is in, in particular, on their physical limitations. Many older people have lost flexibility in their hands. They may have back or hip pain that makes it difficult for them to sit in the positions required by some instruments. And often an older person has difficulty seeing or hearing.
If none of these things stop a person, why not do it?
But there is always the question of motivation.
Learning to play an instrument like the piano, even in the most basic way, has real benefits. Provides enjoyment, mental stimulation, and a sense of accomplishment. And that may be incentive enough for you to undertake (and move on) a project like teaching yourself a musical instrument.
But playing for your own enjoyment is often not enough of an incentive to keep going. Playing a musical instrument, or even singing in a small ensemble, almost inevitably involves the opportunity to perform for others, usually friends, family, or community residents.
In other words, it’s often just the prospect of performing for others that keeps musicians going. Taking music lessons as a child almost always involves a “recital” every now and then to show what you’ve learned. Without the recital, the practice begins to seem pointless.
There is no reason to think that it should be any different for an older person. My father played his violin in church for at least 50 years, and it was those “performances” that kept him interested in playing. When his faculties began to deteriorate and the invitations to play ran out, so did his interest in playing.
It is performances like this that provide the incentive to improve and learn new material, or for an older person, to hold on to the skills they developed earlier in life.
So I would answer “Yes” to the question “Can a senior like me learn a new instrument?” It will provide you with pleasure and mental and spiritual stimulation. And it will give you something meaningful to do with your time.
But don’t keep it to yourself. Play for friends and family. Join a group or form a band. Have fun being a musician and share the joy with others.