Summary
With the objective of bridging the gap between academia and civil society, the laboratory of Professor Sekiyama Kaoru in Kyoto University created a trans-disciplinary project that combines academic research and music education for local communities. In this project, different academic areas collaborated for the following goals: (1) to produce scientific knowledge about healthy ageing; (2) to have the research process as an agent of positive social changes through music lessons to older adults. In total there were two projects in different regions of Japan. The current report focus especially on the second project that happened in Osaka between the second semester of 2019 and beginning of 2020. The program consisted of group lessons of the instrument melodica. 80 older adults between 61 and 94 years old joined this project. For most of them, it was the first time practicing a musical instrument. Researchers measured the cognitive health and well-being of participants to assess the effect of the music training. They also collected information about their musical progress and assessed how the activities could be better adapted to the group.
Planning and Implementation
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What was the challenge you were trying to address?
Ageing is a common human experience that is highly diverse as it reflects the interaction between individuals and the environments. For some people the ageing process is marked by a significant decline in health condition, but for many it is manifested as a period of good health and well-being. One challenge to promote healthy ageing is to understand how environment factors interact with individual characteristics to determine ageing trajectories. Recent research suggest that some activities may enhance cognitive reserve across the lifespan, consequently preventing cognitive decline in older age. Engagement in music training may be especially effective. However, there are just a few intervention studies about the topic. Still the effect on cognition is elusive and more evidence is necessary. The current project address this knowledge gap through a randomized controlled study. Moreover, it also address the relative lack of information about music education directed to older adults. Most of the educational material for beginners is directed to children and do not consider the variety among older adults. Thus a challenge for the next year is to produce good quality educational materials that can guide interventions with older population.
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Who were you trying to impact?
Older people in general
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What sectors were you targeting?
Education, Health
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Who else was involved?
Government, Civil Society Organization, Academia
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How did older people participate?
Older people were consulted during the planning process
Lessons learned
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Please describe how collaboration worked in your initiative.
The project would not be feasible if there were no cooperation between Osaka prefecture and local community such as representatives from local shrine and cultural center. They were essential to plan the best way to set the music program as they had knowledge about the community life. Moreover, they helped to advertise the project for the local community through pamphlets and word of mouth. Moreover it was important to ask for cooperation of experienced music teachers to share their expertise and help to plan and put the music project into practice.
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What was the impact of your initiative on older people, their families, and/or their communities?
The data about participants' personal experience indicated that the program was important for them in two ways. First it promoted personal development. Participants that believed they were not able to lean a new skill, were excited to realize their own improvement during the lessons. One of them reported: "It was a fun time for me to study and do things that I couldn't do before. I was able to play an instrument that I never tried before. Also, from now on I will sing a lot of songs, and I will live my life while I revive my memories. Thank you so much. I was happy." Second, the program helped to improve social cohesion. Other member reported: "I'm glad I was able to participate. I am delighted to have the experience with many people. It was my first time to practice keyboards, musical instruments, etc." Other member reported that a loved one has passed away in the same year of the project and that being there helped him to cope with the grief. He reported: "[...]I’m glad I could participate in this project. I was practicing at home and it cheered me up. It was fun to meet everyone once a week. […] Thank you very much".
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What issues did you face, and how did you address them?
One challenge about teaching a group of older adults is that it is highly diverse. Music programs with older adults usually have members with large differences in age, sometimes of around 25 years, as well as different health status and backgrounds. It is a difficult task to ensure the same learning progress for all members. To understand the individual differences it is necessary to assess their progress during the course through individual evaluations. Then, activities should be adapted to each member. For example, some group members may find difficult to read the small symbols of music scores, on the other hand they may demonstrate a great ability to sing and memorize music notes. Choice of the repertory is also important. Songs and tunes that are well known to the members of the lesson are particularly easier to be learned. In Japan there is also a strong connection between songs and season of the years. Thus, it is important to understand the culture and background of the community where the project is being conducted.
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What lessons did you learn from implementing this initiative?
1) Each older adult has an rich background that communicates with the music lesson in a different way. Thus, it is important to adapt the activities to individual needs. 2) The goal of music lessons is not to develop technical skills only. It is also a moment for personal development and to improve social cohesion. Moreover, it is an opportunity for older adults to reconnect with their community and their own life stories through music. 3) It is still not completely known whether engagement in musical training is effective to improve cognitive reserve, but results are encouraging. Further studies are necessary to understand if there is a real effect of music training.
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Do you have any other reflections you would like to share?
Our programme impact two areas of the decade: Combating ageism, by changing how we think towards age and ageing; and creating age-friendly environments, by fostering the abilities and potential of older people. Public performance of participants, as well as announcement in the local newspaper about the project were two essential parts of the program. Through these initiatives we could reach a higher number of people. We believe that knowledge about this type of program raises the interest of older people in starting to learn a musical instrument. Our initiative was also reported to local government and academia. The positive outcomes may inspire different stakeholders to start further projects to promote active music making among older adults around Japan. For example, in 2021 we were contacted by other facilitator starting a project based on melodica ensemble in the province of Shiga. We hope this is the first of many initiatives that will be inspired by our project.