MUSIC-MAKING IN LATER LIFE

Presentation by JOSEPH N STRAUS

What does it mean to make music in later life? In this presentation, Joseph N. Straus approaches old age not as a biological status or medical condition, but as a cultural formation and identity with its own distinctive ways of being and creating. Rather than viewing later-life musical practices through an ageist lens—as diminished, exceptional, or valuable only despite the composer’s or performer’s age—Straus asks what becomes possible when we recognise later life itself as a source of creativity, agency, and flourishing.

The presentation considers how we might listen to and understand music created in later life on its own terms, and what such practices can reveal about identity, creativity, and the experience of ageing.

THE IMPACT OF MUSIC-MAKING IN LATER LIFE ON WELLBEING

Panel Discussion

Following Straus’s presentation, the discussion turns more explicitly to the relationship between music-making, ageing, health, and wellbeing. The panel brings together perspectives from artistic research, music and health, and the public understanding of risk, considering how sustained musical engagement in later life may contribute to wellbeing, social connection, and quality of life.

PANELLISTS

JOSEPH N STRAUS
Distinguished Professor of Music Theory
City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center

KAT AGRES
Director, Centre for Music and Health
Assistant Professor, YST Conservatory of Music

LEONARD LEE
Professor and Director
Lloyd’s Register Foundation Institute for the Public Understanding of Risk (IPUR)

RACHEL HO
Flautist
Instructor, YST Conservatory of Music