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Improving the quality of life of elderly people with music
10.04.2025 Using music to engage the minds and emotions of elderly people: the cross-disciplinary optional programme ‘BFH diagonal’ has a new module that teaches interdisciplinary skills from the fields of music and social work.
Key points at a glance
- Music touches humans in many ways.
- A new BFH optional module promotes music to improve the quality of life of elderly people.
- The programme teaches skills in music and social work.
“Where words fail, music speaks”: this quote by Danish poet Hans Christian Andersen is the perfect pitch for a new course on the cross-disciplinary programme BFH diagonal. Starting in autumn, the module “Creative music-making for and with older people” draws on interdisciplinary skills from the fields of music and social work to engage with elderly people.
BFH diagonal: promoting creativity and participation with music
From the autumn semester 2025, students can enrol on the module “Creative music-making for and with older people”, which is proposed as part of the university-wide, interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary programme BFH diagonal. Over the course of two semesters, the participants learn how to use music to accompany and care for elderly people.
The course teaches them specialist skills from the fields of music and social work. They also learn together ways of engaging with the elderly. As part of the module, the students form pairs to visit elderly people and conduct a music project, whether playing for the elderly or making music together with them.
The module aims to use music to expand students’ creativity across subject boundaries, explains Barbara Balba Weber, Head of Music in Context, the programme for music education at Bern University of the Arts (HKB), who was in charge of developing the new module: “In our diverse society, the promotion of emotional skills is widely discussed. It is central to a caring society.” Also, the musical performances allow the elderly a new form of cultural participation and offer them a certain quality of life.
Huge potential
“Our society offers extremely fertile ground for the integration of music,” stresses Barbara Balba Weber. On the other hand, the need for care and support for the elderly in an ever-ageing society is huge.
There are simple forms of music that almost anyone can use.
It has long been scientifically proven that music has a calming effect on humans: it can reduce stress, alleviate pain and bring back past memories. Music can be used in a variety of ways, especially for older people whose memory is slowly deteriorating or who are unresponsive due to dementia, explains Barbara Balba Weber.
interdisciplinarity
However, the use of music does not have to be restricted to professional musicians. “We need to make even better use of the potential of interdisciplinary cooperation in the training of our future specialists,” emphasises Barbara Balba Weber. This has led to the development of a module in which students can acquire skills from the fields of music and social work that they can apply to working with the elderly.
According to the head of project, this does not mean that Social Work students have to learn to play an instrument. “There are simple forms of music that almost anyone can use,” says Barbara Balba Weber. A tambourine, for instance. Simply shaking it to the rhythm creates a musical experience. And homemade instruments made from everyday objects are also a wonderful way to immerse oneself in soothing sounds.
From the moment the participants began singing and making music, it was a walk in the park.
Inhibitions broken down
The project team held twelve workshops with elderly people and students from the Music and Social Work divisions to gather experience and gain more knowledge about the impact of music as a facilitator for intergenerational exchange. As Barbara Balba Weber explains, the younger participants introduced folk songs that they learnt from their grandparents and that their older counterparts knew very well.
According to the project manager, singing and making music together quickly broke down inhibitions and created a sense of community among the participants, even though they did not know each other beforehand. After a short while, it was possible to incorporate songs from the foreign students’ home countries into the workshops alongside well-known Swiss German songs such as ‘Es wott es Froueli z’Märit ga’ and ‘Lueged vo Berge und Tal’. “From the moment participants began singing and making music, it was a walk in the park. It was fascinating to watch,” stresses the head of project.
All you have to do is join in
Barbara Balba Weber also noticed that music opened up a space for care and appreciation between generations. Different outlooks on life could be shared without the need for a broad discussion. “The interaction between young and old brought incredible added value to both age groups. It also opened up a new way of interacting with the other generation,” summarises the head of project.
Connection doesn’t always require words.
What did the participants take away from the workshops? The musicians benefited from seeing how the Social Work students engaged with the elderly, says Barbara Balba Weber. Conversely, the Social Work students found that music offered a different way of engaging with older people than words. “Connection doesn’t always require words,” stresses Barbara Balba Weber. “When the music starts, all you have to do is join in.”
Valuable lessons
The head of project draws a simple conclusion from the workshops and the preparatory work for the new optional module: “The students have learnt a lot for their own activities by observing how their colleagues from other disciplines address the needs of older people and involve them.”
