Music, Dementia, and Music Education: Bringing Music Where It's Needed

Research suggests music listening and engagement have profound effects on people battling dementia. Music educators are members of society that possess privileged resources regarding musical knowledge, ability, and access, and are distinctly situated to provide transformational experiences to those with dementia. However, the daily responsibilities and considerations of music educators fall largely outside of these populations. This paper seeks to first, impose cosmopolitanism as a framework for music education as theorized by Niknafs (2020) in effort to elucidate ethical reasons for music educators and their students to look beyond the K-12 classroom and consider musically engaging those with dementia; and second, to investigate ways for music educators (and their students) to provide life giving musical experiences to those with dementia while in turn, creating new and reciprocal learning experiences for everyone involved. In addition, alternative practical applications of cosmopolitanism music education are discussed. Keywords: dementia, cosmopolitan music education, intergenerational music making