Abstract

For older people, participating in leisure activities enhances their sense of social, emotional, mental, spiritual and psychological wellbeing. This article reports on a case study that situated itself across two southern hemisphere countries – Australia and South Africa – and with two ensembles, namely: an instrumental ensemble in Melbourne (all musical readers); and a vocal ensemble in Clarens (all non-readers of music). The authors drew on Seligman's elements of positive emotion, engagement, relationships and meaning, and accomplishment (PERMA) to explore the ensemble members’ engagement as “serious leisure and the wider community”. Using qualitative case study methodology, they employed interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) as an organising tool to analyse and code their questionnaires and interview data. The findings are presented under three overarching themes, namely: meeting for serious leisure; music learning; and connecting with the wider community. While music engagement for older adults is an achievement in itself, sharing it with the wider community is considered most significant for the participants. Discussing two ensembles is a limitation in itself, therefore generalisations to other ensembles cannot be made. The article was written in 2020 during the COVID-19 lockdown period in both countries. Further research is planned across both countries to explore any implications the lockdown has had on the two groups once they are permitted to recommence rehearsals.

摘要

对于老年人来说，参加休闲活动可以增强他们的社交，情感，精神，精神和心理健康感。本文报道了一个案例研究，该案例研究横跨两个南半球国家（澳大利亚和南非），并有两个合奏，分别是：墨尔本的一个乐器合奏团（所有音乐读物）；还有Clarens的人声合奏（所有非音乐读者）。作者借鉴了塞利格曼的积极情感，参与，关系和意义以及成就（PERMA）的要素，以探索合奏成员的参与，即“严肃的休闲和更广泛的社区”。他们使用定性的案例研究方法，将解释性现象学分析（IPA）作为组织工具来分析和编码他们的问卷和访谈数据。研究结果以三个总体主题介绍，即：认真闲暇聚会；音乐学习；并与更广泛的社区建立联系。尽管老年人参与音乐活动本身就是一项成就，但与参与者进行更广泛的分享却被认为是最重要的。讨论两个合奏本身是一个限制，因此无法对其他合奏进行概括。这篇文章是在2020年COVID-19锁定期间在两个国家/地区撰写的。计划在两国进行进一步的研究，以探讨一旦允许他们重新排练，封锁对这两个小组的影响。尽管老年人参与音乐活动本身就是一项成就，但与参与者进行更广泛的分享却被认为是最重要的。讨论两个合奏本身是一个限制，因此无法对其他合奏进行概括。这篇文章是在2020年COVID-19锁定期间在两个国家/地区撰写的。计划在两国进行进一步的研究，以探讨一旦允许他们重新排练，封锁对这两个小组的影响。尽管老年人参与音乐活动本身就是一项成就，但与参与者进行更广泛的分享却被认为是最重要的。讨论两个合奏本身是一个限制，因此无法对其他合奏进行概括。这篇文章是在2020年COVID-19锁定期间在两个国家/地区撰写的。计划在两国进行进一步的研究，以探讨一旦允许他们重新排练，封锁对这两个小组的影响。