ABSTRACT
This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part provides on intergenerational programs and intergenerational singing, offer overviews of literature related to the practices, and dig into some complexities in the literature related to thinking about wellbeing as a concept. It discusses the initiation songs in southern Africa and offers a new case of how initiation songs can promote wellbeing in communities and enhance intergenerational learning. The part argues that adults and children can derive and create pleasure and challenge within such a choir as they forge trans-generational, linguistic, and cultural relationships. Intergenerational programs that include or are organized around singing are a special subset of formal intergenerational programming. Akin to what has been documented as the benefits of intergenerational programs, music, in the context of shared singing, can similarly conjure significant emotional responses in children and elders and promote coping, emotional regulation, and empathy-related responses.
