ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the influence of ageing in the performing style of musicians in later adulthood. It examines the influence of ageing in the performing style of musicians in later adulthood through the lens offered by gerotranscendence theory. Phenomenological and critical gerontology are the most common approaches used in scholarship exploring the participation of elderly people in music-making. Musicologists use critical gerontology to analyse negative representations of old age in music scores. In 1903, Elie Metchnikoff coined the term 'gerontology' to describe the interest of medical sciences in understanding the negative effects of ageing. Phenomenological gerontology 'provides insights into meanings and subjective sense of self that are important in ageing identity.' The field of music and disability studies offers a 'sociopolitical analysis of disability, focusing on its social construction and shifting attention from biology to culture'.
