Creative aging and lifelong learning through singing+: A scoping review

Activities involving the integration of singing, with movement, dance, and story (Singing+), can serve as rich sites of creative aging, performativity, and pedagogical inclusion. This scoping review examines how singing, in combination with movement, dance, and/or story, which we refer to as Singing+, enhances the quality of life for older adults. The potential impacts of combining singing with movement, dance, and/or story are particularly significant for this age group, as the combination of arts dynamically engages participants’ cognitive, physical, and social capacities, offering opportunities for creative expression, creative development, and meaningful challenges. With its inclusion of story, Singing+ also offers opportunities for rehearsing and performing community, role-playing, self-expression, and reclaiming space. By scoping the diversity of global opportunities under the umbrella of Singing+, we illuminate a variety of globally diverse art forms that older adults of all abilities, goals, and experiences can embrace. Despite gaps in the selected studies’ methodological consistency and variations in their reporting of participant characteristics, activities, and outcomes, this review opens several avenues for further research while underscoring the need for a more systematic approach to integrating understandings about singing in combination with movement, dance, or story, its pedagogies, and the mechanisms underlying its various affordances. Perhaps most significantly, these activities offer meaningful opportunities for creative expression and exploration of selfhood. Future research studies in this area should include a more detailed description of the activities and pedagogical strategies and participant characteristics. The literature has also insufficiently theorized the benefits of combining singing with the art forms of movement, dance, and/or story for aging populations in particular, despite their clear benefits. Building a stronger research base will help educators, artists, and therapists to refine methods and ensure these activities’ continued role in fostering opportunities for lifelong learning and meaningful aging.