This book is a timely and thoughtful contribution to the growing interest in music, wellbeing and ‘positive ageing’, and is carefully organised to have appeal and relevance to a wide readership. Researchers will find the thorough reviews of literature and clear presentation of methods helpful; workshop leaders and community musicians will benefit from the many practical suggestions, which are supplemented by an online handbook by the same team of authors; and anyone interested in reflecting on the role of music in their lives or those of older people that they know will be fascinated by the narratives and analysis that permeate the book.

Writing about ‘older people’, particularly when it is done by the ‘younger people’ who typically research and publish on these topics, brings great risks of patronising or ‘othering’ the participants. Here, the inclusion of participants’ stories in text boxes throughout the book help those voices to leap from the page, so providing a good sense of co-produced research (even if there could have been greater clarity at times in the labelling of which participant or project was being cited). There is also rare and welcome recognition that many older people have had rich musical lives before retirement – including Edith, aged 80, who is a member of four choirs (p. 92), and Clarissa, aged 77, who has played and taught the piano all her adult life (p. 97), both of whom have decided views on the qualities they expect from a musical director and the high standards and expressive meaning-making they seek in their musical activities. These perspectives, alongside those of participants for whom group music-making is primarily valued for the fun and sociability it offers, and the chance to reminisce, help to demonstrate the full range of musical benefits for older people. The inclusion of a chapter on intergenerational learning also illustrates the relevance of this area of practice and research to much wider music-making contexts, though the point could have been made more strongly that the lifelong pathway of musical involvement from childhood to retirement deserves to be better supported at earlier stages as well as through projects of the kind reported here.

The extensive research that underpins this book includes an interesting variety of case studies, spanning musical genres and activities in different locations of the UK: it is a slight pity that these are not more closely analysed for differences between approaches and aims, with a tendency to talk about ‘music’ generically which risks over-simplifying the evidence. The authors are not afraid to tackle the less successful aspects of musical provision in the third and fourth ages, however, and devote a chapter to ‘barriers’, considering everything from the communication of information to the arrangement of furniture. Along with the chapter on ‘facilitating’, this gives the book a strongly practical focus which adds to the sense that the research aims not just to study older participants, but to improve their musical prospects.

An impressively thorough literature review introduces each chapter and gives a good account of how far research has progressed in understanding the values and uses of music, particularly for older participants, and also shows where the gaps remain, including on the attitudes and attributes of effective workshop leaders. The concluding chapter offers a cautious reminder that much of the research in this area is small scale and as yet insufficient to justify large investment in programmes of music for older people. However, as is so often the case for other areas of music education, the individual narratives are rich and compelling, and we should perhaps have greater confidence in looking for trends amongst these stories rather than seeking quantitative ‘proof’ of musical benefits. After all, as the authors conclude, this topic is one that affects us all: ‘As we prepare for old age and support our families, friends, and wider community members who have reached the Third and Fourth Ages, it is incumbent upon us all to listen and respond to the stories of older people who have experienced the benefits that music-making offers’ (p. 159).