The Weekend Warriors Program: have fun making music again

The Weekend Warriors Program was founded in 1993 by Skip Maggiora, a music store owner in Sacramento, California, who wanted to cater for the ‘dormant’ musicians who hung round his store, keeping alive memories of the bands they once played in, or dreams of the band they had hoped to form once career and family responsibilities had diminished. Adopted by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM), the Weekend Warriors Program is now successfully operated elsewhere, including in the UK, where the Music Industries Association operates the programme under licence, and in Australia, where it has been operating since 2000 under the auspices of the Australian Music Association (AMA).

This article reports on a study of musicians taking part in one of the nine Australian weekend Warriors programmes offered by AMA member music stores in 2007.Footnote ³ The study involved observation of two bands over a six-week period that included a jam session, a musicians' meeting, coaching sessions, a charity gig featuring half-hour sets by each of four bands, and attendance at one of the monthly jams organised by the Weekend Warriors' Association, an independent group of Warrior ‘graduates’. Data also included interviews recorded with the musicians, both during the programme and six months after its completion, as well as with the coach, the music store manager and the national manager of the Weekend Warriors Program (see Appendix 1 for details of data collected).

The musicians whose experiences as Weekend Warriors are reported here were aged between 46 and 64 (median age 57) at the time of their participation and were still engaged in paid work, with the exception of the oldest. Overall, this age group shows a marked decline in active music making. In Australia, for example, engagement remains fairly constant at 19–21 per cent between the ages of 15 and 54 (highest in rock/pop at 35 per cent), but musical participation declines to 16.5 per cent in the 55–64 age group (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2007).

The issues to be explored here are: first, the comparative similarities and differences in learning to become rock musicians between these Weekend Warriors and younger musicians studied in other research; and, secondly, to see whether their actions and aspirations correspond with academic research into the midlife process of ageing. A further question that arose from the data is the extent to which the experience and actions of middle-aged women musicians coincides with the literature on gender in youth rock music scenes, and the literature on music, ageing and gender.

Defining baby boomers

‘Baby boomers’ is a term widely used in Euro-American cultures to identify the post-World War II population born between 1946 and 1962.Footnote ⁴ Now aged between 50 and 65, this cohort constitutes a substantial population ‘bulge’ compared to previous and subsequent generations. In the USA, for example, baby boomers represent approximately one-third of the total population. As adolescents, this ‘vanguard generation’ (Huber and Skidmore Reference Huber and Skidmore2003, p. 34) exhibited a strong generational identity associated with the rise of rock music, with greater sexual freedom and with political protest and counter-cultural movements. Demographers attribute maturing baby boomers with good health, longevity and a desire to retain youthfulness (Jones Reference Jones1980; Whitbourne and Willis Reference Whitbourne and Willis2006) in addition to the retention of their distinctive characteristics of individualism and liberalism (Huber and Skidmore Reference Huber and Skidmore2003, p. 34).

Until recently, sociologists have characterised midlife, between the forties and the sixties, as a period of stability and acceptance of ageing. With the ageing of the baby-boomer generation, however, new ways of experiencing, and theorising, midlife have arisen (Jones et al. Reference Jones, Whitbourne, Skulkety, Whitbourne and Willis2006, p. 162). In this growing field of research the focus has shifted from the experience of being old to the process of becoming old. An early and influential example was Featherstone and Hepworth's (Reference Featherstone, Hepworth and Bytheway1989) essay linking consumption and identity to maintain a ‘youthful self’. Simon Biggs, in The Mature Imagination: Dynamics of Identity in Midlife and Beyond (Reference Biggs1999), combined this postmodern understanding of identity with a psychoanalytic view, proposing the concept of midlifestyle, characterised by the need to protect personal value and integrity from the negative aspects of ageing, together with the possibility of creating ‘surfaces for identity’ through consumerism (Biggs Reference Biggs1999, p. 6). In this view, maturity is a masquerade in which ‘certain parts of the self are expressed through the adoption of a persona, a socially acceptable mask, while others are hidden beneath it’ (Biggs Reference Biggs1999, p. 6). The middle-aged use consumption (through clothing, diet, exercise) as ‘props to a mature identity, one that balanced a desire to remain “youthful” in outlook but “mature” in attitude’ (Biggs et al. Reference Biggs, Phillipson, Leach and Money2007, p. 56). Biggs analyses popular ‘manuals’ for midlife, finding in them a shared narrative that includes an element of rebellion against the ‘traditional, age-staged, lifecourse’; an absence of the social, replaced by a fetishized ‘autonomous, self-creating self’; and ‘the perspective that the personal past can be used to rebuild the self’. Importantly for the present study, he notes that dreams of ‘going back to where they once belonged’ refer to pre-adolescent, rather than adolescent, aspirationsFootnote ⁵ (Biggs Reference Biggs1999, pp. 106–7).

The jam: getting into the flow

On a hot Sunday afternoon the upstairs studio at Manny's Music Store in North Fitzroy, close to the heart of Melbourne's inner-suburban live music scene, is jam-packed with instruments, sound gear and music stands. Musicians, most apparently in their fifties, sit awkwardly eyeing one another's nametags until called upon to play. The atmosphere crackles with the risk of putting oneself ‘out there’ and the excitement of making music together for the first time. Some follow chord charts but others play by ear the well-known, simply structured songs from a book of rock and pop classics. The price tags on their gleaming instruments (borrowed from the showroom downstairs) swing to the beat. By the time they reach the end of ‘Knockin’ on Heaven's Door’Footnote ⁶ the musicians are sweating – the angel chorus of four women, the two men singing and others on guitars, bass, drums and keyboard – but coach Jeff, an easy-going but authoritative fortyish musician, congratulates them on having achieved a state of flow.Footnote ⁷

The jam, designed to facilitate the process of matching musicians by skill level and style preference, together with a meeting the following week for musicians to choose a band name and negotiate a shortlist of songs, are Australian innovations to the US programme, the result of musicians' demands for more autonomy. Before participants hand over the fee (equivalent to five private lessons at the store's music school), store manager Gloria,Footnote ⁸ herself a baby boomer, outlines the rules – no friends at rehearsals, no smoking, drugs or alcohol – urging everyone to have fun. Promoters stress ‘fun’ over expertise, but musicians are expected to be able to play their instruments and follow simple charts. The programme does not offer instrumental tuition, voice coaching or song interpretation, only tips on how to stretch the knowledge participants have and apply it to the group sound.

Learning to be a rock musician

There have been numerous studies of how young people learn to become rock musicians. In each of these, the author contrasts the informal learning of popular musicians with the formal training of classical and traditional musicians. Although these studies took place in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s in the USA and the UK, common learning practices were observed and variously formulated as ‘learning without pedagogy’ (Bennett Reference Bennett1980), ‘self-taught on-the-job-learning’ (Finnegan Reference Finnegan1989), ‘self-taught’ (Cohen Reference Cohen1991), ‘playing by ear’ (Lilliestam Reference Lilliestam1996) and ‘peer-directed and group learning’ (Green Reference Green2002). In each case, learning emerged from an immersion in and enjoyment of rock music and included self-learning of instrumental or vocal skills, reinforced by a variety of learning strategies including lessons and consulting chord and tuition books and musical friends. A key learning practice was to listen to recordings of music they liked and copy what they heard, both in individual practice and through experimentation and rehearsal within a band. As Lilliestam (Reference Lilliestam1996, p. 206) points out, these learning practices were not linear, but coincided or took place cyclically.

These studies also show how young rock musicians formed their first band with like-minded peers. Unlike musicians learning within a community of practice in which expert practitioners pass on their skills to novices, or through an apprenticeship relationship with a ‘master-musician’ (which is how many traditional musical practices are transmitted), the status of a band musician was not subject to the control of expert musicians (Bruner Reference Bruner1996, p. 53; Westerlund Reference Westerlund2006, p. 120; Green Reference Green2008, p. 6). These neophytes acquired the status of ‘rock musician’ simply by forming a band and playing together. As Ruth Finnegan notes in her study of musicians in Milton Keynes: ‘it was possible to take up an instrument, teach oneself, and join a rock band almost at once’ (Finnegan Reference Finnegan1989, p. 128).

In each of the studies referred to above, few if any girls participated in this process of becoming a rock musician. In the 1980s Liverpool scene researched by Sara Cohen, young women were excluded from the band scene (Cohen Reference Cohen1991). Cohen argues that this scene was not merely male dominated, but ‘produced as male through social practice and ideology’ (Cohen Reference Cohen and Whiteley1997, p. 34), a conclusion shared by Mary Ann Clawson in her examination of masculinity and skill acquisition in adolescent rock bands in the USA (Clawson Reference Clawson1999). Mavis Bayton (Reference Bayton, Frith and Goodwin1990) found that young women who persisted with their ambition to become rock musicians remained reluctant to claim the identity of ‘musician’ because of their exclusion from band culture.

Lucy Green (Reference Green2002, p. 97) observes that there is no evidence that popular music learning practices have changed since the early 1960s. Green also mentions an aspect of early learning not present in other studies: the influence of parents in encouraging and helping their children in their musical aspirations (Green Reference Green2002, pp. 24–5). Data collection in the present study included questions about musical activity within each participant's family, the responses suggesting that music as a central part of family life, where children are included in focused listening, group and solo performance, and learning and practising musical skills, may contribute to their ability to adopt, continue or resume the role of musician. Further research is needed to corroborate this, as the exploration of family musical background has not been as important in popular music studies as it has, for example, in ethnomusicology.

Introducing Hot Vox: initial musical learning

Coach Jeff had grouped Marcus (58), Johnno (46), Bobby (64) and singer Rosie (61) into a band because of their shared interest in classic rock and soul music.Footnote ⁹ The musicians were not self-deprecating about their age or their musical ambitions – unlike members of another band, who chose the name Retreads (as in reconditioned tyres) – and, despite some discrepancy in band experience and instrumental skills, all were committed to making the most of their time together. They quickly agreed to singer Rosie's proposal of Hot VoxFootnote ¹⁰ as their band name. A fifth musician, bass player Tom, was brought in after the first rehearsal. In his early thirties, a semi-employed musician and customer of the store, he paid a nominal fee to help out after Johnno's attempt to play bass had gone bottom-up and Marcus had threatened to quit unless a ‘real’ bass player were found.

Marcus (58) played lead guitar. He was the most proficient instrumentalist and had the longest band experience. Growing up in a family devoted to performing and listening to classical music, Marcus had discovered rock music at age 12 and was an immediate convert. The following year he began playing guitar, joining a class at the local Banjo Club: ‘I actually learned nothing, maybe four chords after a year, and then you got fifty bozos trying to play with each other in a group class, all with different tunings. I ended up teaching myself.’ Marcus used Mel Bay instruction books to learn chords and developed a repertoire by listening to records of popular songs and ‘just worked them all out’. By 14, he had joined a garage band with school friends, playing lead guitar and singing. At 18, Marcus formed a covers band that performed successfully throughout the next 20 years, coinciding with Melbourne's ‘golden years’ of live rock. Since pulling out in 1988 – his thriving wine merchandising business allowed him little time for music – Marcus had missed performing with his band: ‘ I think I have got somewhere between 15 and 20 guitars at home. Every night I sit down and play one of them, whether it's for five minutes or half an hour, before I go to bed.’ Hence the Weekend Warriors: ‘I saw the ad and thought, “Bugger it, why not? Nothing to lose except the time”.’

Rhythm guitarist Johnno (46) came from the other side of town from Marcus. Family life in his working-class suburb revolved around playing music, singing with his family at home and in the church choir. ‘Whenever we got together it was always singing’: 1950s ballads with a country leaning. His father played bass ukulele and gave Johnno his own ukulele at age four, showing him rudimentary chords and strums, but leaving the boy to develop at his own pace by listening and watching. At 12, Johnno bought a guitar and a couple of lesson books and ‘fiddled around’, becoming the musical mainstay of casual song sessions with friends. At 24, he joined a friend in formal lessons for six months. After that, the pair regularly strummed and sang together until forming a garage band two decades later. The band's lead guitarist mentored Johnno on vocals and electric guitar until he felt confident enough to join the Weekend Warriors Program to ‘get myself out of my comfort zone’. He achieved this at the initial jam: ‘I was shaking like an absolute leaf, my knees were knocking.’

Bobby (64) grew up in Goa, India, listening with his family to the Saturday night radio shows, featuring a talent quest and the British hit parade – everything from Cliff Richard to Little Richard. His family was unable to afford musical instruments, but as a child Bobby fashioned his own drum kit, hitting a cane chair with sticks and (for ‘that cymbal sort of sound’) a dog chain. Together with a friend who had made a ‘box guitar’, Bobby played along with radio songs. Once employed, Bobby bought ‘a rackety drum kit’ and practised along with records, joining a garage band, Hell's Angels, to cover Elvis Presley and Beatles songs. After coming second in a band competition, they launched a successful career performing at weddings, dances and corporate functions. In 1969, Bobby migrated to Australia and soon formed a covers band with other Indian musicians, playing a mix of rock, pop, country and old-time dance music. When he changed jobs from industrial chemist to teacher, Bobby set up a new band with colleagues, but his increasing workload eventually deprived him of time for music until he retired in 2000. He joined the Warriors Program hoping it would put him in the way of gigs, to earn ‘the little bit of pocket money that you can earn … playing somewhere and enjoying it as well.’

Rosie (61) was the daughter of Maltese immigrants. Hers was a musical family: ‘Every Saturday night when I was a child there would be people come to our home and they would all have some sort of an instrument and everyone would just sit around and play and sing and I used to sing and they all used to tell my mother that I had a voice.’ At eight, Rosie began playing the piano accordion, a present from her father, and at 16 began singing lessons and her ‘sweet little voice developed into a very big mezzo-soprano’. Although she had learned to play various instruments over the years, including piano and guitar in her late teens, through formal tuition, written tutors and experimentation, Rosie regarded the instruments as ‘minor’ compared to her singing. Her musical career took off in her thirties, when she studied voice at college and joined the Australian Opera Company, singing solo and chorus parts. Although always interested in rock music, for the 15 years of her opera career, Rosie ‘ate, slept and drank classical music, and nothing, absolutely nothing else … because opera is all consuming’. After leaving the company, she trained as an early childhood music teacher and revived her interest in jazz and rock music.

Hot Vox members' musical learning included enculturation into rock music, self-education using some written aids, peer-group learning, playing in a working band or chorus, and formal learning ranging from a few group lessons to an extended college course. For the instrumentalists, the decision to acquire an instrument and teach themselves to play it was undertaken independently of parents and largely without formal tuition. These learning practices are compatible with those of the popular musicians studied by Bennett (Reference Bennett1980), Finnegan (Reference Finnegan1989), Cohen (Reference Cohen1991), Lilliestam (Reference Lilliestam1996) and Green (Reference Green2002). Despite varying tastes and competencies, each of the four musicians came from a musically engaged family in which playing, singing and listening to music together were part of family life. All were independent and exploratory in their musical learning, and had experienced an extended period of ensemble playing, whether in a garage band, a professional band or an opera company. It is of interest that for each of the musicians, the initial conversion or commitment to engage with music came in pre-adolescence. This suggests some validity to Simon Biggs's proposition that the midlife desire to ‘get back to where you once belonged’ is a return to a pre-adolescent dream rather than to adolescent rebellion or individuation (Biggs Reference Biggs1999, pp. 106–7).

Warriors in rehearsal: musical values in action

While the members of Hot Vox had various goals for their time in the Warriors programme – to work for the first time with a rock band, to play with higher calibre musicians, to facilitate the resumption of professional playing or, in Marcus's case, to get back, temporarily, to where he once belonged – they were equally diverse in the values that underpinned their musical commitment. Bobby, for example, regarded music as ‘great therapy’, but was nervous at rehearsals and this hindered both his performance and his enjoyment. Johnno wanted to improve his instrumental technique but stared wide-eyed at his charts, struggling to achieve each chord change in time. Marcus and Rosie were able to spread their attention to pulling the group performance together and overcoming the others' limitations. Marcus did this by giving Rosie her cues, and Rosie by helping and encouraging Johnno in their duo, the Beatles' ‘Act Naturally’ (‘The reason I am singing a lot of the verses with Johnno, is to help him, because this is his very first time he has actually sung in public, so I'm holding him up’). Rosie's interventions were only on vocal matters, however. To the instrumentalists, her comments were either approving (‘That was much better guys, much tighter!’) or seeking direction (‘What next, men?’).

Like the popular musicians (both men and women) in Green's study (Reference Green2002, p. 125), Rosie valued ‘feel’ most highly: ‘You feel the music with your body: it comes out of my body, it doesn't come from my voice or my throat, it comes from within me and that's how I create the song for myself, that's how I make the song happen for me.’ The musicians in Bennett (Reference Bennett1980), Cohen (Reference Cohen1991) and Green (Reference Green2002) emphasised the importance of good relationships among band members. This emphasis was evident in Hot Vox, in which Marcus spoke of valuing empathy among musicians (and his struggle to maintain it with musicians whose abilities he disdained) and Rosie demonstrated it in her attitude towards Johnno, while Johnno, aware of his lesser musical skills, contributed by locating and circulating mp3 files of their songs and by expressing admiration for his fellow band members.

Hot Vox were fortunate in that all members of the band were able to adapt their abilities to the requirements of the group. This was not the case with two musicians who lacked both early learning of musical skills and experience in performing. One male lead singer pulled out of the programme when he discovered he was too shy to sing outside his own bathroom. In another band, the lead guitarist, with only a few months of lessons behind him and no experience of playing by ear, struggled to follow rudimentary chord outlines or pick up them up from the CD. The poster advertising the programme asks for ‘middle-aged “lapsed” musicians’ to ‘start brushin’ off those chops!’ It appears that performance experience as well as these instrumental skills are important for successful participation, as these cannot be acquired within the short period of the programme.

Honky tonk women: gender rears its head

Gender, as always, was an issue. With the exception of one 60-year-old drummer, the five Warrior women were lead vocalists. This role conveys an ambiguous power, as a woman singer's importance is not only in her expressive capacity, but also as an object of bodily display.Footnote ¹¹ In the Weekend Warriors advertising material, the implied participants are the male instrumentalists who are or may become customers of the host store and who are described as ranging ‘from brain surgeons to truck drivers and from tradesmen to hubbies at home’.Footnote ¹² In this respect, the Warriors Program reproduces the masculinist rock music scene analysed by Bayton (Reference Bayton, Frith and Goodwin1990), Clawson (Reference Clawson1999) and Cohen (Reference Cohen and Whiteley1997), an analysis borne out at a Warriors Association jam at which the only ‘graduates’ of the programme who performed were men. This situation, as Sara Cohen (Reference Cohen and Whiteley1997) proposes, is not only typical of the rock scene she observed, but reproduces a wider masculinist culture. It also reflects the many musical traditions in which women are prohibited from publicly playing musical instruments.Footnote ¹³

The women Warrior vocalists had a double masquerade to perform: as middle-aged women bearing the signification of female sexuality displayed and in performing the work of the typically male lead singer. In the public, masculine space of a rock performance, women are at a ‘situational disadvantage’ (Massey Reference Massey1994, p. 336). As feminist analysis of the discursive relationship between music and gender maintains, female musical performance is delineated as feminine when they sing, disruptive of this feminine delineation when they play a ‘masculine’ instrument like the electric guitar, and threateningly ambiguous when they sing in a masculine style.Footnote ¹⁴

In rehearsal, Hot Vox's lead singer Rosie was a newly formed rock chick, from her long hennaed curls to her suede stiletto boots. Her jewellery jingled as she swayed her hips, belted in leopard skin where her lacy blouse melted into skin-tight jeans. From her long experience as a stage performer, Rosie knew the value of costume in fleshing out fantasy and was sceptical of Jeff's reassurances that the gig was ‘all about being yourself and having fun’. To her, it was all about performance, whether on stage or in rehearsal. Rosie growled and roared through ‘Honky Tonk Women’ and ‘Mustang Sally’, but stayed clear of anything that might ‘ruin’ her voice. This was difficult because of the compromises with pitch she needed to make, since the band retained the keys of the cover versions they were imitating, in which all the singers were male. Rosie sang raunchy rock classics from the quintessential pub band repertoire. The lyrics cast her as a man, but at the same time Rosie's outfits suggested the honky-tonk woman, the ride-around SallyFootnote ¹⁵ of her songs. She embraced the contradiction and the connotation in her new role as rock diva (Figure 1).

Figure 1.

Rosie the Woman Warrior (photograph by Gail Gauci-Seddon).

Rosie also sounded like a rock diva, despite the broad vibrato of her mature operatic voice. Her interpretations of the songs imitated the cover versions the band was given when they chose their repertoire: The Commitments' 1990 cover of ‘Chain of Fools’ rather than the 1967 hit by Aretha Franklin; and the Rolling Stones' 1969 ‘Honky Tonk Women’ rather than Tina Turner's 1970 cover.Footnote ¹⁶ Yet Rosie's masquerade as rock chick identified her with a woman mythologised not only for her singing, but for her sexually charged stage performance: Tina Turner. Turner's ‘offence is the best form of defence’ performance strategy is one of the few available to female rock vocalists. According to Lucy O'Brien (Reference O'Brien1995), Turner's act developed its aggressive raunchiness as a response to the 1980s' MTV videos with their sexualised and submissive fantasy females. Susan Fast (Reference Fast and Stras2010) similarly argues that Turner reclaimed power and agency through her masculine vocal style (low, raw, aggressive, loud) and by covering men's songs. Rosie plays down the sexual innuendo and wild gestures, her costumes are stylish and sexy and her presentation confident and direct.

Rosie's confident performance contrasted with Johnno's, who selected and sang one song (the Beatles' version of ‘Act Naturally’), the lyrics of which reflected his diffidence as a performer, and the boy-next-door immaturity of the Beatles' early style. (See Appendix 2 for the Hot Vox song list details).

The coach as facilitator

Coach Jeff believed it was important for musicians to lay aside their insecurities in order to focus on their playing, on the band, on the music, on learning new ways of playing together. In addition to performing, composing and recording with his own band, Jeff gave individual tuition in singing and guitar at the music store. As coach to the Weekend Warriors bands, he saw his role as advisor and facilitator (Figure 2).

Figure 2.

Coach Jeff turns up the volume (photograph by Gail Gauci-Seddon).

In the four weeks available, Jeff aimed to give the Warriors a sense of achievement through their successful performance at the group gig. In rehearsal, his comments emphasised the song's structure, which he sometimes simplified to make memorising easier. Rehearsal of each song began with musicians playing and singing in synch with the original recording, repeating sections if a musician needed help working out their part. When that happened, Jeff sang along, calling the chord changes or, for a vocal line, cueing in or signalling its ups and downs with his beating hand. He encouraged an environment in which the musicians could ‘let go immediately of the things that they think they are and allow themselves to be what they can’. In practice, this meant making encouraging comments as he moved from musician to musician and urged them into the groove with hand clapping and body movement.

Jeff's focus was on musicianship: helping musicians to interpret the song and interact with other band members. In a two-hour session, most of the time was spent in playing through songs, repeating problematic sections, rehearsing complex parts, bringing an individual's contribution into line with the ideal group performance: a more driving rhythm on the drums, an upbeat strum on rhythm guitar, counting in the singer's entry, working out a harmony, practising a tight finish.

Jeff also monitored the musicians' feelings. Bobby accepted criticism of his drumming with gravity, but needed frequent reminders to count the band in and keep up the pace. Knowing Marcus's disappointment at an overall skill level much lower than his own, and the band's inability to attempt a Shadows instrumental he had suggested, Jeff encouraged him to take solos. He gave the group choices both in the selection of songs and their interpretation and in structuring rehearsals so they could cover all their songs. He offered suggestions (‘This time, let's do it all facing one another in a circle’) and praise (‘That sounds excellent! You've got some really good songs’), manipulating the sound system to enhance their ensemble sound and increase the clarity of their individual voices on the fold-back. By the second rehearsal, when the musicians were working well together, he took a step back to allow Rosie's leadership to emerge from the group, the two working in tandem:

Music programmes for adults

The Weekend Warriors Program's unique aspects – its commercial orientation, a short ‘catalyst’ course ending in an upbeat ‘graduation’, passing on ‘graduates’ to a network of rock musicians – have some aspects more in common with psychologically based transformative self-improvement courses than with other music education opportunities available to older adults.Footnote ¹⁸ The process and outcomes of a Weekend Warriors Program are also circumscribed by each group's dynamics, the short time frame and the one-off, ready-or-not performance. At the same time, the urgency of this ‘boot camp’Footnote ¹⁹ approach encourages individuals to transcend incompetence or diffidence in order to experience a successful group performance and the self-esteem that may inspire further individual tuition, focused home practice or continued collaboration with other musicians.

Music education specifically for adults tends to take one of two approaches: individual tuition in the conventional master–apprentice relationship; or a teaching focus shared between the attainment of performance skills and the development of personal wellbeing within a creative community. This second approach is the impetus of many community music programmes, in which a leader is generally responsible for musical direction, repertoire and performance opportunities, although that role will vary along a continuum between authoritarian ruler and facilitator. The genres in which both kinds of programmes are offered range across classical, jazz, folk and world music but rarely include rock music or other popular music genres such as country, pop or rhythm and blues.

Bands, orchestras, choirs and singing circles form the bedrock of community music. In the USA, New Horizons International Music Association programmes are aimed at musicians aged 50 and over ‘including those with no musical experience at all and those who were active in school music programmes but have been inactive for a long time. Many adults would like an opportunity to learn music in a group setting similar to that offered in schools.’Footnote ²⁰ In this kind of programme participants literally ‘get back to where they once belonged’, taking classes in school halls from expert instructors. This approach runs counter to widely adopted pedagogical practices in the field of adult learning developed by the American educator Michael Knowles and known as andragogy (Knowles Reference Knowles1990). Based on the understanding that adult learners bring experience to the learning situation and expect not only to participate, but also to influence their learning experience, this approach includes self-directed and student-centred, problem-oriented and collaborative learning. The role of the educator is that of facilitator, who aims to establish an unthreatening environment. The teaching and learning that occurred during the Weekend Warriors Program corresponds closely with the goals of andragogy, although coach Jeff had developed his approach (as he had his musical skills) through years of experience and experimentation as an untrained music teacher.

Learning in the Weekend Warriors Program, through the facilitation of an empathetic master musician, differs from the ‘back to school’ approach of New Horizons. While the Hot Vox rehearsals lack the independence of the peer-directed group learning of young bands as exemplified in Green (Reference Green2002), the interchanges between Rosie and other Hot Vox members indicate that, once out on their own, the band will adapt to peer-directed group learning, which all had experienced as young musicians playing in garage bands, with friends, in professional bands and the opera company. They also have had the opportunity to refresh the learning practices they adopted as young musicians (by ear, by experimentation and collaboration), which also resemble those of young bands.

The gig: the beat goes onFootnote ²¹

At the Saturday night gig (Figure 3), after only four rehearsals, the members of Hot Vox take the stage to sing four of their songs: ‘Proud Mary’, ‘Chain of Fools’, ‘Act Naturally’ and ‘Mustang Sally’. ‘Honky Tonk Women’ didn't make the cut. The venue is the lawn bowling club down the road from Manny's music store. The audience of Warriors' family and friends is supplemented by the young crowd who frequent the club for its ‘barefoot bowls and barbecue’ deal and drift between the bar and the floodlit greens. Hot Vox's performance replicates the band's rehearsals: Marcus shines on lead guitar and keeps the songs together; Rosie sings and moves in character, though a rich vibrato in her higher register betrays her operatic training; Bobby's drumming is hesitant but adequate; Johnno can't find his pitch in ‘Act Naturally’, but stumbles on with an engaging bravado. The crowd hoots and claps and dances. The video captures the musicians' relief and exhilaration as they finish.

Figure 3.

Graduation gig for the Weekend Warriors.

When I caught up with the Hot Vox musicians six months after their gig, all were happy with the programme. Marcus had been disappointed with the skill levels in the band, but intended to join future Warriors programmes, just for the experience of playing with a band. Rosie, Johnno and Bobby were rehearsing together as ‘Rosie and the Boys’, joined by the lead guitarist from another of the Warrior bands. Rosie felt confident singing this repertoire: ‘I have a lot more feeling for the groove of it now.’ Bobby had joined the Warriors Association and hoped to attend their monthly jams. Johnno was delighted to have been accepted into a new band.

None of the Hot Vox musicians bought new equipment, but the store manager was happy that other Warriors had. According to the Weekend Warriors national coordinator Silvio, who has run the programme many times at his own store, the programme itself doesn't make a profit, but participants spend an average of $1,000 at the store within two months of completing the programme. The programme also gives the store a profile and creates good will. At Manny's, store manager Gloria was keen to take on the programme as a new marketing tool, hoping to build up the business's ‘client community’. She had shared the thrill the Warriors and their family and friends experienced at the final gig, and now had a ‘warm fuzzy feeling’ that she had helped musicians reconnect with performance, while the charity gig's financial success had provided musical instruments for a resource centre for homeless youth.

The Weekend Warriors Program offers various benefits to the older musician, acting as a catalyst to band formation, development of a musical and social network, and continued musical participation and learning.