Cognitive aspects of aging associated with piano teaching and learning

Abstract

This article presents an excerpt from an ongoing doctoral research project at State University of Campinas – UNICAMP, which focuses on piano teaching for older adults and aims to develop a design proposal for this educational context. The research adopts Design-Based Research (DBR) as its methodology, comprising four phases (Matta et al., 2014). This article addresses part of the data produced during the first phase of DBR, corresponding to the analysis of the problem conducted collaboratively among researchers, users, and other participants involved in the study. This phase was developed based on three data sources: (1) specialized literature on aging, with an emphasis on the Lifespan perspective (Baltes et al., 1998; Neri, 2006) and the Selection, Optimization, and Compensation mechanism (Baltes & Baltes, 1990); (2) specialized literature on music teaching for older adults, drawing on Musikgeragogik (Hartogh & Wickel, 2005; 2008); and (3) an online questionnaire answered by piano teachers who currently teach or have previously taught older adults. The questionnaire responses were analyzed using Content Analysis (Bardin, 2016), resulting in 14 analytical categories. For the purposes of delimitation, this article focuses on the category “cognitive dimension,” presenting the participating teachers’ perceptions of the topic and discussing them in dialogue with the specialized literature.