Music therapists who offer parent-child developmental music-making experiences may benefit from expanding their clinical offerings to include elders in the family music-making experience. The literature on intergenerational music-making supports the inclusion of preschoolers, school aged children, and adolescents in a music making experience with elders. Practice descriptions of intergenerational developmental music-experiences offered by music therapists are represented with greater frequency. Structuring intergenerational music-making that includes parent-child dyads with very young children (birth to five years) and elders may be an area of growth for music therapists who seek address the needs for access to music making in their community.

Carol Ann Blank, PhD, MT-BC

Carol Ann Blank is a board-certified music therapist and Manager of Research and Special Needs Services at Music Together Worldwide. Her research interest is music therapy clinical decision-making. She develops training materials and mentoring for teachers and licensees who work with children with special needs and their families.