The Foun­tains of Uke pro­gram is a pro­ject based out of Hamil­ton, Onta­rio which connects older adults living in reti­re­ment and long-term care homes with local ele­men­ta­ry stu­dents. The goal of this pro­ject is to fos­ter inter­ge­ne­ra­tio­nal connec­tions using music as a tool to do so.

Key Pro­cesses

The Foun­tains of Uke pro­gram includes a total of six visits bet­ween faci­li­ta­tors and par­ti­ci­pants. This helps achieve the goal of inter­ge­ne­ra­tio­nal connec­tion by having mul­tiple oppor­tu­ni­ties for par­ti­ci­pants to inter­act. It also allows pro­gram faci­li­ta­tors to tai­lor their musi­cal acti­vi­ties to the spe­ci­fic per­so­na­li­ties within their pro­gram group.

While there is one ove­rar­ching goal of this pro­ject (inter­ge­ne­ra­tio­nal connec­tions through music), there are mul­tiple means to this end. Music is used in a varie­ty of ways within the pro­gram to fos­ter connections.

Why the Ukulele ? 

Uku­lele (“Uke” for short) is part of the name of the pro­gram because it is one of the main ways that music is used in dif­ferent acti­vi­ties within the pro­gram. The uku­lele is part of the ele­men­ta­ry music cur­ri­cu­lum in Onta­rio, which means that ele­men­ta­ry school par­ti­ci­pants get to take their lear­ning out­side of the for­mal class­room to a com­mu­ni­ty space. The uku­lele is an acces­sible ins­tru­ment as it can be used in mul­tiple ways (strum open, play like a drum, play col­la­bo­ra­ti­ve­ly with a friend, etc.) which makes it a great option for fos­te­ring connec­tions bet­ween pro­gram participants.

Faci­li­ta­tor Competencies

Pro­gram faci­li­ta­tion skills : faci­li­ta­tors of this pro­gram must have excellent pro­gram faci­li­ta­tion skills, as they are mana­ging mul­tiple people with diverse inter­ests, needs, and capa­ci­ties. Typi­cal group sizes are 6–10 ele­men­ta­ry stu­dents and 3–8 older adults per group.

Inter­per­so­nal skills : com­mu­ni­ca­ting effec­ti­ve­ly with par­ti­ci­pants and co-faci­li­ta­tors is a cri­ti­cal skill to be a suc­cess­ful Foun­tains of Uke faci­li­ta­tor. Reco­gni­zing and sup­por­ting folks through emo­tions or memo­ries that come up during music-based pro­gram­ming in a digni­ty-giving way helps ensure the pro­gram space is com­for­table and safe for all.

Crea­ti­vi­ty : Faci­li­ta­tors get to know their par­ti­ci­pants during the first ses­sions. Thin­king crea­ti­ve­ly about how to infuse future pro­gram acti­vi­ties with par­ti­ci­pants’ inter­ests and skills can help build rap­port and connec­tion bet­ween the generations.

Sample Acti­vi­ties and Pro­gram Struc­ture #1

1 – Wel­come and Intro­duc­tion Acti­vi­ty – “this or that MUSIC”. Faci­li­ta­tors bring pho­tos or sound clips of two (or more) oppo­sing musi­cal enti­ties. Par­ti­ci­pants pick their choice from the two or more items, and dis­cuss. Faci­li­ta­tors may prompt par­ti­ci­pants to pick their favou­rite choice, least favou­rite choice, most inter­es­ting choice, etc., based on the needs and capa­ci­ties of the group. For example, faci­li­ta­tors could share a pho­to of a sym­pho­nic orches­tra playing and a pho­to of a per­son playing a uku­lele on a beach. A second example, two sound clips : one of a song poten­tial­ly more fami­liar to the older par­ti­ci­pants (Elvis, Glen Mil­ler, Bing Cros­by, etc.) and a song poten­tial­ly more fami­liar to the stu­dents (Dis­ney hit, mains­tream pop, movie sound­track); you may also choose two dif­ferent songs fami­liar to the older adults, the chil­dren will have impor­tant rea­sons for their choice even if they are not fami­liar with the music ! Faci­li­tate dis­cus­sion once all par­ti­ci­pants have sha­red their choice. Divide into small groups as appropriate.

2 – Music Bin­go – divide the group into mul­tiple inter­ge­ne­ra­tio­nal teams. Using pre-made bin­go cards with song titles or artists or lyrics from songs, invite each group to fill out their bin­go card as the faci­li­ta­tors play excerpts from a pre-arran­ged play­list. This acti­vi­ty can be exten­ded beyond the first team who gets bin­go by set­ting a goal of having a team achieve the most num­ber of squares.

3 – Uku­lele Show and Tell – ele­men­ta­ry student par­ti­ci­pants part­ner with an older adult with the goal of intro­du­cing their uku­lele to them. Depen­ding on the age of the ele­men­ta­ry stu­dents, faci­li­ta­tors may pro­vide a short lists of all the “ele­ments” of the uku­lele to share with the older adults (for example – strings, tuning pegs, body, frets, spe­ci­fic chords). In sub­sequent ses­sions, this could be scaf­fol­ding for a Learn A Song Toge­ther activity.

4 – Good­byes and Clo­sing – inter­ge­ne­ra­tio­nal pairs are invi­tied to share one thing they lear­ned or appre­cia­ted about the ses­sion. They are then invi­ted to share some­thing they are loo­king for­ward to about their next visit. Faci­li­ta­tors com­plete an all-group wrap-up.

Sample Acti­vi­ties and Pro­gram Struc­ture #2

1 – Wel­come and Intro­duc­tion Acti­vi­ty – faci­li­ta­tors play 3 x 1‑minute excerpts from upbeat songs and invite par­ti­ci­pants to have a dance par­ty. Depen­ding on the group and indi­vi­dual capa­ci­ties, faci­li­ta­tors may invite ele­men­ta­ry stu­dents to dance through the group and find and wave at one of their older adult friends from the pre­vious visit. If appro­priate, this can be an open-ended free dance par­ty for all par­ti­ci­pants and facilitators.

2 – Lear­ning a Song Toge­ther – divide the group into seve­ral inter­ge­ne­ra­tio­nal teams. If pos­sible, a 4:2 or 5:2 ratio of chil­dren to older adults seems to work well. Hand out large print chord/lyric sheets to a song fami­liar to the older adults, such as (but not limi­ted to): You Are My Sun­shine, Row Row Row Your Boat, Skip to my Lou. Ensure that the chords used in the song are ones that the ele­men­ta­ry stu­dents are lear­ning in their music class. Connect with the ele­men­ta­ry music tea­cher to review song choice and asso­cia­ted chords. The goal of the acti­vi­ty is for the chil­dren to learn to play the song on their uku­leles, with the sup­port of the older adults, who can sing along, hold the chord/lyric sheets and point to where the kids are in the song, etc. Faci­li­ta­tors may need to pro­vide varying levels of sup­port to each group, depen­ding on their capa­ci­ties, connec­tions for­ming, and com­fort on the uku­lele and sin­ging ! Pro­vide sup­por­tive eye contact, encou­ra­ge­ment, and direct faci­li­ta­tion as needed.

3 – Per­for­mance – invite each small group to per­form their song for the rest of the par­ti­ci­pants and faci­li­ta­tors. Depen­ding on the needs of the group, you may choose to have one large-group per­for­mance, or seve­ral small group per­for­mances. Faci­li­ta­tors can sup­port per­for­mances as appropriate.

4 – My Musi­cal His­to­ry – wor­king in the same inter­ge­ne­ra­tio­nal groups, the goal of this acti­vi­ty is to talk about musi­cal expe­riences that have been mea­ning­ful to each par­ti­ci­pant, and to move from struc­tu­red prompt-based conver­sa­tion into more free-flo­wing conver­sa­tion. This will indi­cate brid­ging of inter­ge­ne­ra­tio­nal gaps. Faci­li­ta­tors can pro­vide seve­ral cue cards to each group, with one dis­cus­sion prompt writ­ten on each card. For example, here are three dis­cus­sion prompt ideas : 1) What musi­cal instrument(s) have you played before ? If you have not played an ins­tru­ment before, what ins­tru­ment would you be inter­es­ted in trying ? 2) What is a memo­ry in your life that has music as a part of it ?  3) What does music mean to you ? You can invite each group to work through the prompts at their own pace.

5 – Good­byes and Clo­sing – wor­king in the same groups, par­ti­ci­pants are invi­ted to share some­thing they lear­ned during the ses­sion today and share their good­byes. Faci­li­ta­tors com­plete and all-group sum­ma­ry and closing.

Prac­ti­cal Advice for Implementation

Part­ner­ship consi­de­ra­tions : it is ideal to engage a school and a care home that are in wal­king dis­tance from each other. This allows the ele­men­ta­ry stu­dents to walk to the care home for pro­gram ses­sions, redu­cing finan­cial and logis­ti­cal bar­riers to pro­gram participation.

Sche­du­ling : consi­der that both the school and care home may have sche­dule constraints. Build in lots of time to confirm the sche­dule with lea­ders at each space prior to a tar­get start date.

Contin­gen­cy plan­ning : it is very pos­sible that ses­sions will need to be modi­fied or res­che­du­led for various rea­sons (out­breaks and incle­ment wea­ther to name a few). Main­tai­ning good com­mu­ni­ca­tion with contacts at the school and home lea­ding up to ses­sions will ensure all par­ties are on the same page about the plan. Get crea­tive if you face bar­riers. For example, if incle­ment wea­ther pre­vents the kids from tra­vel­ling to the care home, consi­der sen­ding some faci­li­ta­tors to the school and some to the home so that all par­ti­ci­pants can still engage in a modi­fied program.