This article presents a case study of a group of approximately 70-year-old women who are learning to play rock band instruments in a formal music school context. The study examines the individual and shared meanings that the participants assigned to taking part in the rock band. The study aligns with John Dewey’s view that the meanings of present learning experiences are constructed in a continuum of the past and the future. Narrative techniques are utilized to report the three main themes that emerged from the participants’ accounts, which have implications for increasing empowerment and musical agency: the meanings assigned to learning music in a rock band context, playing rock music repertoire, and performing publicly in a rock band. The study contributes to the increasingly relevant discussion of a growing field in music education, and challenges the common assumptions of what is designated in this article as ‘later adulthood music education’.
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