Beiguan music is one of the most important traditional music genres in Taiwan. It was a popular entertainment in the old days. Nowadays beiguan music has been requisite for the culture and social life in Taiwan. According to the performance types, beiguan music can be divided into four types: “pai-tsi” (percussion and wind ensemble music), “ hi-khik” (theatre music), “iu-khik” (refined songs), and “hian-a-phoo” (silk and bamboo ensemble music).

Meanwhile, beiguan music is an ensemble music genre, consisting of percussion and wind ensemble or only percussion ensemble music, and silk and bamboo ensemble music. Silk and bamboo ensemble uses string instruments and a bamboo flute to play melody parts of theatre music, refined songs and string and bamboo ensemble music while percussion and wind ensemble uses drums, gongs, cymbals and sona (double-reed instruments). The percussion instruments dominate rhythm changing. Among these ensembles, the silk and bamboo ensemble music can be used for personal entertainment in addition to the above-mentioned functions.

Since the society in Taiwan has become an aging society, the Government has promoted concept of “live and learn”. Parts of senior citizens have started to learn new skills and knowledge in order to fulfill and enjoy their lives. Therefore, this study focuses on teaching beiguan music for senior citizens. It includes basic technique of beiguan string and percussion instruments, followed by playing “sip-yim” ensemble music. This paper also discusses the problems happened in classes and figures out solutions to the problems through teaching.