Community music programs boost youth wellbeing and life skills

Improving the wellbeing of young people is an international priority. The World Health Organization has reported that suicide is now the third leading cause of death for young people aged 15 to 29-years-old globally, and is strongly correlated to youth mental illness.

A new research study led by Dr Jason Goopy, Senior Lecturer in Music Education in the School of Education at Edith Cowan University (ECU), has investigated the positive impact of community music education programs (CMEPs) in regional Australia.

CMEPs provide non-medical, cost-effective, and community-based opportunities to reach out to young people who are struggling and to promote wellbeing and healthy living.

Community music education programs are increasingly recognized as an empowering environment for participants to learn healthy life strategies in addition to music.

Through the lens of self-determination theory (SDT), we investigated how these programs satisfied psychological needs and enhanced the wellbeing of adolescents and young adults experiencing challenging life circumstances."

Dr. Jason Goopy, Senior Lecturer in Music Education, School of Education, Edith Cowan University 

The CMEP involved in the study offered free afternoon programs where learning music, particularly songwriting, was used as a transformative resource to engage youth in formal life education. Entry to the program was available to all young people, regardless of their previous music education experience.

Researcher observation and participation in sessions and individual semi-structured interviews with young people and program facilitators were used to understand the impact of music education in this setting.

"We found learning music in community settings guided by belonging, learning, and empowerment promoted young people's wellbeing," Dr Goopy explained.

• A sense of belonging was achieved by a positive, family-like environment promoting no judgment, connection, and inclusion.
• Facilitator role models provided informal music and formal life learning activities. 
• Young people were empowered to take control and were instilled with a sense of accomplishment and purpose.

"What we found is that CMEPs can satisfy young people's relatedness, competency, and autonomy psychological needs, which are essential for human flourishing."

The innovative music learning model disrupts dominant approaches to school music education focused on musician career pathways.

"By removing entry barriers and combining music and life learning, all youth can have opportunities to feel good and live well using music," Dr Goopy said.

The program also emphasised the need for the co-construction of highly personalised music and life goals with the guidance of teacher-facilitator role models.

"Learning music in community settings can be a powerful life-wide and lifelong wellbeing strategy to improve the collective futures of young Australians."

Psychological needs and wellbeing in community music education for young people experiencing challenging life circumstances is published in the journal Research Studies in Music Education.

A related study conducted by Dr Goopy published in Music Education Research, titled: Young people healing and growing in trauma-informed positive music education, investigated how young people use music to heal and grow in a CMEP informed by trauma-informed positive education (TIPE) – a recent approach that combines trauma-informed practices and strengths-based positive psychology. Stories, including drawing and music, were co-constructed with youth to reveal how they use music, particularly songwriting, to increase self-regulation, develop relational capabilities, and act as a psychological resource for wellbeing.