Within the literature there exists a large volume of research studies attesting to the
positive relationships between studying music and various psychological and
sociological variables. A close examination of these studies reveals that only a
handful were conducted on disadvantaged populations. Accordingly, it remains
unclear to what extent these findings hold true for disadvantaged students. The
purpose of this study was to investigate the social-emotional impact of
instrumental music instruction on disadvantaged South African students. The
two specific questions addressed in this study were (1) what impact did
instrumental music instruction have on student’s self-esteem, optimism, sense of

happiness and perseverance and (2) do any relationships exist between instru-
mental music instruction and the variables under investigation? The results

indicated that there were generally increased levels of self-esteem, optimism,
happiness and perseverance after participation in an instrumental music
programme. There was also an increase in subject’s optimism and sense of
happiness. There were moderate to moderately strong positive relationships
between participation in instrumental music and self-esteem, optimism, happiness
and perseverance.