August 5, 2024

Karendra Devroop: Social impact of music in South Africa

Author:

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.

The role of the arts in education 

Several researchers and leading international organisations suggest that the arts play a critical role in the development of youth. UNESCO, one of the champions of policy initiatives on culture and education, appealed to arts organisations and practitioners to foster the development of arts education in the UNESCO Road Map for Arts Education (UNESCO 2006). Several researchers have indicated that involvement in the arts has been associated with improved scores in math and reading and elevated verbal, cognitive and spatial reasoning skills (Burton, Horowitz, and Abeles 1999). Researchers (Brown, Benedett, and Armistead 2010) have also indicated that the arts provide a suitable avenue for school readiness skills for children from diverse backgrounds. 

The arts have been shown to play a critical role in the development of at-risk children and those facing poverty-related stressors. It has been suggested that the arts could provide regulation of emotions and behaviour for students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds while increasing their cultural awareness through education (Brown, Benedett, and Armistead 2010). The arts could in essence become a focal point for early intervention of developmental deficiencies in children facing economic and other social challenges including lack of parental support, drug abuse and crime.