Music Ensemble Participation And Self-Identity

music ensemble participation may have on students’ self-identity development. Through my research, I was able to locate one article that concentrated on middle school instrumental music and its impact on students’ identity formation. The results of this article suggest that the students involved in middle school band identified themselves by their participation in the music ensemble (Hoffman, 2012). I am sure other research is available on this particular population, but I was not able to find it. The gap in this area of research presents a need for this study. The purpose of this proposed research study is to determine the effect of instrumental music ensemble participation in middle school on students' self-identity. To that end, I intend to investigate the following research questions: 1) What relationship might exist between participation in middle school instrumental music ensembles and students’ development of self-identity? 2) What relationship might exist between participating in a middle school instrumental music ensemble and a student’s self-efficacy?
Literature Review
Social Effects of Music
Music in Everyday Life Music can have many effects on people , including their day-to-day life. Participating in or listening to music can influence a person’s mood or their personality. Certain types of music can make a person feel happy or …show more content…
Participating in music ensembles can help students develop a social identity, which is an identity within a category that people belong and share important values. Being part of a group where the members share a common interest or goal can be fundamental in developing a young person’s social identity. As stated by Olsson (2007), the meaningful experiences many teenagers encounter in music provide them the assurance of connecting with peers. Teenagers often use these peer connections as a way to find their place within the music ensemble and their social