An instrument for every child: a study on long-term effects of extended music education in German primary schools

Abstract

ABSTRACTDoes extended music education during primary school foster long-term musical participation? What other factors contribute to long-term musical participation? In our study on Impacts and Long-Term Effects of Musical Participation, we investigate how the German programme An Instrument for Every Child (JeKi), which fosters the learning of an instrument during primary school, takes effect on the musical participation of young adolescents in Grades 6 and 7. Besides JeKi, we take into account additional predictors. Our results indicate that the children’s affinity for music and the importance of music at home have a larger influence than all other predictors do on their learning an instrument as well as on their overall musical involvement. We discuss our results referring to Bourdieu and to recent research on musical participation.