Social benefits of musical participation

Abstract

The aim of this article is to shed light on social benefits of musical participation and the importance of musical form as a non-traditional type of learning, in which the art forms of music and drama are treated as one whole. Another aim is to discover the impact of musical participation by focusing on performance anxiety through drama therapy. Drama therapy can play an important role in helping young people deal with social anxiety. Drama therapy involves a relationship between a therapist and a client or clients who attempt to make sense of their life experience as they engage, partly or fully, in a creative process, in this case through the media of drama and theatre. Robert Landy talks about the role of drama, stating that it is ‘about people creating a distance between the everyday reality and the reality of the imagination. Role plays and improvisations can encourage participants to understand negative behaviours and to practice new ways of reacting and of being’ (Landy, 1994). He also describes ‘the dramatic experience of role as being one of paradox: I am me and not-me at the same time. It is one of engagement and separation’ (Landy, 1991). In his study Daniel J. Siegel (2007) reports on the positive effects improvising has on anxiety in the book The Mindful Brain. According to him, the reason for the positive effects of improvising is that the medial frontal cortex is very active when improvising and has the effect that individuals become better in communication with others. Then some social-minded individuals find it easier to be around people in a role because they feel they are freer. At the same time, the role does not have “negative consequences” as in everyday life where individuals are judged by others (Sóley Dröfn Davíðsdóttir, 2017). The research question for this article is: What are the effects of participation in a school musical on social skills and self-perception of adolescents? This was a qualitative interview study in which interviews were conducted with elementary school teenagers who participated in a musical. The investigator’s journal entries were also part of the data as well as his experience in the field. All interviewees reported that the musical process had helped them forge connections with one another. Those students who experienced anxiety said that throughout the process, their anxiety had diminished and that it had helped them express themselves to fellow students, enhancing their self- confidence. The results show that non-traditional learning within a musical is an important platform for enhancing students’ social skills. Furthermore, musical participation has a positive impact on social anxiety and enhances students’ communication skills. Practitioners say it can empower people who struggle with communication to express their needs and feelings. It can help to forge relationships by enhancing confidence or bringing people together. It can provide opportunities to experience positive self-esteem and self-worth, and help people gain control over conflicts and anxieties. The results clearly demonstrated the necessity of non- traditional learning and arts in enhancing students’ social skills and self- confidence. At the same time, it is important to help students who suffer from social anxiety, since the base of social anxiety is social perfectionism, which is best described by the fact that students are afraid to fail during communication with other people. Music-based projects, in which there is considerable social interaction, are, therefore, a helpful as well as a challenging platform for those who suffer from social anxiety disorder. The study is useful to all those who work in primary and secondary education and consequently important to the school community, especially to those who are socially excluded and often find themselves in the world of creative arts.