Music and Self-Esteem: Disadvantaged Problem Boys in an All-Black Elementary School

Abstract

Self-esteem has been of interest to investigators for a long time, but it has recently gained new attention in regard to disadvantaged learners. Self-esteem is the judgmental evaluation an individual makes of himself and is related not only to early home environment but also to achievement, including skill development.1 In the winter of I968-1969, an experimental study in music and self-esteem was undertaken in an all-black elementary school. The subjects were fourteen boys between ten and twelve years old, from tlae fourtll, fiftll, and sixth grades. These boys had been referred to the county psychological services center and were described as having learning and behavior problems in their classrooms-slow learning, bothering other children, dullness, daydreaming. All had accumulated records of repeated failures in at least part, if not all, of their school work. This failure-set characteristic suggested tllat these boys needed some successful experiences that might help improve tlleir self-esteem. Tlle purpose of this study was to determine whether or not the learning of simple musical performance skills would affect selfesteem in such boys. For example, if learning to play chords on a uklllele could affect self-esteem, could further instruction and performance be used to reinforce learning of other basic classroom skills, such as increased attention span?