Improving the well-being of youth is an international priority. The World Health Organization has reported that suicide is now the third leading cause of death for young people aged 15 to 29 globally, and is closely linked to youth mental illness.
A new research study led by Dr Jason Goopy, Senior Lecturer in Music Education in the School of Education at Edith Cowan University (ECU), has examined the positive impact of community music education programs (CMEPs) in regional Australia.
CMEPs provide non-medical, cost-effective, and community-based opportunities to reach struggling youth and promote well-being and healthy lives.
Community music education programs are being recognized as an empowering environment for participants to learn healthy life strategies beyond music.
Through the lens of self-determination theory (SDT), we examined how these programs meet the psychological needs and enhance the well-being of adolescents and young adults facing challenging life circumstances.
Dr Jason Goopy, Senior Lecturer in Music Education, School of Education, Edith Cowan University
The CMEPs involved in the study offered free afternoon programs where learning music, specifically songwriting, was used as a transformative resource to engage youth in formal life education. Entry into the program was available to all youth, regardless of their previous music education experience.
Researcher observation and participation in sessions and individual semi-structured interviews with young people and program facilitators were used to understand the impact of music education in this setting.
“We found that music learning promoted youth well-being through belonging, learning, and empowerment in a community setting,” Dr. Goopy said.
- A sense of belonging was achieved through a positive, family-like environment that fostered no-judgment, connection and inclusion.
- Facilitator role models provided informal music and formal life learning activities.
- Youth were empowered to take control and instilled in them a sense of achievement and purpose.
“We found that CMEP can meet young people’s psychological needs of relatedness, competence and autonomy, which are essential for human development.”
The innovative music learning model disrupts the dominant approach to school music education focused on musician career paths.
“By removing barriers to entry and combining music and life learning, all young people can have the opportunity to feel good and live well using music,” said Dr Goopy.
The program also emphasized the need for co-construction of highly individual musical and life goals with the guidance of teacher-facilitator role models.
“Learning music in a community setting can be a powerful life-long and lifelong well-being strategy to improve the collective future of young Australians.”
Psychological needs and well-being in community music education for youth experiencing challenging life circumstances is published in the journal Research Studies in Music Education.
A related study conducted by Dr. Goopy, published in Music Education Research, titled: Young people healing and growing in trauma-informed positive music education, examined how young people use music to heal and grow in CMEP informed by trauma-informed positive education (TIPE) – a recent approach that combines trauma-informed practices and strengths-based positive psychology. Stories including drawing and music were co-created with youth to explore how they use music, specifically songwriting, to enhance self-regulation, develop relational abilities, and act as a psychosocial resource for well-being.
Source:
Journal Reference:
Goopy, J., and McArthur, S. (2026). Psychological needs and well-being in community music education for youth experiencing challenging life circumstances. Research Studies in Music Education. doi:10.1177/1321103X251410565. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1321103X251410565
