Interlude

It’s 3:47 in the morning and my phone is up to my face as I type, searching for the right words to end the bridge of a song I just wrote. I quietly walk downstairs, put my keyboard on the desk, connect it to the computer, and create the chords to the bridge. I continue to search for the harmonies that will go on top of the melody. My brain feels like a fast-running machine....

Experiencing Community

Chapter 6 explores how scholars define the word community within community psychology and cultural and cognitive anthropology. The chapter begins with how individuals see themselves in groups using David McMillan and David Chavis’s psychological sense of community. Next, the reader is introduced to Edith and Victor Turner’s communitas to speak to how communities work for individuals. Etienne Wenger and Jean Lave’s communities of practice is then discussed to aid educators’ understanding of how communities are built. The chapter encourages readers to consider the action cycle of Jeff Duncan-Andrade and Ernest Morrell’s critical counter-cultural communities of practice. At the end of the chapter, challenges to building and sustaining community are proposed, with questions for reflection.

How I Think

Chapter 3 examines adolescent brain growth, musical thinking, and motivation. Adolescents on music share how they think about music, how they view themselves, and what challenges they have faced in their musical development. Included in chapter 3 is an exploration of Ryan and Deci’s metatheory of motivation, titled self-determination, and Dweck and Molden’s self-theories or mindset. In the middle of the chapter, a brief discussion ensues of adolescents’ experiences as creative thinkers. At the end of the chapter, recommendations are proposed as to how educators’ regular and consistent communication and positive modeling represent critical supports to adolescent musical development.

Emerging Leadership and Giving Back

Chapter 8 focuses how on adolescents described their futures with special attention to adolescent perspectives on leadership. The reader is introduced to three interweaving and interdependent themes, namely, (1) embracing compassion and care for others, (2) giving back to communities, and (3) reaching out to change the world. Susan Komives’s relational leadership model is presented as a framework for building adolescent leaders. Discussion topics include fostering purpose, valuing difference, empowering ownership, and valuing work with others. The chapter highlights the significance of hope and the importance of educators in building up critical hope in students. The chapter ends with a discussion of adolescent exploration and access.

Part II Summary

In Part II, we examined how individuals interact in groups and how groups grow adolescent musical identity. In “Finding Belonging,” we addressed the importance of feeling a part of smaller groups and a sense of responsibility to others. We looked at significant shared experiences and what developmental assets educators might consider to enhance adolescent belonging. In “Experiencing Community,” we analyzed three different theories and considered the importance of membership and trust and what separates and joins us as individuals in communities. We read the challenges of communities that can limit individuals’ voices and how we might raise up individuals to create effective collective spaces. In “Growing Social Identity,” we weighed adolescent perspectives on social identity theory, including how adolescents experienced a sense of belonging from ingroup participation and simultaneously felt they resided on the outside of other groups. We ended by reflecting on shared values of what it means to be musical. In these chapters, adolescents’ experiences represented critical voices to drive our thoughts forward and build future action items....

Growing Social Identity

Chapter 7 investigates how adolescents reflect the groups in which they participate and how individuals use group characteristics to create and refine self-identity. In this chapter adolescents tell of their musical ingroup and outgroup experiences. Their experiences are then interpreted using a “group in the individual” or social identity perspective, The chapter also focuses on how adolescents use social categorization, social comparison, social mobility, social change, and social creativity to build themselves. At the end of the chapter, there is a discussion of the structural challenges that emerged with adolescent participants in their discussions of social identity. The reader is encouraged to complete a self-reflection and community values exercise.

Interlude

Music has always been something that I enjoy. I’m not a music prodigy, nor do I play and practice nearly as much as I should, but having something to look forward to at the end of the day helped me through some really stressful times. I started piano in second grade, which helped me to easily start percussion in fourth. However, I always felt there was more to music than what I was involved in....

Interlude

Choir helps me lead in my regular life outside of choir because I have to prepare for solos, tryouts, and assessments in front of other people. In choir, we do not judge others, and it helps build a sense of community. I know I can trust the other girls in my choir because we support each other and help each other if we’re having trouble. During one choir retreat, there were some new girls who recently moved up from the choir below us. I could not hear them very well; it sounded as if they were not singing at all. I sang louder when I heard they were faltering and tried to help them in any way possible....

Part I Summary

Using a developmental frame, we focused thus far on the innermost circles of adolescent musical identity development. In the chapter exploring “who I am,” we viewed adolescent self-concept, or traits and attributes they ascribed to their musicking; self-esteem, or a feeling of musical self-worth; and self-representation, or how adolescents viewed themselves musicking over time. In close interaction, we saw the critical role of important others and closest contexts, such as home, school, and community. Examining “how I think,” we discussed the importance of relatedness, mindset, autonomy, and building a sense of competency. While looking at adolescent feelings, we explored agency, perseverance, and vulnerability. In ...

How I Feel

Chapter 4 focuses on adolescent feelings, including two large concepts: (1)musical perseverance and vulnerability, and (2) musical agency. Adolescents share their feelings about making music—how they use music to strengthen the self, persevere through difficulty, experience joy, and connect with others. Building blocks to musical agency are identified as perseverance and vulnerability. The chapter then looks closely at musical agency, specifically self-regulation, self-transformation, and connecting to self and world. The end of the chapter introduces holistic teaching with an aim to foster balance, inclusion, and connection. Educators are encouraged to work with adolescents on growing a sense of purpose.