Investigating the Role of Structure and Support in Group-Based Music Education for Emerging Adults Experiencing Homelessness

Purpose: Music-based activities have been used throughout the history of the social work profession. Recent ethnographic research demonstrates that music-based activities offer homeless emerging adults opportunities to engage in music production, education, and appreciation. Participants describe these experiences as opportunities for connection, engagement, and expression. While additional research suggests that structure and support play an important role in participants realizing their goals in music-based activities, there is little research that demonstrates how group-based music education might offer additional structure and support. The present study addresses this gap in the literature by investigating the development and implementation of a group-based music education residency for homeless emerging adults. Using qualitative methods, this study examines the development and implementation of the curriculum and how teaching artists and participants experience the residency. As social work continues to build the evidence base to address the grand challenges, it is important to understand the vital role arts engagement and creative expression play in engaging vulnerable and oppressed populations.

Method: Thirty hours of participant-observation were conducted during group-based music education residency sessions with emerging adults experiencing homelessness over the course of two months. Pre-, mid-, and post-residency focus groups were conducted with three teaching artists to explore the development and implementation of the curriculum and their experiences of the residencies. Pre- and post-residency focus groups were conducted with ten residency participants to explore their experiences of the residencies. Field notes and interview transcripts were analyzed using NVivo 10 and a modified version of Emerson, Fretz, and Shaw’s model of coding and memoing. Data were reviewed as a complete set and openly coded, making initial memos. Themes were then chosen, followed by focused coding that was tied together by integrative memoing. A thematic narrative was developed from this iterative and recursive process and reviewed with teaching artists and residency participants to provide reliability and validity.

Results: Teaching artists developed the group-based music curriculum in collaboration with agency staff. As the curriculum was implemented, teaching artists adapted the curriculum as needed in an effort to engage residency participants’ talents, strengths and interests. Observation and focus group data suggest teaching artists’ adaptability, which is defined as flexibility, role adaptability, and meeting participants where they are, played an important role in providing residency participants with opportunities to gain a deeper understanding of music composition, production, and performance. In addition, participants demonstrated personal agency, empowerment, and collective decision-making throughout the residency. Based on these findings, it appears the increased structure and support offered through the group-based music education curriculum benefitted residency participants.

Implications: This study adds to the emerging body of research exploring the use of music-based activities with emerging adults experiencing homelessness, highlighting the beneficial role of increased structure and support in activity development and implementation. This information may be used to advance and strengthen the efficacious use of music-based activities with homeless emerging adults and other vulnerable and oppressed populations. It also may be used to demonstrate the importance of arts engagement and creative expression in social work practice.