‘Musical footprints’: music as a vehicle for story-telling, connection-building and enhancing wellbeing 

Many children and young people (CYP) increasingly face significant challenges with their mental health, wellbeing, and engagement in their education.

The million-dollar question still remains: how do we meaningfully engage and support them? Magic wand aside, I want to bring attention to the power of music-based approaches to re-engage children, build positive connections, work through trauma, and forge new positive identities. What can we learn from the stories and ‘musical footprints’ of children and young people?

Engaging the disengaged

Many young people have faced difficult experiences and educational journeys. This is often the case for those experiencing emotionally based school avoidance or non-attendance. I think we’ve all been in the boat of ‘Where do we go from here when nothing seems to be working?’. 

So… where do we go from here?

I wonder if children and young people with these experiences need something different, more creative and outside of the box (ideally without a dreaded worksheet or assessment in sight). In my view, they need someone to connect with who will really understand their journey/story and will help to build on their interests and passions. I would argue that the ‘magic wand’ that is so often searched for lies in the relationships children have with important adults (parents, friends, education staff, or key professionals). 

I’m sure many of us have seen first-hand the way children (and ourselves) use music as an emotional regulation tool or release, a way to express individuality and form connections with others. From my personal experience, the way music can elicit thoughts, feelings, memories, and provide an escape from reality is unique and powerful. 

The impact of music-based approaches is not just anecdotal; research has shown that music can foster a number of positive outcomes around education, wellbeing, relationship-building, and emotional regulation (Fancourt & Finn, 2019).

Stories and connection through music – ‘musical footprints’ 

I invite you to think about or listen to a favourite song. What meaning and relevance does it have for you? What thoughts, feelings and stories does it evoke? Does it make you think of a person, moment, or connection you shared? Maybe the story it evokes is part of your unique ‘musical footprint’.

I was interested to find out more about how children and young people use music to form (or re-build) relationships and connectedness and what this might mean for their wellbeing. To explore this, I conducted empirical research using a merged multiple case study and narrative approach, which involved two phases:

1. Analysing the digital blogs of the children and young people (photos, videos and audio clips of their music-making experiences) and a Microsoft Teams call with them;
2. Semi-structured interviews with their parents, music mentors and key professionals (e.g. an educational staff member or tutor).

I used narrative analysis to construct an overarching ‘story’ or journey of the young people over the music-mentoring programme. The two ‘stories’ were presented using the participants’ quotes and experiences, particularly focusing on the voice of the children and young people. I found that they had unique and rich individual stories, each engaging in the music-mentoring process (and making meaning in this) in different ways (see below for an example):

Take-home messages from my research

My research calls for a greater appreciation and understanding of how this music-making and mentoring process may be experienced by CYP (and the key relationships around them).

• Uncovering and appreciating the unique stories of young people is crucial to more deeply understand how music may influence relationships and wellbeing.
• The trusting relationship with a music-mentor provides a crucial foundation for young people to experience greater choice, control, sense of success, and relatedness (feelings of connection).
• Through music-making, children and young people can actively process and share their experiences, work through trauma, connect with others, and re-build fractured relationships.
• The music-making process can be therapeutic and transformational, providing opportunities for young people to ‘re-write their story’ and share this with a wider audience. This presents them with a whole new world to be whatever they want, away from any past difficulties, trauma, and feelings of hopelessness.

I think that further exploration into the use of narrative approaches, stories, and technology in the music process would be valuable. For example, this could include further work including CYP as co-researchers or co-constructors of their story. This could use participatory and/or narrative approaches to learn more about how and why these approaches are effective and how they are perceived by CYP.

Implications for practice: musical narratives

Whatever your role (family member, education staff, professional, educational psychologist), I invite you to provide space, curiosity, and to listen very carefully to the stories young people tell about themselves and the people around them. Are the stories really their own and the way they wish to be seen? 

Music can be a powerful vehicle to explore the ways in which people view themselves and the world around them. Lean into those stories, narratives, dreams and hopes. See where they take you.

Consider asking a children about their favourite musician or genre of music (e.g., Which artist is like you? Which song would best describe your experiences? If you could write a song, what would it be about?). Or better yet, ‘do’ music with them! Listen to music, make a playlist, make lyrics/songs and perform with them. Investigate potential access to suitable services.

It is an all too familiar sight to see budget cuts to the arts, often brushed aside to prioritise core subjects. Yet the arts are a powerful way of feeling, processing, and expressing ourselves. This is a call for us to work together to raise the profile and find pockets to harness, protect and value the arts for all children – particularly those whose stories have been untold, unheard, unwritten, or written by others.

Please feel free to get in touch. I’d love to hear any thoughts, experiences, and opportunities to collaborate or share ideas to extend work in this area.

My thesis research can be viewed in full here: Understanding Narratives of Relatedness: Exploring the Journeys of two Young People with SEND Engaging in a Music-mentoring Programme – UEA Digital Repository

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