The role of leadership and facilitation in fostering connectedness and development through participation in the Just Brass music programme

Abstract

Many extracurricular music programmes provided for Australian students highlight wellbeing benefits; although the programmes vary significantly, with some being uniquely tailored by facilitators to the specific needs of each group, and others being manualised and delivered across the country. This research project investigated a manualised brass ensemble programme run by The Salvation Army with students from schools in areas of disadvantage. We interviewed a group of young leaders who had been involved in the programme for a number of years and asked them to reflect on their experiences of participation and leadership, both individually and as a collective. Analysis highlighted the importance of programme facilitation and leadership, as demonstrated through the understandings of the young people that their wellbeing was prioritised over their musicianship within the programme. This finding may provide a feasible explanation as to why some very different music programmes, from tailored therapy groups to manualised ensemble-playing on brass instruments, result in similar wellbeing outcomes being described by participants. It also challenges the demands of evidence-based research methodologies that attempt to separate out the influence of leadership from the effect of the music in order to prove the wellbeing benefits of music.