Music Performance Ensemble Participation and the Cultivation of Student Grit

Abstract

Myriad empirical studies show that music participation has numerous cognitive and non-cognitive benefits, but there is limited research studying the influence of music participation on the development of grit. Through a cross-sectional analysis involving music ensemble and non-music ensemble students, this study investigated if students with active participation in a school music performance ensemble had higher levels of self-reported grit than comparable students who did not have active participation in a school music performance ensemble. The research study also explored if active participation in a school music performance ensemble satisfied basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. The study found that students who actively participated in a school music performance ensemble had higher levels of self-reported grit, displaying a mean grit score of 3.15, 95% CI [3.07, 3.23] compared with non-music ensemble students who participated in a different school extracurricular activity, 2.90, 95% CI [2.79, 3.00] and non-music ensemble students who did not participate in any school extracurricular activity, 2.78, 95% CI [2.64, 2.92]. A statistically significant difference in grit was attributed to type of extracurricular activity (F = 13.03, p < .01) with 9% of overall grit variance attributed to extracurricular activity. Additionally, for music ensemble students, there was a relationship between self-reported grit and the satisfaction of basic psychological needs, with grit showing statistically significant relationships with autonomy satisfaction (r = .33, p < .01), competence satisfaction (r = .28, p < .01), and relatedness satisfaction (r = .18, p < .05).