[Xmca-l] Re: Non-formal music education for working-class children

[Peter Smagorinsky]

Ulvi, I can't directly answer your inquiry, which I'm happy to see posed here. But I can direct you to an incredibly successful organization that focuses on jazz rather than classical music. 
http://jazzhousekids.org/home.php is run by singer Melissa Walker and her husband, bass player Christian McBride (probably the world's greatest jazz bassist at this point) in the Newark, NJ area. I know of it because my brother is chair of their board (and McBride's 3rd favorite bass player, I might add, after Ray Brown, whose bass McBride plays, and Jaco Pastorius). 

They do collect whatever they can find that justifies the role of music in education and beyond, and include lists of benefits and outcomes, although I don't know how many of them have empirical support beyond what the people in the program find through their work with kids. I've written a couple of checks, and a couple of pieces supporting what they do:

Smagorinsky, P. (2013, January 21). My View: Hear the music - STEM studies aren't the only path to a better future. CNN Schools of Thought. Available at http://schoolsofthought.blogs.cnn.com/2013/01/22/hfr-my-view-hear-the-music-stem-studies-arent-the-only-path-to-a-better-future/  

Walker, M., & Smagorinsky, P. (2013, January 1). The power of school music programs: Students come for the music and stay for the math. Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Available at http://blogs.ajc.com/get-schooled-blog/2013/01/01/the-power-of-school-music-programs-students-come-for-the-music-and-stay-for-the-math/?cxntfid=blogs_get_schooled_blog

These brief essays are not research, but describe how their programs do a great job with a whole lot of kids in providing what I've called a positive social updraft in their lives through music. 

Anyhow, hope this helps, and that if anyone's got a few bucks to donate to a good cause, they keep this great outfit in mind. p

-----Original Message-----
From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of Ulvi Içil
Sent: Wednesday, December 04, 2013 4:46 AM
To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
Subject: [Xmca-l] Non-formal music education for working-class children

Dear all,

Does any body know for any experience in which a master or Ph.D. thesis is written for an experience in which low income children learn playing music instruments for Western classical music and this process, together with children's changes also the lives of  the parents, functioning as a learning process for parents also, in overall changing the interactions between children and parents, and children themselves.

Ulvi