Adolescents on Music

Book excerpt: Many can attest to the importance of the self-growth that occurs for young people through the arts and their accompanying communities of support, understanding, and caring. Yet even professionals who work daily with adolescents, and parents or guardians who raise adolescents, sometimes have difficulty collectively articulating why musicking experiences are important for young people. In Adolescents on Music, author Elizabeth Cassidy Parker proves that this challenge stems from failing to ask adolescents to share their ideas richly and fully. Accordingly, Parker argues for deeper efforts to connect adolescent perspectives with established theories and philosophies in the social sciences and humanities. Organized into three sections--Who I Am; My Social Self; and Toward a Future Vision--Parker seeks new and diverse perspectives from the young people sharing their voices and experiences in each chapter. Chapters begin with a description from adolescents, in their own words, of the music they make, the meanings they ascribe to their music-making, and contributions to their development. The voices highlighted in these chapters come from adolescent solo musicians, autonomous and vernacular players, composers, school and community music-makers, and listeners between the ages of 12-20. By familiarizing readers with the multiplicity of adolescent music-making experiences and perspectives; discussing relevant theories within and outside of music and music education that support adolescent musical and personal growth; promoting adolescent health and well-being and greater understanding of young people; and providing a common language toward advocacy for adolescent music-making, Adolescents on Music serves as an invaluable resource for individual and group music teachers and practitioners, parents of adolescents, music mentors, and music education students.