CAN MUSIC BOOST SELF-CONFIDENCE AND ACCEPTABILITY? A LIVED EXPERIENCE

Abstract

Music is beneficial to all people, even those living with challenges, and can boost their self-confidence and acceptability in society. Educators know that practice is one of the key psychological principles of learning and that repetition will lead to perfection in all areas, especially so in playing instruments. The following account is a personal intervention with a low-esteem, mentally challenged boy using music. The intervention was done at Limuru, a small town in Kiambu County, Kenya. It involved teaching the boy how to play the keyboard. The boy’s self-confidence changed noticeably after he was accepted as an integral part of the worship group in his church. It is envisaged that sharing this experience can inform parents, guardians, social workers, teachers and other personnel who deal with struggling students, low esteem or mentally challenged individuals on the benefits of music intervention, even as it spurs interest in research on benefits of exposure to music.