Sistema-inspired music education as an agent of change in and beyond the musical lifecourse: Perceptions of the transferable skills and transferability

Within Sistema-inspired music education initiatives, claims have been made relating to the ways in which these experiences may contribute to the musical lifecourse, having lifewide and lifelong implications for young people. For example, a commonly held aspiration amongst Sistema-inspired programmes around the world is to foster participants’ well being, personal development and enhanced academic engagement. This article explores perceptions relating to the wider, transferable competencies derived from participation in one such programme. The National Orchestra for All (NOFA), an inclusive youth orchestra residential programme targeting under-served young people who face diverse barriers to musical participation, seeks to function as an ‘agent of change’ within participants’ lives. NOFA aims to improve the life chances of the young participants using music as means to support the development of personal, social and citizenship skills, their objective being to equip young people for achieving their potential within education, work and community. Our aim in this article is to address whether, and how, a short-term residential orchestral programme is perceived to function as an agent of change in the areas of personal, social or citizenship skills, and whether those skills are thought to be transferable beyond the programme context. Drawing on interviews and focus groups carried out over the course of three years, we present a thematic analysis representing participant perceptions. Overall, a number of transferable ‘life skills’ emerged. However, while some participants indicated that their experiences in NOFA did have an influence that transferred beyond the programme itself, others described persistent challenges that remained outside of the influence of any new skills or competencies gained within NOFA. These findings have implications for developing nuanced understandings of the role that intensive, inclusive orchestra programmes may have in nurturing transferable competencies and wider benefits in the lives of their participants.