“The beat will make you be courage”: The role of a secondary school music program in supporting young refugees and newly arrived immigrants in Australia

Abstract

This article documents one case in a multi-case study of the role of music in refugee and newly arrived immigrant children’s and young people’s lives within a number of school, home, and community contexts in Sydney, Australia. It explores the ways in which a range of music activities operating within a specialist secondary school catering for newly arrived immigrants and refugees contribute to students’ processes of acculturation and integration within the host culture. A number of school-based musical experiences that provide opportunities for cultural maintenance, cross-cultural transmission, and verbal and non-verbal communication are described. The development of interpersonal connections, social cohesion, and student empowerment through varied learning, teaching, and performance opportunities is examined. A major outcome for students is a feeling of belonging, both to communities of practice within the school and to the wider Australian community, as well as to a global music community disseminated through various technological media.