The Role of Home Musical Environment and Parental Attitudes on Student Success in Music

Home environment is one of the most influential factors on student learning. Despite this, there has been very little research on the impact of home environment in music education. The aim of this paper is to examine to what extent social influences from family contribute to student’s development of music ability.

A revised version of Brand’s (1986) HOMES was administered to students with a range of musical abilities. Analysis focused on four dimensions (1) parents’ attitude toward music and musical involvement with the child; (2) parent’s concert attendance; (3) parent and child’s ownership and use of record player or tape player, and (4) parent’s ability to play a musical instrument. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.