What do mothers say? Korean mothers' perceptions of children's participation in extra-curricular musical activities

Abstract

A recent study of Korean middle-class mothers' perceptions and parenting practices associated with children's participation in musical activities reported unique forms of musical parenting, which closely correspond with previous studies of concerted cultivation in Western middle-class families. Are these unique patterns exclusive to middle-class families? This study aims to explore typical Korean mothers' general perceptions and parenting practices regarding their children's participation in extra-curricular musical activities. In addition, this study also looks at how their perceptions and musical parenting practices differ from those of Korean middle-class mothers. Fourteen Korean mothers, whose children (aged 5 to 15) were engaged in some type of musical activities, participated in in-depth telephone interviews that explored their beliefs, expectations and parenting practices regarding their children's musical activities. Findings, analysed through the lens of concerted cultivation, revealed that most mothers had strong beliefs about the values and significance of their children's musical engagement. However, in spite of the mothers' strong beliefs and their active support, the extent to which mothers supported their children's extra-curricular musical activities varied considerably, depending on their socio-economic status, and some other prominent characteristics (e.g. high competitiveness, musical involvement as a way to reinforce their social status) shared by Korean middle-class mothers did not emerge in the current study.

Keywords:

• concerted cultivation
• extra-curricular musical activities
• musical parenting
• parental perceptions
• South Korea

Notes on contributor

A native of South Korea, Eun Cho, is a doctoral student in the department of music education at University of Southern California. She obtained her MA and Ed.M in music and music education at Teachers College, Columbia University. She has been actively presented in many conferences, including the NAfME Northwestern division, the Society of Music Perception and Cognition, and the AIRS annual meeting. Her current research interests include concerted cultivation and musical parenting, singing and lifelong learning, and children's social and emotional development and music. She is currently involved in projects in the Advancing Interdisciplinary Research in Singing and USC's Brain and Creativity Institute.

Notes

1. As the most common type of for-profit, extra-curricular educational institutes (similar to cram schools) prevalent in South Korea, hakwons are specialised in a specific subject such as English, mathematics, music, visual art and sports. English hakwons are the most popular for children of all ages, followed by the music hakwons (Lee 2011).

2. In order to reduce parents’ financial burden for supporting their children's participation in extra-curricular activities, the government supports non-profit, extra-curricular activities. Schools, particularly elementary schools, invite local professionals to offer extra-curricular classes to children who enroll in the after-school programme, for the lowest fees.