The Possibility of Improving Students’ Well-Being through “Sound Education”

抄録

The purpose of this study is to examine the possibility of improving students’ well-being through music education using the perspective of “sound education” proposed by R. M. Schafer. The term “well-being” has been essential to our collective understanding of health. The term “well-being” was first used by the World Health Organization (WHO) in its definition of health in 1946: “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” Similarly, contemporary organizations continue to emphasize this point, as exemplified by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which highlights individual and collective well-being in its OECD Learning Compass 2030 project. According to the OECD, well-being is a common destination shared by children, teachers, families, and communities. Improvements in one’s quality of life, as indicated by aspects such as social connections and environmental quality, are essential to well-being. In this context, the well-being that children need is not simply the acquisition of knowledge and skills through the memorization of textbooks; rather, it emerges from children being allowed to think about and develop better social connections and improve the quality of their environment in collaboration with their teachers, families, and communities. Therefore, this study focuses on the sounds surrounding the environment before music is relativized and trivialized using words. Sound education classes in junior high schools in Japan were analyzed using ethnography, and their usefulness and effectiveness in improving student well-being were discussed. Based on our analysis, the following two conclusions were drawn: first, sound education was found to lead to improvements in aspects of quality of life, including social connections and environmental quality; second, our findings indicate that addressing the issues within music education, such as students becoming discouraged because of technical complexity or music being isolated from other subjects, leads to an increase in students’ well-being. In other words, sound education is one way of pursuing the betterment of the students’ well-being in music education, focusing on their connection with society and the quality of the environment.