From belonging to becoming: navigating the ecosystem of community, motivation, and agency in secondary music classrooms

Abstract

This study explores how participation in secondary music classrooms functions as a dynamic, relational process through which students develop within interconnected experiences of community, motivation, and agency. Drawing upon sociocultural theory, ecological systems theory, and constructivist perspectives, the study introduces the Music Classroom Ecosystem, a conceptual framework that understands participation as recursive, interconnected, and continually evolving rather than linear or sequential. Using qualitative methodology informed by narrative inquiry and arts-based inquiry, data were collected from twenty students representing grades nine through twelve across two contrasting secondary school music programs. Data sources included individual interviews, focus groups, post-rehearsal observations, researcher reflexive journaling, and metaphor-elicitation activities. Analysis emphasized narrative interpretation, comparative reading, vignette construction, and metaphor interpretation, allowing patterns to emerge across students’ lived experiences. Findings indicate that community, motivation, and agency operate as interdependent dimensions of participation rather than sequential stages. Community provides the relational foundation for participation, motivation sustains engagement through meaningful musical experiences, and agency emerges as students assume increasing ownership and influence within the ensemble. Rather than functioning independently, these dimensions continually shape one another as students revisit them throughout their participation. Participation was therefore best understood as recursive rather than linear, with each return to the community shaped by prior experiences of belonging, meaning, and contribution. The study further suggests that agency is redistributed through relational processes aligned with learned helpfulness, as students who benefit from supportive musical communities increasingly become mentors, leaders, and contributors who sustain those communities over time. This study contributes to music education scholarship by introducing the Music Classroom Ecosystem as a conceptual framework for understanding participation as a dynamic, relational, and recursive developmental process. The framework offers an interpretive lens for understanding how participation develops and is sustained over time, while providing practical implications for designing music learning environments that intentionally cultivate belonging, meaningful participation, agency, and long-term community sustainability.