Home Music Engagement Among Families of Culturally Closed Communities

No study thus far has investigated music engagement in the home among sectors of society, that because of cultural and/or ethno-religious characteristics, have a drastically different lifestyle and home environment than typically ordinary conventional local residents, who represent the more hegemonic popular Western liberal-minded secular culture. The current study recruited 96 families belonging to one of two subgroups: Modern-Orthodox (n = 49) or Ultra-Orthodox (n = 47) Jews in Israel. They completed the Children's Music Behavior Inventory (CMBI). The findings show no differences between the overall Orthodox sample to a matched sample of the general population. However, when comparing between the two subgroups significant differences surfaced concerning parent-initiated music activities in the home environment. The study demonstrates that even among families who do not fit into the mainstream of society, music is a crucial part of family life embedded in the home, and that music engagement is an essential component within parent–child relationships.