Habitus and flow in primary school musical practice: relations between family musical cultural capital, optimal experience and music participation

Abstract

Based on Bourdieu's idea that cultural capital is strongly related to family context, we describe the relations between family musical cultural capital and optimal experience during compulsory primary school musical practice. We analyse whether children from families with higher levels of musical cultural capital, and specifically with regard to active engagement in musical practice, obtain more optimal experience from primary school musical practice than their peers, thus improving their chances of sustained engagement in musical practice in their personal lives. We draw from Csikszentmihalyi's theory of flow to better understand how intrinsic motivation and absorption can foster children's perseverance in musical practice and the consequent acquisition of new, relevant musical cultural capital. Results based on a sample of 186 pupils suggest that, in order to optimise the impact on the development of new musical cultural capital, state educational syllabuses should harness the dynamics of the diverse family contexts.