Dad has a horn in the attic: Relationships between instrument source, parental involvement, socioeconomic status and attrition among beginning band students

The enrollment and retention of beginning band students is a primary area of focus for instrumental music educators with elective programs. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between instrument source, parental involvement (PI), socioeconomic status (SES) and attrition among 1,687 beginning band students from 19 schools in 9 states across the United States.;Data were gathered in three parts throughout one academic school year. During part one, directors reported data reflecting student enrollment, instrument source and instrument condition via electronic database templates. The second part involved gathering questionnaire responses from parents of students who dropped out of band. The researcher-designed questionnaire contained 4-point Likert-type responses based on Zdzinski's (1992) Parental Involvement Measures. During the third part of data collection, a similar questionnaire was distributed to parents of students who remained in band throughout the entire first year of study.;Instrument source (school-owned, rental/purchase or cost-free) and attrition data were analyzed using a chi-square test for independence. A three-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to examine the relationship between parental involvement, socioeconomic status, instrument source and attrition. Analysis revealed that students using school-owned instruments were more likely to drop out of beginning band (p=<.01) and that parents of children using school-owned instruments reported lower levels of parental involvement (p=<.001) than parents who obtained instruments from other sources.;Conclusions from this study showed that parental involvement was a critical element in the success of young musicians and that financial commitment may enhance this involvement. Past practices in many districts have included the purchase of school-owned instruments as a means of encouraging participation in the band program, especially for families with a low SES (Schleuter, 1984; Kay, 1995; Albert, 2006). The results of this study have implications for school administrators who may consider adopting a program of purchasing instruments for students to use at no cost.