The impact of practical instrumental music instruction on students’ psychological and sociological well-being is well documented in research literature. The extent to which these findings hold true for disadvantaged populations is unknown. Previous studies focused on young students with little to no research on disadvantaged young adults at university level. This study investigated the impact of group practical instrumental music instruction on the psychological well-being of disadvantaged university students. It particularly investigated changes in students’ optimism, self-esteem and happiness after participation in a wind ensemble. The study further looked at possible relationships between optimism, self-esteem, happiness and participation in an instrumental music ensemble. Results revealed increases in participant’s optimism, self-esteem and happiness and moderate to strong positive correlations between variables.

研究文献充分记录了实用器乐教学对学生心理和社会健康的影响。这些发现在多大程度上适用于弱势群体尚不清楚。以前的研究主要针对年轻学生，很少甚至没有对大学水平的弱势年轻人进行研究。本研究调查了团体实用器乐教学对弱势大学生心理健康的影响。它特别调查了学生参加管乐合奏后乐观、自尊和幸福感的变化。该研究进一步探讨了乐观、自尊、幸福和参与器乐合奏之间可能存在的关系。结果显示参与者的乐观情绪有所增加，