In this paper, I explore how newcomer youth navigated identity, agency, and adaptation through music education at the Youth Music Program (YMP) in Canada. By analyzing their musical actions, this paper challenges dominant vulnerability narratives and highlights students’ creative and adaptive capacities. Drawing on critical ethnography and sociological perspectives on musical agency, findings suggest that participatory music-making fosters belonging, identity negotiation, and social inclusion. Through improvisation, composition, and collective performance, students demonstrated flexible mobility and cultural integration. I conclude by underscoring the role of music education in shaping social interactions and reimagining belonging in the Canadian context of human mobility.

中文翻译：

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移动青年的音乐行动


在本文中，我探讨了新移民青年如何通过加拿大青年音乐计划 （YMP） 的音乐教育来驾驭身份、能动性和适应能力。通过分析他们的音乐行为，本文挑战了占主导地位的脆弱性叙述，并突出了学生的创造力和适应能力。借鉴对音乐能动性的批判性民族学和社会学观点，研究结果表明，参与式音乐制作可以促进归属感、身份协商和社会包容。通过即兴创作、作曲和集体表演，学生们展示了灵活的移动性和文化融合。最后，我强调了音乐教育在塑造社会互动和重新构想加拿大人类流动性背景下的归属感方面的作用。