Members of community music programs enjoy active music making (Veblen, 2008), find music making relevant, and derive many benefits from participation (Camlin et al., 2020). Some of the beneficial outcomes revolve around opportunities for social relationships (Goodrich, 2019), team building (Paton, 2011), lifelong participation (Mantie, 2012), and inclusive experiences (Schippers & Bartleet, 2013). In addition, individual participants may experience improved emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being (Boyce-Tillman, 2000; Cohen & Silverman, 2013; de Quadros, 2015; Goodrich, 2013). These benefits embody what Higgins (2012) theorized as hospitality that “encompasses the central characteristics of community music practice” (p. 2), based on the unconditional welcome and philosophy of hospitality first set forth by Jacques Derrida (p. 133). Higgins (2007) defined community music hospitality as a welcoming experience that encourages openness, a network of friendships and associations, as well as a sense of belonging for participants. Researchers have discovered, however, that membership in a community music ensemble can also provide opportunities for learning, and from this, members can engage in transformative learning experiences (Lawrence, 2012; Qi & Veblen, 2016).
Community music practices as such are often characterized by the interactions that take place between a music facilitator and participants (Higgins, 2012), as well as the influences and impacts experienced by ensemble members (Bartleet & Higgins, 2018; Camlin et al., 2020). Thus, I used a conceptual framework based on hospitality and transformative learning theory to interrogate how notions of hospitality are linked synergistically to nurturing and encouraging transformative learning through music (Qi & Veblen, 2016) and artistic expression (Lawrence, 2012).
For this case study, I used purposeful sampling (Patton, 2002), observations, and informal conversations to select 15 study participants based on their community music experience, gender, ethnicity, musical role, and willingness to be interviewed. The primary source of data was two separate individual semi-structured interviews with selected musical directors and ensemble members. I used field observations and informal conversations as an additional source of data, as well as to establish trust with the ensemble members and select participants. To establish trustworthiness, I utilized multiple levels of review to account for my personal biases, including giving participants an opportunity to review their individual transcripts via member checks. My dissertation supervisor, Andrew Goodrich, served as an external auditor.
Participants shared multiple perspectives on how hospitality and transformative learning served as foundational aspects of their participation in an ensemble. The findings supported a substantial intersection between hospitality and transformative learning, as a collaborative or synergistic experience for participants, but also included ways that hospitality and transformative learning can be disrupted in an ensemble. Thus, the findings of this study provide community music directors and organizational leaders with insights into how ensemble members experience and value hospitality and transformative learning as foundational to their involvement in an ensemble, as well as their observations and concerns about the disruption of these concepts. In addition, the findings present a broader view of hospitality as an encourager of transformative learning, which may also provide useful findings for inclusion in music teacher preparation programs.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/49414 |
| Date | 21 October 2024 |
| Creators | Bloedow, Mark E. |
| Contributors | Goodrich, Andrew |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
Page generated in 0.0021 seconds