Contexts for Music Learning and Participation: Developing and Sustaining Musical Possible Selves [1st ed.] 9783030482619, 9783030482626

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Contexts for Music Learning and Participation Developing and Sustaining Musical Possible Selves Andrea Creech · Maria Varvarigou Susan Hallam

Contexts for Music Learning and Participation

Andrea Creech • Maria Varvarigou   Susan Hallam

Contexts for Music Learning and Participation Developing and Sustaining Musical Possible Selves

Andrea Creech Schulich School of Music McGill University Montreal, Canada

Maria Varvarigou Mary Immaculate College University of Limerick Limerick, Republic of Ireland

Susan Hallam UCL Institute of Education London, UK

ISBN 978-3-030-48261-9    ISBN 978-3-030-48262-6 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48262-6 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover illustration © Maram_shutterstock This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG. The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

Contents

1 Introduction  1 2 Shaping Musical Possible Selves in the Early Years 23 3 Emergent Musical Possible Selves in Primary School 43 4 Secondary Schools and Their Role to Play in Musical Possible Selves 61 5 The Role of Further and Higher Education in Shaping Musical Possible Selves 81 6 Musical Possible Selves in Extra-­Curricular Ensembles and Instrumental and Vocal Tuition103 7 Lifelong Musical Possible Selves: Adult Music Learning and Participation123 8 Supporting Musical Possible Selves in Programmes With Social Aims143

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9 The Emergence of Musical Possible Selves Through Musical Learning in the Home163 10 Peer Learning and the Construction of Musical Possible Selves181 11 Musical Possible Selves and Self-­directed Music Learning Across the Lifespan203 12 Developing Musical Possible Selves Through Learning with Technology and Social Media223 Postscript239 References243 Index275

List of Figures

Fig. 1.1 Dimensions, modes and levels of learning and facilitation (derived from Heron, 1999, 2009). (Created by John Martzoukos—graphic designer) Fig. 1.2 Developing and sustaining ‘manifold musical possible selves’. (Created by John Martzoukos—graphic designer) Fig. 9.1 Parental support woven in to a positive musical possible self Fig. 9.2 Limited parental support woven in to a negative musical possible self

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List of Boxes

Box 2.1 Creativity for Wellbeing—The Haringey Nursery Schools Consortium Lullaby Project 33 Box 2.2 Music Early Learning Programmes (MELPs) 35 Box 3.1 Bam Bam Drumming Circle (Mackinlay, 2014, p. 223) 48 Box 3.2 Developing Rich Narratives of a Possible Self as Musician Through Participation in LSO Discovery 56 Box 4.1 A Teachers’ Perspective on Promoting Student Agency 67 Box 4.2 Technology as a Medium for Exploring Musical Possible Selves 72 Box 4.3 Assessment Within a UK Musical Futures Champion School 75 Box 5.1 Shaping Musical Possible Selves with Experiential Learning within Further Education 84 Box 5.2 A Cooperative Approach in Conservatoire Education 90 Box 5.3 An Autonomous Orientation to Curriculum within a Popular Music Programme 93 Box 6.1 Musical Opportunities Framed by PYD 109 Box 6.2 Creative Youth Development in Extra-Curricular Music Learning112 Box 6.3 Confronting Resistance to Unfamiliar Ways of Learning in an Extra-Curricular Context 114 Box 6.4 One-to-One Instrumental Lessons in an Extra-Curricular Residential Music Course 115

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Box 7.1 Box 7.2 Box 7.3 Box 7.4 Box 8.1 Box 8.2 Box 8.3 Box 9.1 Box 9.2 Box 9.3 Box 9.4 Box 10.1 Box 10.2 Box 10.3 Box 11.1 Box 11.2 Box 12.1 Box 12.2 Box 12.3 Box 12.4 Box 12.5

Selection, Optimisation and Compensation in Developing Musical Possible Selves among Adults 128 The Conductor as Facilitator of Learning (Kruse, 2007, p. 6) 129 Rediscovering Lost Musical Possible Selves 134 James’ Narrative of Musical Possible Self as a Mature-Aged Adult136 In Harmony Liverpool: Bringing Music into Community and Family Life 149 Musical Possible Selves Through a Music Programme in a Juvenile Detention Centre 153 Keys of Change 155 An Autonomous Orientation to Promoting Invented Singing with Young Children at Home 166 Different Modes of Facilitating Practising at Home 170 Bedroom (Professional) Musician Billie Eilish 173 The Home as a Foundation for Musical Possible Selves 177 Asymmetrical Peer-to-Peer Learning with Assistive Music Technologies183 The Challenges and Affordances of Peer Learning in Ensemble-based Music Education 185 Musical Peer Learning in Friendship Groups, Mapped to Dimensions of Learning and Phases of the Development of Possible Selves 188 Contextualised Musical Meaning-Making 209 Shaping and Changing Musical Possible Selves Through a Self-directed Learning Opportunity 218 Experiential Musical Learning and Participation with iPads 225 Exploring Music with the Soundbeam 227 Learning the Guitar Online 230 A YouTube Creator 232 Experiments with Musical Possible Selves 235

1 Introduction

This book sets out a contemporary perspective on music learning and participation, highlighting complex intersections between learner experiences and dreams, and the informal, non-formal and formal practices and contexts that they encounter. The role that these practices and contexts play in supporting the development of musical possible selves is a central theme of the book. At a moment when the boundaries between community music, music in school curricula, lifelong learning and self-directed musical learning and participation are increasingly blurred, we challenge a ‘silo’ approach to understanding the diverse music education landscape and its influence in shaping our musical possible selves. We propose instead a multi-layered, ‘manifold’ model of musical learning, participation and facilitation that has relevance across a range of informal, non-­ formal or formal contexts. We argue that responsive, multifaceted music leadership is key in supporting learners across the life-course as they explore and experience new musical possible selves and rediscover lost musical possible selves. This introductory chapter sets out the origins of formal, non-formal and informal learning designations. We discuss how these terms were defined by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development © The Author(s) 2020 A. Creech et al., Contexts for Music Learning and Participation, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48262-6_1

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(OECD) in relation to different contexts for learning in the workplace and how they have been developed since then, taking account of the way that learning and teaching within those contexts can lie on a continuum between formal and informal. We then focus on the facilitation of learning, exploring this through the lens of Heron’s (1999, 2009) model of manifold learning. We consider the ways in which differing orientations to facilitation and learning intersect with formal, non-formal and informal practices and contexts, in turn shaping the development of learners’ musical possible selves. We conclude with a detailed discussion of the theory of possible selves, where we highlight the key principles of ‘elaboration’ and ‘salience’ and propose that orientations to learning, facilitation and participation have far-reaching implications for nurturing, articulating and sustaining musical possible selves.

 he Emergence of the Concepts of Formal, T Non-formal and Informal Learning In this section, we draw on the literature relating to adult learning and the historical context with particular reference to the definitions proposed by the OECD, as these form the basis for the designation of our chapters. The OECD (2019) suggests the following: • Formal learning is always organised and structured, and has learning objectives. From the learner’s standpoint, it is always intentional: i.e. the learner’s explicit objective is to gain knowledge, skills and/or competences. Typical examples are learning that takes place within the initial education and training system or workplace training arranged by the employer. One can also speak about formal education and/or training or, more accurately speaking, education and/or training in a formal setting. This definition is rather consensual. • Informal learning is never organised, has no set objective in terms of learning outcomes and is never intentional from the learner’s standpoint. Often it is referred to as learning by experience or just as experience. The idea is that the simple fact of existing constantly exposes the

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individual to learning situations, at work, at home or during leisure time, for instance. This definition, with a few exceptions, also meets with a fair degree of consensus. • Mid-way between the first two, non-formal learning is the concept on which there is the least consensus, which is not to say that there is consensus on the other two, simply that the wide variety of approaches in this case makes consensus even more difficult. Nevertheless, for the majority of authors, it seems clear that non-formal learning is rather organised and can have learning objectives. The advantage of the intermediate concept lies in the fact that such learning may occur at the initiative of the individual but also happens as a by-product of more organised activities, whether or not the activities themselves have learning objectives. In some countries, the entire sector of adult learning falls under non-formal learning; in others, most adult learning is formal. Non-formal learning therefore gives some flexibility between formal and informal learning, which must be strictly defined to be operational, by being mutually exclusive, and avoid overlap. Some authors have proposed different types of informal learning that contradict the OECD model in some respects. For example, Eraut (2004, p. 250) outlines a continuum of informal learning, comprising implicit learning that results in tacit knowledge; reactive learning, which is “near spontaneous and unplanned”; and deliberative learning, “for which time is set aside”. Kaplan (1975, p. 26) would consider the latter “leisure activity”, whose core elements are “adventure, curiosity, play … and delight of discovery”. Schugurensky (2000) identifies self-directed, incidental and socialisation as three types of informal learning. Self-directed learning (SDL) is both conscious and intentional, while incidental learning is unintentional but conscious. The third type labelled ‘socialisation’ (also referred to as tacit learning, and resembling Eraut’s implicit learning) refers to the internalisation of values, attitudes, behaviours, skills, and so forth that occur during everyday life, where the learner has no a priori intention of acquiring values, attitudes, and so on and is not necessarily aware when learning has taken place. In contrast, Marsick and Watkins (2001) argue that informal learning is learner-led and usually intentional, albeit not highly structured. Examples include self-directed learning,

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networking, coaching, mentoring and performance planning. They suggest that incidental learning that comes about as an unexpected by-­ product of experience (such as learning from mistakes) can form part of informal or formal learning and can function as an impetus for deliberate and intentional reflection. In the next section, we consider how some of these ideas correspond with learning and teaching approaches in music.

F ormal, Non-Formal and Informal Learning and Teaching Approaches in Music Historically, much music education has been framed with an emphasis on a formal, hierarchical apprenticeship model that privileges practical learning (Mark, 2013). Notwithstanding shifting patterns of engagement with music, increasing cultural diversity and social change relating to globalisation and technology, formal, prescribed and teacher-led music education continues to dominate the landscape, particularly in the domain of instrumental learning (Creech & Gaunt, 2012). However, increasingly, music education researchers and practitioners have turned their attention towards informal or non-formal pedagogies that promote holistic, experiential learning (Hallam, Creech, & Varvarigou, 2017; Ruck Keene & Green, 2017; Taylor, 2012). A specific interest has emerged, relating to the ways in which imaginative and intuitive learning intersect with cognitive understandings and procedural knowledge (Muhonen, 2016; Saetre, 2011). Folkestad (2006) distinguishes between informal and formal learning in music, arguing that formal learning involves activities that are pre-­ planned and directed by a teacher. This orientation to formal learning may be understood as hierarchical, where the teacher functions as a gatekeeper with responsibility for decisions about the ‘what, how, and when’ relating to learning. Informal learning, on the other hand, is thought to encourage learner autonomy (Green, 2008; Jenkins, 2011), developing naturally from musical activity and through the interaction of the players. In accordance with Eraut (2004), Folkestad (2006) and Green (2008) argue that the true nature of the formal/informal learning relationship

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might be better conceptualised as occurring between two poles of a continuum with complete formality at one end and informality at the other. Folkestad suggests that in analysing the nature of formal or informal learning other factors need to be taken into account: the learning situation, the learning style, ownership and intentionality. Others have articulated the complex relationship between informal and formal learning in music (Espeland, 2010; Jaffurs, 2006; Kastner, 2014; Rodriguez, 2009; Wright, 2016). The idea of a continuum in pedagogical practice is again reinforced by Kastner (2014). Focusing on the ways in which primary school teachers applied formal and informal pedagogies in the classroom, Kastner identified two continua: the first represents the varying degree of control that can be exerted by teachers or students, while the second refers to the varying degrees of teacher scaffolding. A slightly different two-dimension model of the formal/informal positions has been proposed by Espeland (2010). Like Kastner, Espeland proposes a teacher–student control continuum aligned with the organising principle of an activity (from sequential to non-sequential). This vertical axis of the model intersects with a horizontal axis indicating the setting or context (institutional or private setting), concerned with the question of who provides or sets up the activity and where it takes place. Green (2002, 2008, 2014) defines informal learning in music by contrasting it with formal learning in music education, including specialist instrumental or vocal teaching; explicit curriculum, qualified teachers; regular assessment, the habitual use of notated music and a canon of works and pedagogical methods. Green argues that all societies have other ways of learning music. These, she regards as informal. At the extreme end of the continuum, none of the defined elements of formal learning apply. Musicianship is developed through a process resembling implicit learning (Eraut, 2004) or socialisation (Schugurensky, 2000), for example, involving enculturation and immersion in music. Younger members of the community may listen to, watch and imitate the music-­ making of older members, so that music is acquired in the same way as language. In this sense, and as Eraut (2004) might suggest, there may be some fluid movement along the continuum of implicit, reactive (noticing particular facets of the music, forming impressions) and deliberate (problem-­ solving, questioning, planning) informal learning. Green

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further acknowledges that ‘real life’ learning often blends formal and informal learning. Following Green (2008), Jenkins (2011, p.  195) favours informal learning as the “ideal” way to learn, arguing that through active and self-­ directed ‘musicking’ learners construct musical identities that connect directly with their real-world experience. Learners achieve this by making “ongoing decisions in constructing simulations of real-world contexts” (p.  195). Jenkins maintains that although formal learning also fosters formations of self-identities, these are more likely to be “structured, rigid and less autonomous” (p.  195) and “insensitive to a rapidly changing world” (p. 188). Moreover, like Folkestad, he argues that “formal learning almost always interweaves informal learning, even in schools” (p. 184). He therefore proposes that both informal and formal learning should be adopted to strengthen the formation of learners’ identities and agency through engagement with music. With a focus on the act of teaching, Folkestad (2006, p. 143) underlines that there is no such thing as “informal teaching”, for “as soon as someone teaches, as soon as somebody takes on the role of being a teacher, then it is a formal learning situation”. He stresses, however, that teachers can facilitate informal learning processes. In this vein, Wright (2016, loc. 332) highlights that non-formal teaching, or ‘informal pedagogy’, does not equate with the absence of a teacher, but, for the teacher, does “mean that a period of standing back and observing is required … to understand and empathise with student goals”. Similarly, D’Amore (2008) outlines what she considers to be non-formal teaching, highlighting an inclusive approach, a belief in group-based activities, a sense of immediacy and exploration, a more democratic view of learning and opportunities to develop a range of non-cognitive skills. Therefore, as Wright (2016, loc. 375) emphasises, “pedagogy has a crucial role to play in the detection of whether a learning moment is formal, non-formal or informal”. In this section, we have considered how some frameworks for formal, informal and non-formal learning have been applied within contexts where the focus is music learning and participation. While some differing perspectives have emerged, there is also some agreement that formal, informal and non-formal pedagogies and contexts intersect in dynamic and complex ways. In the following section, we discuss a framework that

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represents the complex and multifaceted intersection between contexts, facilitation modes, dimensions of the learning-teaching encounter and the manifold levels of learning.

 Framework for Manifold, A Experiential Learning Across the spectrum of informal, non-formal and formal contexts, the ways in which individuals and groups make sense of their musical learning and participation are influenced to a great extent by the ways in which teachers articulate their values and beliefs about teaching, learning and participation (see Folkestad, 2006). Heron (1999, 2009) refers to this as facilitator style. The term ‘facilitator’ refers to a leadership role in creating the conditions for awakening or reawakening the capacity to learn and change. Supported with expert facilitation, learners are empowered through the development of their capacity for self-direction and self-­ regulation, the celebration of the self and others, and social competencies such as cooperation, communication and interpersonal awareness (Gregory, 2006). Heron (1999, 2009) proposes a nuanced model for facilitation of learning, demonstrating the multifaceted ways in which learners can be supported by practices that recognise the dynamic intersection between individuals, groups, contexts and different forms of knowledge. Like Folkestad (2006) who argued that a ‘teacher’ role always involves a degree of formality, Heron suggests that the issue of authority is always present in facilitation, by dint of the ‘facilitator-participant’ relationship. This idea of authority is expressed in different ways that reflect the facilitator’s competencies, values and personal characteristics. First, tutelary authority is concerned with skills and knowledge, as well as competencies in communication and the capacity to respond to learner needs. Secondly, political authority refers to decision-making with regard to what the programme of learning will comprise and who is responsible for curricular decisions. Finally, charismatic authority refers to a facilitator’s ‘presence’, including self-esteem, state of attention, willingness to confront resistance to learning, flexibility and respect for learners.

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Heron proposes three overarching modes of facilitation style, reflecting distinct orientations to the three spheres of authority and the ways in which authority is articulated in decision-making and teacher–learner power relationships. First, the hierarchical mode refers to a style where the facilitator functions in a didactic manner, taking decisions for others. In contrast, in an autonomous mode, the facilitator is non-interventionist and decisions are taken by others (the learner/participants). The function of the autonomous facilitator is focused on creating the conditions for self-directed learning. A middle ground is represented by the cooperative mode, where decisions are taken with others. These three modes of facilitation intersect with six dimensions representing the various areas of a learning-teaching encounter. Three of the dimensions—planning, structuring and meaning—are concerned with establishing what will be learnt, how it will be learnt and how this will be made meaningful. Facets of planning include setting objectives, identifying specific content and activities, defining the methods to be used and necessary resources, making explicit any assessment criteria and procedures and, finally, specifying how the learning experience will be evaluated. The specific “situational realities” of learning (Heron, 1999, p. 250) are conceptualised as the structuring dimension. Planning and structuring can be undertaken in a hierarchical, unidirectional mode, or alternatively may be student-led, differentiated and responsive, corresponding more closely with cooperative or autonomous facilitation modes. The meaning dimension addresses the question of how learners acquire new knowledge and skills in ways that are personally relevant and deeply understood. In a hierarchical mode, the facilitator may rely on demonstration, presentation, feedback and explanation. Conversely, the cooperative mode would involve negotiated collaborative activities, while the autonomous mode would emphasise self-reflection, self-assessment and peer-led creative learning groups. A further three dimensions, labelled as confronting, feeling and valuing, are concerned with the interpersonal processes and dynamics amongst learners and facilitators. The confronting dimension is concerned with resistance to learning and how that can be acknowledged and transcended. The feeling dimension is focused on how individual feelings as

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well as the emotional group dynamic should be handled, while the valuing dimension focuses on how a climate of respect can be created. On any one of these six dimensions, facilitators may take decisions that correspond with either a hierarchical, cooperative or autonomous mode, and in any single context, these orientations (modes) may shift dynamically as learners progress and develop. Furthermore, Heron highlights that expert facilitation may involve the capacity to shift seamlessly from one orientation to another, even within a single lesson or session. Indeed, Heron argues that the most comprehensive model is one where all levels of tutelary authority are exercised, whereby the facilitator takes some decisions alone, the facilitator and learner participants take some decisions together, and the learners take some decisions alone. A holistic perspective on learning and participation underpins Heron’s model. Learning, from this perspective, involves an interweaving of intellectual, emotional and social development and embraces both task-­ oriented and process-oriented objectives and outcomes. Heron describes an experiential learning cycle, naming it “manifold learning” (Heron, 1999, pp. 2, 299), which includes experiential, imaginal, conceptual and practical levels. Experiential learning (also termed “affective” learning in Heron, 2009, p. 130) forms the basis from which all other levels of learning emerge, focusing on feeling and what can be learnt in the moment of encounter. Imaginal learning is concerned with metaphorical and evocative, imaginative visualisations of new ideas. Cognitive understandings emerge from conceptual learning, while practical learning focuses on skills and how they are acquired and physically carried out. Heron explains that through experiential (affective) learning, each person encounters the world and in so doing identifies patterns and forms (imaginal learning). These patterns and forms become the basis for the development of language and knowledge (conceptual learning), which are later applied in a wide range of skills (practical learning). Heron proposes that his model, which privileges self-direction and the idea of whole personhood, may be applied to any context where learning is through experience, action and practice, including gaining technical skills in a domain. Figure 1.1 illustrates the fluid interplay between the four levels of learning comprising the manifold learning cycle, the three facilitation modes and the six dimensions of learning-teaching encounters. Heron’s

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Fig. 1.1  Dimensions, modes and levels of learning and facilitation (derived from Heron, 1999, 2009). (Created by John Martzoukos—graphic designer)

model sets out the modes and dimensions in a matrix, entirely separate from context. We have, however, conceptualised the interplay amongst the levels, modes and dimensions of learning and teaching as being in dynamic interaction with the continuum of informal to formal contexts, which lies at the base of the model. Therefore, moving along this informal–formal continuum is a wheel, representing facilitation practices and levels of the manifold experiential learning cycle. At its hub, the wheel shows the six dimensions of learning-teaching encounters (planning,

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structuring, meaning, confronting, feeling and valuing). These rotate in such a way as to align with one or other of the facilitation modes (hierarchical, cooperative and autonomous) in a fluid manner. These two inner circles are nested inside the cycle of manifold learning (experiential, imaginal, conceptual and practical), again with the possibility of rotating in a fluid manner so that the dimensions or learning-teaching, modes of facilitation and levels of manifold learning can align in multiple different ways. In this section, we have followed Wright (2016) in highlighting the crucial role that pedagogy plays in understanding the intersections amongst informal, non-formal or formal contexts and orientations to learning and facilitation of learning. In the following section, we turn our attention to the ways in which this dynamic model of experience, learning, facilitation and context may shape the ways that learners visualise and articulate their musical self-­ stories, including their ‘possible selves’.

The Theory of Possible Selves We argue, in this book, that the pedagogies and practices of musical learning and participation across the life-course, be they encountered through informal, non-formal or formal contexts, shape our musical self-­ stories or narratives of musical possible selves (Markus & Ruvolo, 1989). Here, we begin by setting out the key ideas that frame the theory of possible selves. The idea of ‘possible selves’ (Markus & Nurius, 1986) refers to ideal and hoped-for selves or alternatively selves that are feared and dreaded. These future-oriented selves have been described as the “motivational component of the self-system” (Frazier, Johnson, Gonzalez, & Kafka, 2002, p.  308) and may be understood as being integrally interrelated with other aspects of the self-concept (Erikson, 2007; Hock, Deshler, & Schumaker, 2006). A possible self, according to Erikson (2007, p. 355), “consists of a story we tell” consisting of “instantiations” of the cognitive structures or self-schemata, which frame our understandings of how we experience the world. In this sense, possible selves may be understood as

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being socially and culturally situated “conceptions of our selves in the future … [which] get vital parts of their meaning in interplay with the self-concept” (Erikson, 2007, p. 356). Possible selves comprise an element of agentic, vicarious experience, articulated as a personalised, insider perspective (Erikson, 2007). In this vein, Erikson (2007, p.  349) highlights the idea of agency, arguing that possible selves may be conceptualised as “concrete manifestations that give personalized meaning to the more abstract strivings named life tasks”. Key facets of these personalised, concrete manifestations are salience, referring to personal investment in the possible self and the extent to which an individual is engaged with the associated goals; and elaboration, referring to the vividness, detail and emotionality of the narrative individuals can generate when asked about their possible selves (King & Hicks, 2007; Rossiter, 2007). Ibarra (1999) suggests that salience is strengthened when possible selves are constructed through the observation of role models, experimentation with provisional selves and evaluation of new conceptions against internal and external standards. In this way, highly elaborated and psychologically accessible possible selves develop (Leondari, 2007). Accordingly, possible selves perceived as being (1) psychologically ‘close’ rather than distant and (2) framed by elaborate, detailed action plans, functioned as motivational drivers among university students (Strahan & Wilson, 2006). Similarly, Oyserman, Bybee, Terry, and Hart-­ Johnson (2004) and Oyserman, Bybee, and Terry (2006), who explored possible selves among low-income adolescents, added that the relationship between possible selves and motivation was contingent upon elaborate action plans accompanied by strategies to self-regulate one’s goals. In this vein, Strahan and Wilson (2006) proposed that focusing on the process of achieving goals instead of just setting an end goal or plan seemed to be key in motivating people to accomplish this goal. In accordance with these principles of salience and elaboration in relation to goals, Hock et al. (2006) designed a six-stage guided programme with the aim of increasing student motivation through linking conceptualisation with realisation of possible selves. Students were asked to “examine their future and think about goals that are important to them”, as well as set goals and make plans towards reaching these goals (p. 211). The researchers concluded that

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1 . individual goals must be valued and attractive to the learners; 2. the learners must believe that the goals are attainable with reasonable effort and 3. learners must develop specific plans that lead to the attainments of these goals (p. 209).

Possible Selves as Narratives Possible selves are domain-specific, guiding action and influencing our decisions with regard to what to expend effort on and what to abandon (Smith & Freund, 2002). Possible selves are also dynamic and may be narrative in nature (Erikson, 2007), in the sense that individuals are thought to reframe their possible selves in response to life transitions (Cross & Markus, 1991). For example, King and Hicks (2007, p. 626) gathered responses to quantitative quality of life measures and analysed written possible self-narratives from adults who had experienced major life transitions. The potential “crisis of goal change” was conceptualised as leading to “lost possible selves” with associated disengagement from valued and cherished goals and a re-evaluation “of one’s place in the world” (King & Hicks, 2007, p. 626). This idea of possible selves as narrative opens the possibility to consider possible selves as being linked or nested within past, present and future experience (Erikson, 2007). Narratives of possible selves furthermore articulate personal agency and meaning making within social and cultural contexts. In other words, research on possible selves stresses the importance of understanding the experiences, assumptions and beliefs of each individual on their own terms and underscores that “self-stories are collectively our possible selves” (Freer, 2010, p. 19). To sum up, possible selves may be understood as domain-specific, dynamic, elaborate and salient narratives that are interdependent with the self-concept. These narratives must express agency, in the sense that they represent an “insider perspective” that could be derived from vicarious experience. Finally, possible selves are located within social and cultural contexts and are fashioned by the way we experience the world. Accordingly, in the next section we explore the idea of a domain-specific

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musical possible self, proposing that this may provide a framework for understanding the music learner perspective and the ways in which, as learners, we are shaped by the music pedagogies, practices and contexts we experience. We frame this next section with a six-stage sequential process for developing possible selves (Hock et al., 2006), which Freer (2009) applied in the specific context of his research with male adolescent choral singers.

Musical Possible Selves Musical possible selves may be conceptualised as musical self-stories (Freer, 2010), woven in a cyclical process whereby situated interactions (e.g. within particular contexts and framed by specific practices) shape reconstructions of past musical learning and participation, interpretations of present musical experience and orientations towards future musicking. Provisional musical possible selves may emerge within educational and community contexts where, through social interaction and engagement with the pedagogies and practices within those contexts, these “self-stories” acquire salience and are expressed in agentic ways. For example, Schnare et al. (2012, p. 103) explored musical possible selves, reporting that “from the Afro-Brazilian ukulele player to the cheeseball crooner recycling classic rock songs, many participants described images of themselves in future states”, including being creative, developing versatility and technical expertise, engaging in musical performance and being socially connected through music. Accordingly, our musical possible selves offer coherence in our musical lives, functioning as a link between cognition and motivation by pulling us towards (or propelling us away from) future experiences of musicking. According to Hock et al. (2006), individuals can be guided in developing personally meaningful possible selves through a six-stage process. Drawing upon this model and applying it to the development of musical possible selves, Freer (2009) grouped the six stages in two categories, namely conceptualisation (discovering, thinking and imagining) and realisation (reflecting, growing and performing), mapping these stages to the musical self-stories of young male choral singers. Table 1.1 describes

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Table 1.1  The stages, questions and goals of the Possible Selves Programme (from Freer, 2009, p. 343) Phase

Stages

Questions

Conceptualisation Discovering What are my musical strengths and interests? What am I already good at doing? Thinking Where did my musical interests come from? What music do I like, and what musical activities do I like? Are there other musical activities that I’d like to do? Imagining What are my possible musical selves? What can I be? Realisation

Reflecting

Growing

What possible musical selves are easily achievable? Which are not? What should be my musical priorities? How do I get to my musical goals?

Performing How am I doing on my journey towards my possible musical goals?

Goal The focus here is on current strengths and interests

Transition to thinking about potential musical interests and activities A structured questionnaire or interview about possible selves might be given during this stage

Identification of areas of musical strength and interest (present or desired) as related to possible selves Identification of obstacles towards achieving possible selves. Determination of whether obstacles are fixed or changeable Development of action plans for achieving musical goals Refinement of action plans based on progress towards musical goals

the stages alongside the questions asked at each stage and the goals that these questions achieve. Freer explains that the ‘discovering’ phase was evidenced by his participants recollections of early musical experiences in the home with parents or siblings, or “pivotal” early musical experiences at school, “opening the door” towards deeply invested musical

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trajectories. The young singers talked about the ‘thinking’ phase in terms of the key ‘knowledgeable others’ (i.e. parents, teachers, peers) who had been influential in the formation of their musical self-understanding. Role models also played a key role in the imagining phase, with one participant explaining that “he imagined himself a singer similar to his father, noticing how his voice change created similarities between his voice and his father’s voice (p.  350)”. The participants engaged in the ‘reflecting’ phase, focusing on how they developed musical skills and competencies, as well as thinking about effort and their learning strategies. Growing and performing within and beyond their current choral experience was discussed in terms of finding and meeting new challenges and “achieving musical growth within communities of fellow musicians” (p. 351). Overall, a coherent narrative was evident, with possible selves expressed as “their previous musical experiences [contributing] to both their present and future possible selves” (p. 351). We propose that this sequential process of establishing musical possible selves (Freer, 2009) may be shaped to a significant extent by the ways that we are facilitated in and engage with learning, for example, as represented by Heron’s holistic model of manifold learning (Heron, 1999, 2009), discussed above. From this perspective, the ‘discovering’ stage of possible selves may emerge from key ‘in-the-moment’ experiential or affective learning, with its focus on immediate responses to music learning and participation. The ‘imagining’ and ‘reflecting’ stages take the individual into the realm of imaginal learning, projecting oneself into the future and evaluating possible future selves, whereas the ‘thinking’ stage is more closely aligned with conceptual learning, with its emphasis on formulating cognitive representations of one’s relationship with music, confronting resistance to losing cherished possible selves or reframing new musical possible selves. Finally, the ‘growing’ and ‘performing’ stages may be underpinned by practical learning, with questions concerned with setting and regulating well-elaborated action plans. At any one of these stages of development, possible selves may be further influenced by Heron’s three modes (hierarchical, cooperative and autonomous) and six dimensions (planning, structuring, meaning, confronting, feeling and valuing) of learning-teaching encounters. For example, applied to the context of music education, planning, structuring and

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Fig. 1.2  Developing and sustaining ‘manifold musical possible selves’. (Created by John Martzoukos—graphic designer)

meaning may be salient for the conceptualisation (discovering, imagining and reflecting) of musical possible selves, representing the process of making explicit music learners’ strengths, interests, hopes, expectations and fears about music learning and participation. The realisation (thinking, growing and reflecting) of musical possible selves, conversely, may be promoted or indeed constrained through interactions focused around confronting, feeling and valuing (see Fig. 1.2 below).

Manifold Musical Possible Selves Like Freer’s (2009) model representing the stages of the development of musical possible selves, Heron’s framework for facilitation emphasises the significance of raising individual and group consciousness on matters connected to learning and participation, and both “celebrate the

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personhood of group members” (Heron, 1999, p. 6) within an environment that is empowering and respectful. Applied to music education contexts across the life-course, we suggest that reflective facilitation encompassing Heron’s three modes of facilitation intersecting with the six dimensions of learning-teaching encounters may shape musical possible selves in particular ways. These facets of facilitation and learning, we suggest, are at the heart of the manifold learning cycle and underpin environments where participants have the scope to experiment with different musical possible selves and acquire the strategies that can act as ‘bridges’ (Markus & Ruvolo, 1989) or ‘roadmaps’ (Oyserman et  al., 2004) for personal growth, exploration and flourishing in music. Our model of ‘manifold musical possible selves’ (Fig.  1.2) builds on Fig. 1.1, showing a dynamic relationship between dimensions of learning-­ teaching encounters, facilitation modes, levels of manifold learning and (now added) the development of musical possible selves. Here, the model representing the dimensions, modes and levels of learning and facilitation is positioned within the phases of development of musical possible selves (discovering, imagining, thinking, reflecting, performing and growing), which are aligned in a flexible way alongside the levels of manifold learning. In this book, we argue that manifold learning, articulated within informal, non-formal and formal contexts as experiential, imaginal, conceptual and practical ‘musical know how’ and ‘know what’, presents a myriad of opportunities and affordances, as well as challenges and constraints, with regard to our emergent possible musical selves. Oyserman et  al. (2004) use the metaphor of roadmaps to describe possible selves, capturing the non-linearity and the many alternatives routes via which possible selves may be reached. Manifold musical possible selves, we suggest, emerge from musical roadmaps representing how, when, where and with whom we make music (Schnare et al., 2012). These roadmaps, traversing anticipated as well as unforeseen landscapes, comprise contextual detail including how we are feeling and how we perceive interactions with others within those spaces. The extent to which we are able to access salient and elaborate musical possible selves may be promoted or constrained by the ways in which we and others perceive our musical potential or limitations (Erikson, 2007). These perceptions, we suggest, may in turn be shaped by the contexts, pedagogies and practices that form and inform our musical learning and participation.

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Outline of the Book We have used the idea of informal, non-formal and formal contexts and practices as the principal organisational structure for this book. Therefore, we begin with a series of chapters that focus on formal music education contexts: Early Years (Chap. 2), primary school (Chap. 3), secondary school (Chap. 4) and further and higher education (Chap. 5). This is followed by chapters focused on youth music learning and participation in extra-curricular contexts (Chap. 6) and adult leisure learning in music (Chap. 7). Chapter 8 is concerned with music programmes dedicated principally to social aims, while Chap. 9 focuses on music learning and music-making in the home. The final three chapters focus on peer learning in music (Chap. 10), self-directed learning in music (Chap. 11) and music learning with technology and social media (Chap. 12). Within each chapter, we explore the intersection of facilitation modes, dimensions of learning and levels of the experiential cycle, highlighting the implications for narratives of musical possible selves. We have selected short case study examples to illustrate a range of experience within each context. We conclude the book with our reflections and key messages concerned with the complex and dynamic process of shaping and articulating ‘manifold’, expansive musical possible selves.

References Creech, A., & Gaunt, H. (2012). The changing face of individual instrumental tuition: Value, purpose and potential. In G. McPherson & G. Welch (Eds.), Oxford handbook of music education (pp. 694–711). Oxford University Press. Cross, S., & Markus, H. (1991). Possible selves across the life span. Human Development, 34, 230–255. D’Amore, A. (2008). Musical futures and approach to teaching and learning: Resource pack (2nd ed.). Paul Hamlyn Foundation. Eraut, M. (2004). Informal learning in the workplace. Studies in Continuing Education, 26(2), 247–273. https://doi.org/10.1080/158037042000225245 Erikson, M. G. (2007). The meaning of the future: Toward a more specific definition of possible selves. Review of General Psychology, 11(4), 348.

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Espeland, M. (2010). Dichotomies in music education—Real or unreal? Music Education Research, 12(2), 129–139. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461380 8.2010.481823 Folkestad, G. (2006). Formal and informal learning situations or practices vs formal and informal ways of learning. British Journal of Music Education, 23(2), 135–145. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0265051706006887 Frazier, L., Johnson, P., Gonzalez, G., & Kafka, C. (2002). Psychosocial influences on possible selves: A comparison of three cohorts of older adults. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 26(4), 308–317. Freer, P. K. (2009). ‘I’ll sing with my buddies’—Fostering the possible selves of male choral singers. International Journal of Music Education, 27(4), 341–355. https://doi.org/10.1177/0255761409345918 Freer, P. K. (2010). Two decades of research on possible selves and the ‘missing males’ problem in choral music. International Journal of Music Education, 28(1), 17–30. Green, L. (2002). How popular musicians learn. Ashgate. Green, L. (2008). Music, informal learning and the school: A new classroom pedagogy. Ashgate. Green, L. (2014). Listen, hear, play! Oxford University Press. Gregory, J. (2006). Facilitation and facilitator style. In P. Jarvis (Ed.), The theory and practice of teaching (a1760063; pp. 98–113). Routledge. Hallam, S., Creech, A., & Varvarigou, M. (2017). Well-being and music leisure activities through the lifespan—A psychological perspective. In R. Mantie & G.  D. Smith (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of music making and leisure (pp. 31–60). Oxford University Press. Heron, J. (1999). The complete facilitator’s handbook. Kogan Page Ltd. Heron, J. (2009). Life cycles and learning cycles. In K. Illeris (Ed.), Contemporary theories of learning: Learning theorists … In their own words (pp. 129–146). Routledge. Hock, M., Deshler, D., & Schumaker, J. (2006). Enhancing students motivation through the pursuit of possible selves. In C. Dunkel & J. Kerpelman (Eds.), Possible selves: Theory, research and applications (pp. 205–221). Nova Science Publishers, Inc. Ibarra, H. (1999). Provisional selves: Experimenting with image and identity in professional adaptation. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(4), 764–791. Jaffurs, S. (2006). The intersection of informal and formal music learning practices. International Journal of Community Music, D, 1–29. Jenkins, P. (2011). Formal and informal music educational practices. Philosophy of Music Education Review, 19(2), 179–197.

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Kaplan, M. (1975). Leisure: Theory and policy (01-1980285). Wiley. Kastner, J. D. (2014). Exploring informal music learning in a professional development community of music teachers. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 2002(Fall), 71–89. King, L., & Hicks, J. (2007). Lost and found possible selves: Goals, development and well-being. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 114(Summer), 27–37. Leondari, A. (2007). Future time perspective, possible selves and academic achievement. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 114, 17–26. Mark, M. (2013). Music education: Source readings from ancient Greece to today (4th ed.). Routledge. Markus, H., & Nurius, P. (1986). Possible selves. American Psychologist, 41(9), 954–969. Markus, H., & Ruvolo, A. (1989). Possible selves: Personalized representations of goals. In L. A. Pervin (Ed.), Goal concepts in personality and social psychology (pp. 211–241). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Marsick, V. J., & Watkins, K. E. (2001). Informal and incidental learning. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 2001(89), 25–34. https://doi. org/10.1002/ace.5 Muhonen, S. (2016). Students’ experiences of collaborative creation through songcrafting in primary school: Supporting creative agency in ‘school music’ programmes. British Journal of Music Education, 33(3), 263–281. OECD. (2019). Recognition of non-formal and informal learning. Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. Retrieved from http://www. oecd.org/education/skills-beyond-school/recognitionofnon-formalandinformallearning-home.htm Oyserman, D., Bybee, D., & Terry, K. (2006). Possible selves and academic outcomes: How and when possible selves impel action. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91(1), 188. Oyserman, D., Bybee, D., Terry, K., & Hart-Johnson, T. (2004). Possible selves as roadmaps. Journal of Research in Personality, 38(2), 130–149. https://doi. org/10.1016/S0092-6566(03)00057-6 Rodriguez, C. X. (2009). Informal learning in music: Emerging roles of teacher and students. Action, Criticism and Theory for Music Education, 8(2), 36–45. Rossiter, M. (2007). Possible selves: An adult education perspective. New Directions for Adult & Continuing Education, 2007(114), 5–15. Ruck Keene, H., & Green, L. (2017). Amateur and professional music making at Dartington International Summer School. In R. Mantie & G. D. Smith

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(Eds.), The Oxford handbook of music making and leisure (pp.  363–383). Oxford University Press. Saetre, J.  H. (2011). Teaching and learning music composition in primary school settings. Music Education Research, 13(1), 29–50. Schnare, B., MacIntyre, P., & Doucette, J. (2012). Possible selves as a source of motivation for musicians. Psychology of Music, 40(1), 94–111. https://doi. org/10.1177/0305735610391348 Schugurensky, D. (2000). The forms of informal learning. Towards a conceptualization of the field. Working Paper 19-2000. Presented at the New Approaches for Lifelong Learning (NALL) Fourth Annual Conference, October 6–8. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1807/2733 Smith, J., & Freund, A. M. (2002). The dynamics of possible selves in old age. The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 57(6), P492–P500. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/57.6.P492 Strahan, E., & Wilson, A. (2006). Temporal comparisons, identity, and motivation: The relation between past, present, and possible future selves. In C. Dunkel & J. Kerpelman (Eds.), Possible selves: Theory, research and application (pp. 1–15). Nova Science Publishers, Inc. Taylor, A. (2012). Using repertory grids to explore musical skills and attitudes in a mature-age adult at the early stages of learning for self-fulfilment: A case study of James. British Journal of Music Education, 29(2), 233–250. Wright, R. (2016). Introduction: The complexities of informal learning and non-formal teaching in 21st century society. In R. Wright, B. A. Younker, & C. Beynon (Eds.), 21st century music education: Informal learning and non-­ formal teaching approaches in school and community contexts (Kindle ed.). Canadian Music Educators’ Association.

2 Shaping Musical Possible Selves in the Early Years

This chapter explores some musical activities that are typically offered in formal Early Years settings for children 0–5  years old. We discuss the facilitation of inclusive play-based activities, singing, movement with music and creative exploration, and consider how these approaches may be understood in relation to our proposed model of developing and sustaining manifold musical possible selves (see Chap. 1).

Nurturing Musicality In ancient Greece, the term ‘music’ was used to describe “the complete combination of poetry, melody, and dance, in one unity” (Stamou, 2002, p. 3). Blacking (1976) reinforced this notion of music, reminding us that all human societies use ceremonies where they combine song and dance with the intention to communicate their state of being. Small (1998) called this the action of “musicking”, referring to what humans do when they take part in a musical act, be it listening, singing, playing or composing. Musicking plays a fundamental role in the lives of infants and young children, whose “whole being is suffused with music” (Young, 2003, © The Author(s) 2020 A. Creech et al., Contexts for Music Learning and Participation, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48262-6_2

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p. 12) and who have the capacity for musical learning from the earliest days of life. We argue in this chapter that these early musical experiences provide the foundation for nascent musical possible selves. Being ‘musical’ refers to the capacity of human beings to experience and respond to musical stimuli (Young, 2018, p. 72). This underscores that “musicality” involves different areas such as “singing, making music with material sound-producers (objects, instruments, digital technologies), moving rhythmically and dancing, listening, discriminating and responding to music, creating and improvising, and learning to use and read forms of symbolic representation”. The nurturing of musicality may begin early and can be embedded within an environment that encourages imitation, invention and experimentation (Kooistra, 2016). Young infants demonstrate musicality, such as responding to the pulse, quality of sound and conversational nature of the interactions that they have with their mothers, from as young as six-­ weeks old (Malloch & Trevarthen, 2009). This ‘communicative musicality’ is articulated when infants use music to seek and experience a carer’s companionship. Intimate communicative musicality between mother and infant, characterised by elements of poetry, melody and dance, is a source of poetic, musical and dramatic art (Dissanayake, 2000). Therefore, the development of musical self-stories may have roots in our earliest cultural, social and environmental experiences of ‘musicality’ and ‘musicking’. Within early childhood settings, songs introduced during “formal learning” time have been “taken up by children in subsequent free play” suggesting that the interaction between structured and unstructured learning may be key in promoting and nurturing musicality (Barrett, Flynn, & Welch, 2018, p.  235). Accordingly, musicality may flourish within creative, playful and enjoyable “culturally informed frameworks” (Young, 2017, p. 268) where music learning and participation is experiential (e.g. responding in the moment of the musical encounter), imaginal (e.g. intuitively understanding musical sounds and rhythms), conceptual (e.g. understanding the musical structure of a familiar song) and practical (e.g. learning to sing together with others) (see Chap. 1). Above all, the emphasis on nurturing musicality within Early Years settings may be contingent upon the ways in which each child is motivated to imitate, explore and participate in shared work.

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 urturing Manifold Learning in Early N Childhood Music Practice Outside the home, there is widespread agreement among Early Years teachers that music is beneficial for young children’s cognitive, emotional, social and physical development; however, within formal and non-formal settings, these same practitioners often report a lack of confidence in leading singing and musical instrumental-playing activities (Barrett et al., 2018; Nardo, Custodero, Persellin, & Brink Fox, 2006; Pitt, 2014). Conversely, professional musicians who facilitate Early Years musicking often have no specific qualification for working in early childhood contexts, as there is currently no such music qualification in many countries (Pitt, 2014; Young, 2018). Notwithstanding evidence highlighting the value of children’s inventive and free play (Barrett, 2016; Niland, 2009), there seems to be a tendency (as discussed further in this chapter) for adult-led activities to dominate music in early childhood settings. In the following sections, we provide examples of musicking in Early Years settings that lend support for the idea that early childhood musical learning and participation may be articulated through a more complex and nuanced pedagogy that encompasses guided activities as well as free play, within a flexible structure. For example, informal and playful improvisation will involve autonomous or cooperative facilitation practices, yet may also incorporate hierarchical approaches to planning and structuring specific musical activities (Kooistra, 2016; Pitt, 2014).

 anifold Learning Through M Creative Approaches Early Years music provision is often underpinned by a belief that music’s role in the education of young children is to nurture creativity, a salient human attribute that allows individuals and groups to engage in risk-­ taking and problem-solving (CCE, 2010). Creativity has been defined as “imaginative activity fashioned so as to produce outcomes that are both

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original and of value” (NACCCE, 1999). The UK’s Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA, 2000) highlighted the importance of creativity for young children’s overall development, emphasising that young children should be given opportunities to explore and share thoughts, ideas and feelings through art, design and technology, music, movement, dance and imaginative role play. Eight core contributors to creative development (QCA, 2000, p. 116) that could also promote the development of musical possible selves include the following: 1. a stimulating environment that values creativity, originality and expressiveness; 2. the inclusion of a wide range of activities through which learners can stimulate many senses; 3. sufficient time for the children to explore, develop ideas and finish working at their ideas; 4. opportunities for different types of representations of these ideas; 5. resources from a variety of cultures so that different ways of thinking are stimulated; 6. opportunities for the learners to work alongside artists and other creative adults; 7. an inclusive approach to access to artefacts, materials, spaces and movements for all children including those with disabilities such as visual, hearing or communication impairments and 8. accommodation of children’s specific religious or cultural beliefs in methods of representation and art forms. The notion that musical creativity is not just ‘released’ but might require facilitation with regard to careful planning, structuring and valuing has been explored. For example, Burton and Pearsall (2016) investigated the preferences of sixteen 4-year-old children for music-based iPad Apps in a preschool setting. Analysis of videos of the children using 12 different iPad Apps revealed that entirely open-ended Apps did not attract the interest of the children. Conversely, Apps that provided more opportunities for structured play such as through “menus that are easy to navigate, a variety of ways to engage, visual stimulation, familiar musical material, music that continues without manipulation, and animated

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characters” (p. 87) were most engaging. The researchers were concerned that the Apps selected did not facilitate musically creative responses. Nevertheless, these Apps provided a structure within which the children could make connections with their existing ‘schema’ or knowledge and then build and expand their creative ideas. This might suggest that already, at this early stage, the children actively managed and selected the Apps in which they could find reference points between the creative potential of the apps and their nascent musical possible selves. Questions concerned with the interplay between structure and autonomy, and how this might influence children’s developing creativity, were further discussed by Niland (2009, 2017). Niland (2009, p. 20) advocated that children will “become and remain music-makers throughout their lives” when early musical experiences are structured, yet child-led. She argued in favour of Early Years music curricula where (a) musical materials are chosen in response to observations and interactions with the children; (b) children have opportunities to extend and adapt known songs; (c) the structure of sessions is malleable and responsive to children’s needs or interests and (d) children have opportunities for free, improvisatory musical play. In a later paper, (2017) Niland described the Apple Tree community music group, where children living with disability and their families participated in shared music-making. Imaginative exploration and musical creativity were promoted through opportunities for free play as well as through adult-led songs familiar to the children, such as “If you’re happy and you know it” (p. 284). These interwoven facets of structure and improvisatory free play contributed to inclusive and joyful musical experience. In brief, children’s creative work in music takes place independently and collaboratively and can be instigated by an idea—musical or other—in the spur of the moment or through interactions with other children or adults. This creative work draws on material from everyday lives and from the cultural environment. The studies cited here support the idea that creativity can be supported with free-flowing, child-led activities within a framework of adult-led facilitation. Overall, there seems to be a firm argument for responsive, cooperative facilitation that provides guidance and some structure, yet allows space for exploration and innovation. Such an approach, we have argued, creates fertile conditions for young children’s musical possible selves to flourish through engaging in creative work.

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 anifold Learning Through Listening, Playing M Instruments, Dancing and Singing Listening Klopper and Dachs (2008, p.  4) underscore the idea that ‘conceptual learning’ is linked to listening experience, suggesting that listening with understanding and comprehension “enhances all learning activities, and should therefore become an integral part of early childhood learning centres”. They argue, for example, that through becoming sound-sensitive (i.e. growing in awareness of necessary or unnecessary sounds, and celebrating silence), young children develop sonic safe practices that support their long-term wellbeing. In addition to wellbeing, Klopper and Dachs emphasise that good listening skills are fundamental to effective musical learning, promoted through encouraging young children to engage in “purposive listening” (Green, 2002)—listening for formal, representational, expressive, contextual and technical properties in the music (Wright, 2003, p. 82). In this vein, music facilitators within Early Years settings and parents at home can play a key role in motivating young children to participate and practice the skill of listening, engaging young children in listening games and listening for moving, for singing, for playing along with instruments and for talking about the music (Wheway, n.d.). What is more, listening to recorded music may be intricately linked with “mastery of the physical self ” (Klopper & Dachs, 2008, p.  2) by engaging the whole body in dancing, balancing, stretching and other physical movements (experiential learning). These physical responses can occur spontaneously alongside affective expression and creativity as children vocalise along with the recordings, invent new songs or adapt existing songs, expressing feelings and relieving tension. However, a study by Burton and Pearsall (2016) where four-year-old children were encouraged to actively self-select music to listen to through iPad Apps showed that these young children mainly listened to the music and interacted with the iPad rather than moving, singing or chanting along with the music. By using listening as a foundation for imaginal learning, music

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facilitators could guide more holistic and embodied musical responses, scaffolding young children’s exploration of their environment, of who they are and of how to learn with and alongside others.

Dancing and Movement to Music As noted above, listening and moving to the music often go hand in hand. ‘Music and movement’ has been associated with many benefits in relation to creative expression, as well as physical and social wellbeing in young children. Dancing supports the development of kinaesthetic awareness and balance and provides a means for emotional expression and for social connection (Klopper & Dachs, 2008). The social benefits of synchronous movement (i.e. moving in time with others and interpersonal synchrony), which include enhanced pro-sociality and bonding, have also been highlighted (Trehub & Cirelli, 2018). Action songs, found universally across formal, non-formal and informal settings, utilise choreographed or improvised dance. Infants and young children move or ‘dance’ to both familiar and unfamiliar music. Through child-led, playful music and movement activities, children construct peer cultures, developing musical awareness and skills in elements such as beat, tempo, form and pitch (Niland, 2009). Adachi and Trehub (2012) highlight that it is a familiar environment rather than familiar music that encourages infants and young children to engage in frequent and varied movement to music.

Playing Instruments Playing musical instruments is a core part of many Early Years settings. Within non-formal settings such as live music events (Dionyssiou & Fytika, 2017), musical instruments are often available for children to use as accompaniment to the live music, for moving to the music or for personal expression. Within informal learning settings, such as the home, musical instruments may be located at different areas and children have opportunities to use them either as instruments (intentionally) or as toys

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to explore different sounds and ways of producing them. Musical as well as physical, social, emotional and cognitive goals underpin activities such as call and response playing, accompanying recorded music or songs, creating soundscapes inspired by a narrative and playing in pairs (Klopper & Dachs, 2008). Music educators have argued that instruments should be the best quality possible as these motivate the young learners to engage in music (Young, 2009, p.  91). Similarly, making musical instruments by using everyday material or by exploring natural material offered in outdoor spaces could be invaluable in fostering young children’s imagination, active exploration, thinking and reasoning. For example, such instruments can be used to explore timbre and for making comparisons with commercially produced instruments. Likewise, listening attentively to the sound of different instruments and developing the capacity to recognise specific sound qualities as well as “repeated passages, sequences and patterns in the music” (Klopper & Dachs, 2008, p. 7) could stimulate conceptual understandings. All of these salient experiences and increasingly detailed understandings of making music with musical instruments lay strong foundations for the development of these young children’s musical possible selves.

Singing Children’s songs can be found in most societies. Because of its immediacy, spontaneous as well as intentional singing often accompanies the lives of children and their families during home and family life and in nursery or other Early Years settings (see Chap. 9, for our more extensive discussion of singing in the home). Trevarthen and Malloch (2012, p. 253) emphasise that “we are made to sing and dance together, and this helps us to speak and manufacture together”. Just as listening and movement are linked, singing and movement are nearly inseparable among young children, as they rarely stand still when singing. In various cultures around the world, lullabies, lap songs, rhymes and popular children’s songs are preserved through aural traditions and on

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recordings, smart phones or other media. These songs are believed to serve as means of communication, and for mood and social regulation (Trehub & Cirelli, 2018). Music that is familiar, such as popular music found in the home, has been found to attract the preference of young children (Burton & Pearsall, 2016; Young, 2018). However, there is also some evidence that a wide variety of popular or vernacular music might elicit more expansive musical responses and interaction in Early Years settings (also see Dionyssiou & Fytika, 2017). Young children are extremely inventive singers (Barrett, 2016) who can improvise on familiar songs or improvise their own songs without having received any formal music training. However, singing is also a learnable (and therefore teachable) skill (Saunders, Varvarigou, & Welch, 2010), and singing abilities may be nurtured by conditions ranging from formal, teacher-led instruction to more informal student-led experimentation (Niland, 2017). Firstly, young children need to be exposed to models of singing—these could be their parents, carers and teachers, or recordings (imaginal learning). It is frequently the case that teachers in preschool and kindergarten settings—who often report having limited musical training and confidence as singers (Barrett et al., 2018; Nardo et al., 2006)—purposefully select commercially recorded songs to encourage the children to listen, respond through gestures and movement, and eventually sing along (experiential learning). Secondly, when children’s group singing is scaffolded (De Vries, 2005; Klopper & Dachs, 2008), this can encourage conceptual and practical learning through imitation of the different pitches, rhythms, dynamics and characters of singing. Singing in small groups also allows the teacher to listen carefully to each child and focus on elements of the song where individuals might need more support (practical learning). Finally, within a more informal approach to supporting singing development, songs could be used for creative play (imaginal learning). For instance, by altering melodies or words, the children could interact with one another and the teacher could practise words that they are acquiring and could use movement to accompany their singing.

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 arent and Carer Involvement in Shaping Early P Musical Experiences The family home is where, most often, musical involvement and participation are initiated (see Chap. 9). Parents and carers of young infants use music throughout the day for the facilitation of care routines, to calm or reassure a distressed child or to engage children in social interactions. Outside the family home, non-formal music programmes in community centres or public venues offer the opportunities for musicking within a wider network of interpersonal relationships: amongst parents and their children, amongst the children who participate in the same sessions, and amongst the music leader, the children and the parents. A case study is presented below that demonstrates a process of multi-­ layered facilitation of creative musical exploration, using music as a vehicle for supporting deep connection between parents and their children. The Haringey Nursery Schools Consortium Lullaby project took place in Tottenham, in the London Borough of Haringey, “where 88% of the population live in areas classified as being within the poorest 20% in the United Kingdom” (Barnes, 2016, p. 205). The project aimed at supporting the wellbeing of two- and three-year-olds and their parents by expressing their personal and family identities through creative song-writing of bespoke lullabies. In this project, parents created songs that represented their perceptions of their children’s interests and characteristics, through a process that could be described as co-creation of musical possible selves. The facilitated process reflected some of the core contributors to creative development identified by QCA (2000). Children and their families worked alongside artists, using resources from a variety of cultures. The music facilitator created a stimulating environment that valued creativity, originality and expressiveness, where the conceptualisation and articulation of emerging musical possible selves (Freer, 2009) could be observed (Box 2.1).

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Box 2.1 Creativity for Wellbeing—The Haringey Nursery Schools Consortium Lullaby Project Angeline [the singer/songwriter facilitator] first meets the children’s parent/care(s), and using props and photographs encourages them to talk about their child [‘Discovering’]: her first words, funny phrases, what she loves doing, pets, favourite toys, favourite relatives, toys, and activities. She also asks if there is anything the carer really wants to say to their child through the song [‘Reflecting’]. Conversations are polite, warm, and follow the lead of the carer. Details are captured on a large ‘spider diagram’ during the conversation [‘Imagining’]. Angeline next composes a song with repeated chorus and culturally sensitive nuances, capturing as much of the conversation as possible [‘Thinking’]. Pronunciations are checked as the new song is sung through to the carer [‘Growing’]. Finally, the completed song is sung with guitar accompaniment for the child, carers, key worker, and other children [‘Performing’]. The lullaby is recorded, burnt onto discs, and given to the family and children’s centre. Many parents make multiple copies for home computers and send them to relatives and friends … One grandparent said “If I had a song like this when I was a kid, it would have changed my life [a lost musical possible self]”. (Barnes, 2016, p. 205).

Discussing another Early Years community music programme, Pitt (2014, p. 300) described the musical instruction as “directive yet informal”. Typical activities in this non-formal parent–child group music-­ making included playing instruments, singing familiar songs and using props. One of the music facilitators described the format of a typical session (Pitt, 2014, p. 192): Welcoming/hello song, then key favourites, action songs like Row, row, row your boat, for attachment. Social song like passing the ball. Then, what shall we do with a bouncy baby, Peepo, hiding games, lycra—Teddies on the bed, children hiding. Musical instruments, ask parents for suggestions of songs … End with a Goodbye song.

The leader used a great deal of repetition, which parents found beneficial for building their children’s confidence. Within musical activities that themselves were highly structured, the term ‘informal’ referred to the use of language and interaction among facilitators, parents and children. Here, a hierarchical orientation to planning and structuring was juxtaposed with a more cooperative or even autonomous orientation to

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meaning-­making, feeling and valuing, whereby activities were inclusive and play-based. Notwithstanding the emphasis on hierarchical structure, it was also emphasised that musical training for Early Years practitioners was vital in ensuring that musicking for young children and their families allowed the scope for informal, child-led and improvisatory musical play. In this way, a multifaceted approach to music facilitation, encompassing formal hierarchical structure and planning intersecting with cooperative interactive musicking and even autonomous improvisatory activities, could frame rich, manifold musical learning and participation in the Early Years. Pitt (2014) explored the value attached to these non-formal music classes for parents with their children, reporting contrasting beliefs amongst parents and practitioners (see also Pitt & Hargreaves, 2017a, 2017b). On the one hand, the parents participated in these sessions primarily for the social and emotional benefits for their children that they perceived could be derived from peer interactions and enjoyment. They appeared to be less concerned about learning per se, or personal benefits such as meeting other parents. Conversely, the practitioners emphasised young children’s musical learning and development through active music-­ making, as well as social benefits for parents. Both parents and practitioners perceived valuable links between the music group session and the home culture. For example, parents reported singing more at home and using songs in daily routines and for improving the child’s mood. This is a significant finding because research evidence suggests that increased music sharing at home can lead to long-term developmental outcomes for children (Williams, Barrett, Welch, Abad, & Broughton, 2015). Likewise, Abad (2017) undertook an in-depth investigation of parental experiences of a Music Early Learning Programme (MELP) and the extent to which musicking within this non-formal learning setting influenced music-making at home. She argued that MELPs could “help parents identify with their musical selves, connect with a social support group they can identify with, and support the child to develop their innate musicality” (p. 56). Parents reported that music supported other areas of their children’s learning such as reading and writing, vocabulary and memory, movement and communication, active listening, emotional and social skills, and technology skills. Box 2.2 illustrates the meaning attached to

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Box 2.2  Music Early Learning Programmes (MELPs) The MELP provides a social and cultural community group environment where families with young children can engage together in live and interactive music-making and learning with a trained group leader. The program may be informed by music therapy, music education or community music principles, or the combination of these. Attendance at a MELP has provided reassurance they are using music well in their everyday parenting, [‘Discovering’] and it has provided new ways for incorporating music to help manage emotions, behaviour and early learning [‘Thinking’]. It has also reassured them that even though they don’t identify themselves as musically talented, they are musical parents [‘Imagining’]. Attendance has actively shaped the way the family uses music in the home, particularly in regards to confidence to make up songs, use music to support learning, incorporate children’s repertoire into daily activities, and support the development of regulatory behaviours [‘Reflecting’ and ‘Growing’]. Sarah has used the content and structures from her MELP to strategically reinforce her musical parenting and support the health and wellbeing of her family [‘Performing’] (p. 117).

participation in the MELP. In brief, this parent’s narrative highlights the conceptualisation and realisation of musical possible selves (Freer, 2009): from “Discovering” that they are using music well in everyday parenting, to “Thinking” about new ways of incorporating music, “Imagining” themselves as musical parents, “Reflecting” on efficient ways to use music, “Growing” in confidence to do so and, finally, implementing MELP content and structures to reinforce musical parenting (“Performing”). Abad’s study again demonstrated highly structured activities alongside informal playful approaches, juxtaposed within a non-formal context. In particular, the parents valued the use of live or recorded music that was voice-led, for it gave them the confidence to imitate the voice-led strategies at home. Voice leading was used throughout sessions for singing, alongside dancing, playing instruments, exploring story books and relaxation time. Facilitated music-making for young children and their parents therefore encompassed a dynamic interplay of formal, non-formal and informal approaches and contexts, laying the groundwork for rich musical lives.

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 eveloping Musical Possible Selves through D Learning and Participation with Professional Musicians Some early musical experiences are facilitated by professional musicians in non-formal contexts. For example, many orchestras offer education programmes with concerts for under 5s (CSO, n.d.; LSO Discovery, n.d.). Such programmes typically combine live music with storytelling led by a presenter. Activities such as dancing, using props and costumes, often accompany the music-making, which aims at enhancing the young children’s development “as life-long learners” (CSO, n.d.). Once again, hierarchical facilitation is the norm in planning these programmes, although cooperative or autonomous modes may also be incorporated to create meaningful opportunities for learning. For example, Greek university music students (i.e. transitioning to professional careers in music) led a series of four concerts for young children aged 6 months to 6 years old and their families (Dionyssiou & Fytika, 2017). The sessions took place in a public library, a conservatoire and a national art gallery, aiming to reach groups from diverse socio-economic backgrounds. Repertoire was purposefully selected to be contrasting: the first concert focused on baroque music, the second on contemporary music, the third included familiar popular music and the final concert was Greek folk music. During all four concerts, Orff percussion instruments, coloured scarves and painting tools were available for the children. In the first concert, no instruction or guidance for the use of these materials was offered, reportedly resulting in limited engagement with the materials. Conversely, in the remaining sessions, the musicians interacted with the children or a facilitator served as a link between the audience and the musicians. Several interesting findings emerged from the study. Firstly, although the children seemed to respond more positively to the popular and folk music concerts—probably owing to familiarity with the music and (for those who had returned to all four concerts) with the musicians and initiative as a whole, the children also responded very positively to unfamiliar sounds and instrumental combinations. Secondly, it was evident that increased parental participation in any musical activity influenced the

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children’s level of participation, sense of comfort and enjoyment. This lends support to wider evidence that parents play a crucial role in the co-­ construction of musical possible selves with their young children. Previous discussions on communicative musicality, synchrony and all of the many benefits of musicking between children and parents remind us that, in early childhood, relationships between children and their parents or carers may have a significant and far-reaching influence in the development of musical possible selves. Finally, Dionyssiou and Fytika (2017) concluded that carefully planned, adult-initiated and adult-led interactive activities brought about emotional, social and physical responses (i.e. moving freely, walking around, jumping, dancing, using of instruments) from the children, in comparison with unstructured activities. This finding may seem to contradict those who advocate for autonomous and improvisatory approaches. However, the key message may be that structure and musical exploration need not be mutually exclusive. Rather, guided as well as exploratory, collaborative and interactive musicking become woven together in the emergent musical possible selves among young children and their parents.

Inclusive Understandings of Musical Development According to Young (2018), understanding children’s musical capacities and exploring ways of engaging the young children that “foster, support and extend their musical learning”—and enable them to use this experience to make sense of themselves and others around them—require highly skilful practice and “complex and far-reaching knowledge” (p. 13). This is echoed by Abad (2017) and Pitt (2014), who call for (a) a code of practice for music programmes for young children and (b) minimum standards to be set for the training and/or qualification of the people conducting music programmes for young children and their families, so that high standards of practice are maintained. From this perspective, an emphasis should be placed on young children having musical agency, that is “musical aptitude, proclivities,

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creativities and competences that they apply and use in their own ways … [and] on their everyday, active, lived experiences” (Young, 2018, pp. 31–32). Young is critical of a view that sees children as “becoming”— as incomplete adults and non-agentic, passive receivers of what happens around them. In this vein, the Sounds of Intent in the Early Years (Voyajolu & Ockelford, 2016) offers a framework for understanding children’s musical agency. Sounds of Intent is inclusive of the different ways that children experience sound and music through reacting, creating and interacting. It is also an inclusive tool for monitoring the musical development of all ‘neurotypical’ children.1 Voyajolu and Ockelford emphasise three core characteristics of young children’s music development that summarise many of our key messages in this chapter: 1. Young children might demonstrate more advanced musical engagement than older children. 2. The musical development of young children is layered rather than linear, which suggests that young children may demonstrate musical engagement at different levels simultaneously. 3. Environmental influences crucially shape musical development. In other words, rich musical experiences at school and at home advance young children’s musical development.

 oncluding Thoughts: The Implications C of Early Years Experiences for Musical Possible Selves By engaging young children in musicking, we offer them opportunities to develop agency by selecting, changing and even rejecting ways of being in the world (Barrett, 2016; Burton & Pearsall, 2016; Kooistra, 2016). Hallam (2010) emphasises that musical experiences that prompt positive  The original version of this framework was designed for children and young people with learning difficulties, which means that practitioners or music facilitators in Early Years settings as well as parents and carers who might want to use it to observe and monitor young children’s musical development could utilise both versions of this freely accessible resource. 1

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emotional responses can reinforce and strengthen self-concept, beliefs and attitudes about one’s identity. In this vein, studies with young children clearly point towards the fundamental musical relationship between children and their parents or carers. This musical relationship is embodied in communicative musicality and forms a powerful basis for the development of subsequent musical possible selves. As young children observe, imitate and adapt their behaviours through the modelling of adults and peers (Niland, 2017) and through social interaction, shared intentionality and mutual responsivity (Williams et  al., 2015), they explore identities both as music-makers (identity in music) and as users of music (music in identities) (Barrett, 2016). We have argued that personally meaningful present and future musical self-stories emerge from musicking opportunities for young children within a full range of formal, non-formal and informal contexts. Elaborately understood narratives are further developed when these contexts intersect in a dynamic way with hierarchical structuring and planning as well as cooperative, guided interaction and autonomous or collaborative musicking. Rich and nuanced musical experiences replete with experiential musicking, imaginative play, conceptual learning and opportunities for gaining practical skills and provide a framework within which children communicate with peers and adults, make sense of day-­ to-­day experience, experiment in imaginative sound worlds and self-­ soothe (Barrett, 2016). These early experiences, we suggest, shape both present and future musical possible selves in significant ways, which will be explored in subsequent chapters.

References Abad, V. (2017). Music early learning programs: Parental beliefs, aspirations and participation. PhD, University of Queensland, Australia. Adachi, M., & Trehub, S. (2012). Musical lives of infants. In G. McPherson & G. F. Welch (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of music education (pp. 229–247). Oxford University Press. Barnes, J. (2016). Creativity and promoting wellbeing in children and young people through education. In S. Clift & P. Camic (Eds.), Oxford textbook of creative arts, health and wellbeing (pp. 201–210). Oxford University Press.

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Barrett, M. (2016). Attending to “culture in the small”: A narrative analysis of the role of play, thought and music in young children’s world-making. Research Studies in Music Education, 38(1), 41–54. Barrett, M., Flynn, M. L., & Welch, G. (2018). Music value and participation: An Australian case study of music provision and support in early childhood education. Research Studies in Music Education, 40(2), 226–243. Blacking, J. (1976). How musical is man? Faber and Faber. Burton, S., & Pearsall, A. (2016). Music-based iPad App preferences of young children. Research Studies in Music Education, 38(1), 75–91. CCE. (2010). Creativity, culture and education. Retrieved from http://www. creativitycultureeducation.org CSO, C.  S. O. (n.d.). Once Upon a Symphony programme. Retrieved from https://cso.org/institute/schools-teachers/once-upon-a-symphony/ De Vries, P. (2005). Lessons from home: Scaffolding vocal improvisation and song acquisition with a two-year old. Early Childhood Education Journal, 32(5), 307–312. Dionyssiou, Z., & Fytika, A. (2017). Musical concerts of young children. International Journal of Community Music, 10(3), 317–326. Dissanayake, E. (2000). Art and intimacy: How the art began. University of Washington Press. Freer, P. K. (2009). ‘I’ll sing with my buddies’—Fostering the possible selves of male choral singers. International Journal of Music Education, 27(4), 341–355. https://doi.org/10.1177/0255761409345918 Green, L. (2002). How popular musicians learn. Ashgate. Hallam, S. (2010). Music education: The role of affect. In P.  N. Juslin & J. A. Sloboda (Eds.), Handbook of music and emotion (pp. 791–818). Oxford University Press. Klopper, C., & Dachs, N. (2008). Meeting the goals of Te Whariki through music in the early childhood curriculum. Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 33(1), 1–8. Kooistra, L. (2016). Informal music education: The nature of a young child’s engagement in an individual piano lesson setting. Research Studies in Music Education, 38(1), 115–129. LSO Discovery. (n.d.). London Symphony Orchestra. Retrieved from https:// lso.co.uk/lso-discovery/discovery-families/concerts-for-under-5s.html Malloch, S., & Trevarthen, C. (2009). Communicative musicality—Exploring the basis of human companionship. Oxford University Press. NACCCE. (1999). All our futures: Creativity, culture and education. London: DfEE.

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Nardo, R. L., Custodero, L., Persellin, D., & Brink Fox, D. (2006). Looking back, looking forward: Early childhood music education in accredited American preschools. Journal of Research in Music Education, 54(4), 278–292. Niland, A. (2009). The power of musical play: The value of play-based, child-­ centred curriculum in early childhood music education. General Music Today, 23(1), 17–21. Niland, A. (2017). Singing and playing together: A community music group in an early intervention setting. International Journal of Community Music, 10(3), 273–288. Pitt, J. (2014). An exploratory study of the role of music with participants in children’s centres. PhD, University of Roehampton, London, UK. Pitt, J., & Hargreaves, D. (2017a). Attitudes towards and perceptions of the rationale for parent-child group music making with young children. Music Education Research, 19(3), 292–308. Pitt, J., & Hargreaves, D. (2017b). Exploring the rationale for group music activities for parents and young children: Parents’ and practitioners’ perspectives. Research Studies in Music Education, 39(2), 177–194. QCA. (2000). Curriculum guidance for the foundation stage. Retrieved from http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/foundationstage/ index.html Saunders, J., Varvarigou, M., & Welch, G. F. (2010). The role of singing. In S.  Hallam & A.  Creech (Eds.), Music education in the 21st century in the United Kingdom: Achievements, analysis and aspirations (pp. 69–84). Institute of Education Press. Small, C. (1998). Musicking—The meanings of performing and listening. Wesleyan University Press. Stamou, L. (2002). Plato and Aristotle on music and music education: Lessons from ancient Greece. International Journal of Music Education, 39(1), 3016. Trehub, S., & Cirelli, L. (2018). Precursors to the performing arts in infancy and early childhood. Progress in Brain Research, 237, 225–242. Trevarthen, C., & Malloch, S. (2012). Musicality and musical culture: Sharing narratives of sound from early childhood. In G.  McPherson & G.  Welch (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of music education (Vol. 1, pp. 248–269). Oxford University Press. Voyajolu, A., & Ockelford, A. (2016). Sounds of intent in the early years: A proposed framework of young children’s musical development. Research Studies in Music Education, 38(1), 93–113. Wheway, D. (n.d.). Exploring listening. In A. Paterson (Ed.), (www.LMPi.co.uk ed.). Market Harborough: Leicestershire Music Publication and Inset.

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Williams, K., Barrett, M., Welch, G., Abad, V., & Broughton, M. (2015). Associations between early shared music activities in the home and later child outcomes: Findings from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 31, 113–124. Wright, S. (2003). Children, meaning-making and the arts. Frenchs Forest: Pearson Publication Australia. Young, S. (2003). Music with the under-fours. Routledge. Young, S. (2009). Music 3–5. Routledge. Young, S. (2017). Diverse parenting goals and community music in early childhood. International Journal of Community Music, 10(3), 261–271. Young, S. (2018). Critical new perspectives in early childhood music—Young children engaging and learning through music. Routledge.

3 Emergent Musical Possible Selves in Primary School

In a decade of researching music learning and participation among older adults, we have encountered time and again stories demonstrating the ways that lifelong musical possible selves have been shaped by early musical experiences in primary school contexts (Creech, Hallam, Varvarigou, & McQueen, 2014). The previous chapter explored the rich world of musicking in the Early Years. In this chapter, we extend our discussion into the formal context of primary school, considering how musical experiences among primary school learners and their teachers can lay the foundation for present and future musicking. As Picasso (2017, p. 425) reported, “Wherever their musical lives take them, I hope that they will seek out further musical experiences”. Our model for the development of manifold musical possible selves, underpinned by concepts from Heron (1999, 2009) and Freer (2009), provides a framework for understanding the contexts and practices that may support salient and elaborate musical self-stories through listening, creating, singing and playing. Through this lens, we investigate the life-course implications of specific approaches to music learning and participation within primary schools.

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F acilitators of Music Learning in Primary School: Generalist Versus Specialist Teachers To date many studies have documented a persistent lack of confidence for teaching music among generalist primary school teachers (e.g. Hallam et al., 2009; Russell-Bowie, 2009). Indeed, the evidence suggests that this may be a widespread phenomenon that could be caused by inefficient subject knowledge, lack of practical experience and limited facilities, time or support from other members of school staff, especially the head teachers (Lamont, Daubney, & Spruce, 2012). These confidence issues may be further exacerbated by the lack of an explicit primary music pedagogy characterised by a “common philosophy, rationale and methodology” (Atkinson, 2018, p.  274). From this perspective, a primary music pedagogy should clearly articulate a rationale for teachers’ actions alongside practical methods, strategies and approaches—in other words the “what, how and why questions of [music] teaching and learning” (Saetre, 2011, p.  29). Atkinson (2018, p.  274) emphasises that a common primary music pedagogy would enable the teachers to “think, feel and act like musicians”, a view that is reminiscent of Erikson’s (2007) idea that concrete manifestations of our possible selves provide an “insider perspective” on self-schema. Links between past experience, current beliefs and interests, and concepts of future musical possible selves among trainee teachers have also been noted (Henley, 2017). In this vein, what the primary generalist trainee teacher brings to the training should be valued by the teacher training staff “as much as teachers value what youngsters bring to the classroom” (Jeanneret & Degraffenreid, 2012, p. 411). Accordingly, elaborate and salient narratives of musical possible selves among primary generalist trainee teachers may emerge within an environment where there is support for exploration of past and present musical experiences as performers, creators or listeners. The crux of the problem with self-confidence in teaching primary school music may be traced to the way that music education in that context has traditionally been conceptualised, although this seems to be changing. For instance, primary school music teachers have long

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emulated a model of hierarchical “leading from the front”, the expectation being that they would impart musical knowledge to pupils who they believed arrived in primary school with limited prior musical knowledge (Wiggins, 1999). However, as discussed in Chap. 2, young children enter formal primary education with rich musical knowledge and experiences from their home and their broader social environment (e.g. their neighbourhood and cultural influences). Increasingly, there is recognition among generalist classroom teachers and specialist music teachers alike of the importance of a wide range of musical activities that develop and expand those earliest musical experiences through listening, creating, singing and playing. They also recognise the potential for formal school curricula to complement rather than duplicate out-of-school experiences, and the importance of creating strong synergy between the in-school and out-of-­ school musical lives of the pupils in order for musical experiences to match children’s developmental needs as music learners and foster lifelong musical journeys (Davis, 2013). This chapter emphasises the role that both generalist and specialist music teachers can play in nurturing primary school-aged music learners’ possible selves by supporting the process of ‘Discovering’ their musical strengths and interests; ‘Thinking’ about the origin of these interests and preferences; ‘Imagining’ themselves as individuals who use music in their everyday lives for expression, communication, enjoyment—to mention a few; ‘Reflecting’ on how they could develop skills and knowledge for a more fulfilling experience of musicking alone and with others; ‘Growing’ through the achievement of these skills; and putting new knowledge into the practice of ‘Performing’ whilst reconsidering how to make their experiences of musicking more gratifying and meaningful (Freer, 2009). Making explicit this process of conceptualising, exploring and realising musical possible selves could frame ‘self-stories’ as competent musicians and ignite learners’ passion for lifelong musicking. This may be what Jenkins (2011, p. 193) calls “good music education”, one that aims to “bring about a fundamental change in the students’ self-identity and foster the ability to make critical decisions both about music and about life”.

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 tudents’ and Teachers’ Musical Preferences S and Their Influence on Musicking In accordance with the idea of possible selves as coherent narratives that link past and present experience with future possibilities, musical possible selves could perhaps best be nurtured when music facilitators pay close attention to children’s “individual perspectives and perceptions” of musicking (Freer, 2010, p. 19). There is strong support for the view that student motivation and enthusiasm for music learning and participation is contingent upon repertoire and musical activities that reflect their tastes and preferences (Roberts, 2016; Vicente-Nicolas & Mac Ruairc, 2014). Learners of all ages are more motivated when they see the usefulness of what they are learning and can apply what they have learnt to something of significance for themselves and others (Hock, Deshler, & Schumaker, 2006). Accordingly, some researchers have attempted to understand which activities are favoured by primary school-aged children (e.g. Bowles, 1998; Vicente-Nicolas & Mac Ruairc, 2014), reporting an overall openness to experiencing a variety of musical activities. In this vein, more expansive curricula (including familiar as well as unfamiliar music) could provide scope for exploration of the multiple ways that music can be learnt, experienced and facilitated along the informal–formal learning continuum (Cain, 2013), involving utilisation of a full spectrum of facilitation modes and orientations within each of the dimensions of the learning-teaching encounter (see Chap. 1, Fig. 1.1). Some further evidence suggests that teachers and peers may exert a considerable influence on student preferences. For example, a key finding from Vicente-Nicolas and Mac Ruairc (2014) was that the time spent on music activities that the teachers liked and valued positively influenced the students’ preference of this activity, too. This finding does not diminish the importance of teacher knowledge about their students’ musical preferences. Such knowledge can help teachers to find points of congruence between their own and their students’ musical possible selves. However, it may be that primary school pedagogies that focus on making the activity meaningful and relevant may matter even more than the actual content, in relation to providing meaningful, rich and expansive musical experiences that in turn shape future musical possible selves.

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Manifold Learning in the Primary School Heron’s model of manifold learning (1999; see Chap. 1) may serve as a reflective tool for primary school teachers who conceptualise their role as facilitators (rather than instructors) of music learning. The intersection of Heron’s four levels of manifold learning (namely, experiential, imaginal, conceptual and practical) with hierarchical, cooperative or autonomous facilitation modes illustrates how teachers might think and act beyond dichotomies such as formal versus informal pedagogies. Furthermore, the four levels of manifold learning are themselves fluid; for example, Heron explains that when the four levels are construed as a cycle (see Fig. 1.1), practical skills “lead over into experiential learning, thence into imaginal and conceptual learning” (Heron, 1999, p. 4). At any one of these points, facilitators may take decisions that correspond with either a hierarchical, cooperative or autonomous mode. In turn, these modes may differ according to specific dimensions of the teaching-learning encounter (i.e. planning, structuring, meaning, etc.) and may shift dynamically as learners progress and develop. Furthermore, Heron’s model “honour[s] both the individual and the social nature of music-making and learning” (Wiggins & Espeland, 2012, p.  341). Supporting the individual, teachers use differentiated planning, structuring and meaning so that musical learning and participation connects with each child in the classroom. Social musicking is honoured when the teachers focus on the confronting, feeling and valuing dimensions of musical learning, with particular emphasis on resolving potential resistance to unfamiliar musical practices, creating a climate of respect and fostering a sense of personal and collective agency. In this vein, the conceptualisation and articulation of musical possible selves require opportunities for learning through risk-taking and making mistakes, as well as a context where primary school learners can experience a sense of personal competence and investment in collective music-making (Wiggins, 2011). The following paragraphs explore the ways in which the three facilitation modes can enrich children’s primary school musical experiences through listening, creating, singing and playing instruments.

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Listening Listening lies at the heart of our musical self-stories. Some studies have focused on primary school-aged children’s music listening preferences. On the one hand, students find comfort in familiar music as opposed to unfamiliar, while on the other hand they are drawn to complexity, are able to discern subtle changes in the music that they listen to and can change attitudes through exposure to different listening experiences (Mills, 2009). Experiential learning through listening can be achieved when children explore their affective responses to music, while imaginal learning may be fostered through providing a framework for listening with expectation and awareness. Conceptual learning can be promoted when children expand their cognitive maps and understandings of musical style, vocabulary and structure, in turn applying this knowledge to practical learning through moving/dancing, playing, singing and creating. Box 3.1 describes a music programme in Australia, the Bam Bam drumming circle (Mackinlay, 2014), which showcases how listening and playing percussion enables the children to articulate narratives about themselves as group music-makers. In Bam Bam, 22 Grade 4 (aged 9–10  years) children engaged in drumming during school curriculum time, in additional to their half-hour regular weekly classroom music. Box 3.1 Bam Bam Drumming Circle (Mackinlay, 2014, p. 223) The programme focused on experiencing and embodying music by listening, imitation and repetition. Plastic buckets were used as drums—three different sized buckets produced three different pitch ranges. The music facilitator played alongside the classroom teacher and the students, the aim being to create a space where there was equality in musicking for all participating. Established ground rules were adhered to by all participants. After six months in the programme, the students talked about their experiences of drumming and the drumming circle itself: One of the most important things we experienced as drummers in Bam Bam is the feeling that we can do anything … We can achieve anything we want to, be anyone we want to be, and feel good about ourselves because each one of us can simply be. That’s the self, self-worth and self-esteem we walk away from drumming …

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Being Creative Opportunities to be creative enhance children’s agency and ownership in their music learning and participation. Wiggins and Espeland (2012) identify four critical issues in planning creative activities. First, creative musical activities take time. Secondly, groundwork needs to be in place whereby students “fully understand the parameters within which they will be asked to work” (p.  348). Thirdly, the facilitators should have extensive and insightful awareness of the musical and learning processes involved in a creative task, allowing them to practise “artful teacher scaffolding”—that is, the ‘need to know’ guidance from that helps the students problem-solve. Fourthly, peer interactions and scaffolding can flourish during collaborative musical tasks and this can support learner success. Beal (2017, p. 328) reminds us that “two crucial aspects of a student’s journey towards becoming musical are the creation of their own music and learning to improvise”, for these activities allow the students to find their musical “voice”. Therefore, although being creative in music goes well beyond composing and improvising, we will focus on these two activities here. Regardless of whether the teacher is a generalist or a music specialist, improvisation and composition may be structured in a hierarchical manner; for example, when composing tasks are set by the teacher, in this approach students are instructed how to compose together, what to compose and even which instruments to use when composing (Saetre, 2011). However, Wiggins (1999) stressed that prescriptive creative activities—for example, asking pupils to compose or improvise on three notes or create a piece that uses a specific rhythmic pattern—hamper creative expression. When these ‘puzzle solving’ activities are replaced by activities that take the students’ experiences, knowledge and interests as a starting point, the creative activity becomes connected to students’ evolving musical self-stories, acquiring the salience and ‘insider perspective’ that are required for musical possible selves. Saetre (2011) observes that children engage in constant alternation of improvisation and composition when they are asked to create their own music. Understanding this close connection between improvisation and

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composition, and their potential for creative expression and group interaction, could give both generalist and specialist teachers confidence to use cooperative and autonomous approaches when facilitating these forms of making music in classroom lessons (Hallam et  al., 2011). In connection to the social nature of music-making and learning, improvisation and composition activities afford opportunities for “communication, negotiation, suppression and encouragement” amongst the group members (Saetre, 2011, p.  43). These activities are often employed by music educators to boost the learners’ creative expression alongside their leadership skills, with the intention of raising aspirations, unlocking the imagination and bringing about lasting improvements in the quality of the learners’ lives (CCE, 2010). In this vein, experimenting with and articulating one’s own musical voice enables students to express identity and agency in emergent narratives of musical possible selves. One approach that honours both the individual and social nature of creative music-making and learning is song crafting (Muhonen, 2016). Song crafting is described as a composing practice that is flexible in nature—students engage in it alone or with their teachers, with the aim to “invent tunes and create songs, which are documented and performed together” (p. 264). The teacher’s role is that of cooperative facilitator, supporting group dynamics and taking notes, or as autonomous facilitator or co-creator, brainstorming and improvising in response to students’ needs. In this way, group belonging and empowerment are promoted when the teacher contributes help and support instead of directive leadership. Promoting student agency is at the very core of this activity. Muhonen explains how through song crafting the students explored their identities by composing personal and emotional songs. Each student made a personally meaningful contribution to the collaborative creative practice and recognised “oneself as a capable contributor to the classroom community” (p. 267). Students articulated possible selves as they talked about their competencies and beliefs in themselves as music creators; through their songs the students narrated “themselves as musical agents” (p. 270). For example, they “utilised music when connecting with others” (p. 270), and they recognised themselves as potentially capable contributors. The study concluded with the message that

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as the contextual influences of students’ individual and social worlds change, the challenge for music education is to set agentive aims that allow the students to become capable agents in the musical world (Muhonen, 2016, p. 278)

Music technology offers further resources that may enable both generalist and specialist music teachers “to provide reliable processes on which to build creative expression” (Jeanneret & Degraffenreid, 2012, p. 405). Many song-writing and improvisation Apps are available that provide students with extensive choice in musical loops and sounds with which they can experiment, evaluate, revise and refine their musical approach (Beal, 2017). Working with iPads and these Apps, children experience what it might mean to be a “hyphenated” musician, where there are weak boundaries between multiple roles such as songwriter–performer–sound engineer–producer (Beal, 2017, citing Tobias, 2012, p.  341). Like Wiggins and Espeland (2012), Beal also proposes that creative expression through technology could be nurtured through “artful teacher scaffolding”. This involves giving students the time to explore, providing some musical material to start off with and creating opportunities for collaborative decision-making through small group work. This latter process can be supported by purposive listening and music-making, which would allow students to take ownership of their music and build a group musical identity.

Singing Singing is an activity that most children experience in primary school classrooms. As noted above with regard to musical preferences, teachers exert a considerable influence on children’s singing behaviours, including “motivation, perceived self-identity as a singer and overall enjoyment of singing” (Welch et  al., 2009). Reluctance to sing, amongst some students, could be attributed to the lack of confidence (among children and also among their teachers) in singing individually and in groups, short-­ term singing initiatives or projects that do not ensure a legacy of singing practices (Lamont et al., 2012), or limited knowledge of vocal instruction

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and healthy vocal use and ways of rewarding and recognising good singing (Cuadrado & Rusinek, 2016). Lamont et al.’s (2012) study in the UK showcased examples of good practice in whole class vocal tuition led by generalist, specialist and external singing experts, and identified four essential motivators for developing singing in primary schools: an enthusiastic staff member, supportive school leadership and staff; access to musical expertise within and beyond the school; and singing leaders with keyboard skills. The latter might not be essential for promoting singing activities in many singing contexts around the world (Akuno, 2015; Pieridou-Skoutella, 2007); however, confidence and singing expertise are definitely salient and also learnable. The “structured experience of song” could nurture children’s musical ability (physical process), sensibility (mental process) and sensitivity (emotional process), boosting their cultural identity as well as their identities as independent, confident and creative music-makers (Akuno, 2015, p.  304). The programme Akuno describes took place in Kenya with the aim of enhancing literacy and linguistic skills in children aged 6–7 years, engaging the children in music-making and developing generalist primary school teachers’ skills and confidence in, as well as resources for, using music in the classroom. Overall, the project combined ‘learning through singing’ with ‘learning to sing’. The learning paradigm was rooted in (a) rote learning of new songs in English and Kiswahili, (b) structured activities revolving around the creation of tunes with words that the students encountered in other subjects and (c) dramatised narrative with songs developed and performed by the children. Singing was used to learn concepts such as shapes, colours and names of local towns, while learning to sing focused on pitching, diction and sound quality. As a result, both students and teachers reportedly explored their musical possible selves as creators and music-makers. Through singing and song-­ making the students developed as performers and the teachers became comfortable with their dual role as music-makers and knowledge facilitators by modelling (hierarchical mode), guiding (cooperative mode) and coaching (autonomous mode). Competitive singing games offer an additional pathway to developing musical and social skills through singing whilst promoting student agency (Roberts, 2016). Singing games, according to Roberts, combine

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kinaesthetic activity and an element of competition which in turn “ignite within each young musician a passion for musical participation” (p. 170). Roberts advocates singing games in the primary general music curriculum as “a means for engaging students in meaningful music-making experiences that they themselves value as fun and exciting” (p. 171). His view is shared by others (Akuno, 2015; Chen & Lee, 2013; Vicente-­ Nicolas & Mac Ruairc, 2014) who have recognised that the use of movement whilst singing not only increases enjoyment and motivation to participate but also nurtures creativity through using body percussion, postures, hand signs and facial gestures for creative expression. Singing alone and with others, integrated with expressive movement, therefore becomes woven in to children’s developing narratives that connect past, present and future musical possible selves.

Playing Instruments Children identify playing musical instruments as one of their most enjoyable activities (Bowles, 1998; Vicente-Nicolas & Mac Ruairc, 2014). Schools around the world offer students opportunities to learn to play a musical instrument in curricular and extra-curricular settings (Davis, 2012; Rogers & Hallam, 2010). For example, North American, Australian and Japanese primary school learners have opportunities to experience ensemble performance as part of general or classroom music and as an extra-curricular activity (Davis, 2012). In such contexts, the students may begin instrumental tuition within a band context, where band instruments are taught through an ensemble approach. In the UK, the ‘Wider Opportunities’ scheme, targeting children aged 7–9, offers a whole-class approach to learning musical instruments, with the entire classroom focusing on the same instrument. As discussed in Chap. 6 of this book, school ensembles are also offered as an extra-curricular option (Rogers & Hallam, 2010). Various critiques have been raised regarding the pedagogical models in school instrumental ensembles: the conductor-teacher acts as hierarchical facilitator, potentially limiting student agency; method books are core material that follow a linear sequential progression from simple to

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complex, which may not reflect the iterative nature of learning (Green, 2002); and “isolated exercises and drills may appear before any complete musical repertoire is introduced” (Davis, 2012, p.  419), reflecting an emphasis on decontextualised technique rather than aural skills and overall musicianship. Finally, personal expression, improvisation or composition/arranging activities are often neglected. Given the prominent place that vocal and instrumental ensembles have in primary school music education, the social context of ensembles could contribute to the development of positive possible selves in music, as vocation or avocation (Freer, 2010). We argue here that this could be achieved in several ways. First, engaging primary school learners in instrumental playing need not be confined to traditional instruments. Sound sources such as classroom objects, materials found in outdoor spaces, self-made instruments and digital technologies could offer unique opportunities for creative experimentation, exploration and discovery both individually and with others. The use of non-traditional instruments could promote purposive listening addressing all four levels of manifold learning: encountering sounds through creating them (experiential), identifying patterns in these sounds (imaginal and conceptual), developing the language and knowledge to talk about them (conceptual) and using the different sounds they produce in different ways (i.e. to create a soundscape, to create a story, to perform in pairs, etc.) (imaginal and practical). Secondly, research concerned with the development of musical expertise suggests that attainment of even moderate levels of expertise in instrumental playing requires practice and commitment (Creech & Hallam, 2010). Theories of motivation tell us that learners are more motivated to persist with learning when the tasks align with who they understand themselves to be and who they would like to become (Hock et  al., 2006). Therefore, when learning an instrument aligns with students’ personal goals, for instance, to play a favourite piece of music, to join an ensemble so as to be with friends, or to write an original song, children may be motivated to invest significant effort in their instrumental learning. Picasso (2017) reports three priorities when facilitating music-making in an elementary (primary) strings classroom: (1) she engages the learners in active music-making; (2) she supports them to develop into thoughtful, confident learners by “clarifying learning

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objectives, ultimately supporting young musicians as active agents in their own learning and growth” (p.  419) and (3) she is aware of and responds to the diverse student needs and passions. These three considerations have been shown to motivate learners. Taking into account extant research on the ways that engagement and passion in instrumental learning could be promoted in the primary school, we offer the following recommendations that could promote children’s ‘insider perspectives’ on being a capable and creative musician: • The music repertoire used needs to match the students’ developmental needs as well as their passion. For example, students who are unfamiliar with notation could start by listening and singing familiar pieces of music by ear from recordings. Building students’ audiation could later help them to reproduce the melodic lines on a musical instrument. What is more, learning popular songs that students know and love in tandem with unfamiliar repertoire could help the students maintain motivation in actively and enthusiastically engaging in musicking with their teacher and fellow students (Davis, 2013; Picasso, 2017). • The learning environment should feel like a safe space to listen, learn, play, practise and experiment, enabling learners to set goals for their musical activities and later engage in self-evaluation. Learners should also have agency in selecting music repertoire and ways of musicking. This has been found to be particularly beneficial when learners work on challenging music tasks that are scaffolded in such a way as to give the learners the confidence that they can meet these challenges (Green, 2008). • The social environment of the classroom or ensemble should promote collaborative peer learning. Research shows that working with peers, especially in pairs, facilitates students’ understanding of learning processes and the acquisition of practical skills (Davis, 2012, 2013; also see Chap. 10). • Finally, role models such as music teachers, professional musicians or peers have a salient role to play in the conceptualisation and realisation of musical possible selves, among primary school learners. Box 3.2 describes a partnership project, LSO Discovery, facilitated by professional musicians from the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO).

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Box 3.2  Developing Rich Narratives of a Possible Self as Musician Through Participation in LSO Discovery Pupils All the adults are really good at playing and it’s quite inspiring to see how good they are playing [‘Imagining’]. It has changed my creativity, improved my tone, technicality and my frame of mind of what music actually is [‘Reflecting’ and ‘Growing’]. It was fun playing with other people and listening to the LSO. You felt like a professional [‘Performing’—vicarious experience]. It was a fantastic project, amazing and all in all has encouraged me to play my instrument much more and to dive into the musical world with a lot more ease! [‘Growing’]. Classroom Teachers As a teacher who lacks confidence in teaching music the children gained an opportunity they would never have got from me. The majority of the children never have access to live music and it will have opened a door that may have always remained closed for them [‘Thinking’]. Wonderful! … What I have changed [in my teaching] [‘Growing’] is that I don’t just do music in music any more. I do music in other lessons like literacy or Religious Education I do lots of music. [‘Performing’] And sometimes in history as well as art where they will draw a painting and then we try to create some music for the painting. So we are introducing music in other areas of the curriculum … [Planning and structuring dimensions]. The next step for me is to learn to play an instrument because I feel that would really help me at the next step [‘Reflecting’]. At the moment, I don’t know how far I can take it without. LSO Musicians I have developed skills in communicating with a variety of people that I wouldn’t have really come into contact with … [‘Discovering’]. I think it has broadened my skillset, broadened my horizons and actually created more variety in my work, really, which is always good to not just be focused on one thing … [‘Growing’]. I like the feeling that I could do things that aren’t just sitting in a concert or just playing classical music, which of course I love and enjoy but it is nice to have more strings to my bow and feel the variety [‘Performing]’. From Varvarigou et al., 2014

The project provided a framework within which various partners, including primary school pupils and generalist teachers, could develop rich narratives of musical possible selves. The partnership also opened new musical possibilities for the LSO musicians, who began to see themselves in new roles such as educators, improvisers and communicators as well as

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active agents in inspiring a passion for music-making among the learners. The stages involved in the development of musical possible selves (identified in brackets) were evident. Overall, participation in the project was found to influence the aspirations and self-concept of those actively engaged stakeholders (for a detailed discussion on the project, see Varvarigou, Creech, & Hallam, 2014).

Concluding Thoughts Through early primary school experiences of performing, listening and creating, musical possible selves acquire life value (salience) and become life goals (Elliott & Silverman, 2015). It is important, therefore, for musical activities to be inclusive of multiple, diverse musical preferences and differentiated skill levels. Inclusion enhances a sense of belonging and could influence young learners as participants in lifelong musicking. Throughout this chapter, we have considered how manifold musical learning may be woven in to emergent narratives of musical possible selves among primary school students and their generalist or specialist teachers. We have argued that music teachers act as the role models, elaborating these narratives through use of the full spectrum of facilitation modes. In particular, in relation to the valuing dimension of learning, musical possible selves may be best supported when school leaders and teachers validate the multiple musics and ways of musicking that children and their teachers encounter both in- and out-of-school. Finally, a key message was that, ultimately, all teachers and students should have opportunities to “think, feel and act like musicians” (Atkinson, 2018). Supporting the development of musical possible selves requires an environment where learners can “identify future musical goals, envision routes towards achieving them, and acquire the knowledge and skills required for those goals” (Freer, 2010, p.  20). To enable these musical journeys, staff within primary schools, be they internal (the music teacher, coordinator or head teacher) or external (visiting experts), have responsibility for creating the conditions within which learners and their teachers can experience an insider perspective on the joy of being, belonging and becoming as a musician.

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References Akuno, E. A. (2015). The singing teacher’s role in educating children’s abilities, sensibilities and sensitivities. British Journal of Music Education, 32(2), 299–313. Atkinson, R. (2018). The pedagogy of primary music teaching: Talking about not talking. Music Education Research, 20(3), 267–276. Beal, D. J. (2017). Finding a music voice through songwriting and improvisation on iPads. In F.  Abrahams & R.  John (Eds.), Becoming musical (pp. 327–335). GIA Publications. Bowles, C. (1998). Music activity preferences of elementary students. Journal of Research in Music Education, 46(2), 193–207. Cain, T. (2013). ‘Passing it on’: Beyond formal and informal pedagogies. Music Education Research, 15(1), 74–91. CCE. (2010). Creativity, culture and education. Retrieved from http://www. creativitycultureeducation.org Chen, J. W., & Lee, H. W. (2013). A pilot study of using jazz warm up exercises in primary school choir in Hong Kong. Music Education Research, 15(4), 435–454. Creech, A., & Hallam, S. (2010). Learning to play an instrument. In S. Hallam & A. Creech (Eds.), Music education in the 21st century in the United Kingdom: Achievements, analysis and aspirations (pp. 85–104). Bedford Way Papers. Creech, A., Hallam, S., Varvarigou, M., & McQueen, H. (2014). Active ageing with music: Supporting wellbeing in the third and fourth ages. IOE Press. Cuadrado, A., & Rusinek, G. (2016). Singing and vocal instruction in primary schools: An analysis from six case studies in Spain. British Journal of Music Education, 33(1), 101–115. Davis, S. (2012). Instrumental ensemble learning and performance in primary and elementary schools. In G. McPherson & G. Welch (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of music education (Vol. 1, pp. 417–434). Oxford University Press. Davis, S. (2013). Informal learning processes in an elementary music classroom. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 198(Fall), 23–50. Elliott, D.  J., & Silverman, M. (2015). Music matters (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. Erikson, M. G. (2007). The meaning of the future: Toward a more specific definition of possible selves. Review of General Psychology, 11(4), 348. Freer, P. K. (2009). ‘I’ll sing with my buddies’—Fostering the possible selves of male choral singers. International Journal of Music Education, 27(4), 341–355. https://doi.org/10.1177/0255761409345918

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Freer, P. K. (2010). Two decades of research on possible selves and the ‘missing males’ problem in choral music. International Journal of Music Education, 28(1), 17–30. Green, L. (2002). How popular musicians learn. Ashgate. Green, L. (2008). Music, informal learning and the school: A new classroom pedagogy. Ashgate. Hallam, S., Burnard, P., Robertson, A., Saleh, C., Davies, V., Rogers, L., et al. (2009). Trainee primary school teachers’ perceptions of their effectiveness in teaching music. Music Education Research, 11(2), 221–240. Hallam, S., Creech, A., Pincas, A., Varvarigou, M., McQueen, H., & Gaunt, H. (2011). Music for Life Research Project: Promoting social engagement and well-being in older people through community supported participation in musical activities. Unpublished Final Project Report. Institute of Education, University of London. Henley, J. (2017). How musical are primary generalist student teachers? Music Education Research, 19(4), 470–484. Heron, J. (1999). The complete facilitator’s handbook. Kogan Page Ltd. Heron, J. (2009). Life cycles and learning cycles. In K. Illeris (Ed.), Contemporary theories of learning: Learning theorists … In their own words (pp. 129–146). Routledge. Hock, M., Deshler, D., & Schumaker, J. (2006). Enhancing students motivation through the pursuit of possible selves. In C. Dunkel & J. Kerpelman (Eds.), Possible selves: Theory, research and applications (pp. 205–221). Nova Science Publishers, Inc. Jeanneret, N., & DeGraffenreid, G. (2012). Music education in the generalist classroom. In G.  McPherson & G.  Welch (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of music education (Vol. 1, pp. 399–416). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Jenkins, P. (2011). Formal and informal music educational practices. Philosophy of Music Education Review, 19(2), 179–197. Lamont, A., Daubney, A., & Spruce, G. (2012). Singing in primary schools: Case studies of good practice in whole class vocal tuition. British Journal of Music Education, 29(2), 251–268. Mackinlay, E. (2014). An ABC of drumming: Children’s narratives about beat, rhythm and groove in a primary school. British Journal of Music Education, 31(2), 209–230. Mills, J. (2009). Music in the primary school. Oxford University Press. Muhonen, S. (2016). Students’ experiences of collaborative creation through songcrafting in primary school: Supporting creative agency in ‘school music’ programmes. British Journal of Music Education, 33(3), 263–281.

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4 Secondary Schools and Their Role to Play in Musical Possible Selves

In this chapter, we consider the ways in which musical possible selves may be supported within a shifting landscape of formal secondary school music education practice and policy. In the previous chapters, we have flagged the importance of a sense of coherence between in- and out-of-­ school musical experiences. Here, we explore orientations to inclusive learning and teaching that aim to bridge the gap between secondary school student experience of music inside and outside of school. We furthermore consider links between assessment and learning, focusing on how assessment shapes orientations to classroom learning and teaching, with potential musical life-course implications.

A Shifting Landscape Since the 1990s, secondary school music education around the world has been described as a ‘shifting’ landscape. Typically, the goals of school music have focused around providing opportunities, resources and support for young people to develop their musicality (Dalladay, 2017). However, diversity and globalisation have fostered debates around what © The Author(s) 2020 A. Creech et al., Contexts for Music Learning and Participation, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48262-6_4

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should be taught and why, and how learning and teaching is articulated. For example, music in secondary schools in Europe, Canada, Australia and elsewhere has ‘shifted’ towards process-oriented and integrated approaches where musical competencies and knowledge emerge through real-world musical practices (Jeanneret & Wilson, 2016). Shifts have also been noted from Eurocentric to multicultural curricula, (Wright, 2016), from “school music” to “music in school” (Georgii-Hemming & Westvall, 2010), from teaching to learning (Folkestad, 2006), and from didactic to relational pedagogies (Ruthmann & Dillon, 2012). Rather than conceptualising these shifts as being representative of binaries, McPhail (2014) suggests an alternative interpretation that highlights an interplay between conceptual “know what” and practical “know how”. In this vein, around the globe a fluid and dynamic continuum of informal to formal learning and teaching has, within recent decades, intersected with the traditionally formal context of secondary school music education. While acknowledging that prescribed curricula for music exist in many countries, Wright (2008, p. 400) defines the overarching purpose of secondary school music education as being to “allow the multiplicity of musical identities inhabited by our pupils to flourish and to lead them to discovery of new musical worlds at times when they are ready to engage positively with them”. To achieve this, she suggests, requires an empathetic pedagogical approach that privileges the musical worlds that students themselves inhabit, with a focus on empowering students in relation to autonomous learning and curriculum choices. Students’ musical worlds are creative, plural, contradictory, dynamic and purposeful. Therefore, Allsup et al. (2018, p. 241) advocate “a pedagogy that addresses both the present and future lives of youths and their multiple and contingent cultures”. Emergent musical possible selves require a pedagogy and context where students can take ownership of their musical development, imagine and give shape to musical futures that are different from our own, and “become critical authors of their present and imagined future lives” (Allsup et al., 2018, p. 242). From this perspective, vibrant musical possible selves may be underpinned by support for the development of critical and creative agency through the study of music in school. Musical possible selves, represented in the ways in which students narrate their

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emergent musical selves, thus offer a dynamic and proactive (rather than reactive and passive) framework for understanding the transformative potential of secondary school music experiences.

Inclusion: Belonging in a Community of Music Learners It has been argued that inclusion must be the underpinning principle of secondary school music education (Wright, 2016), as it is through inclusive practices that students can develop criticality and agency, accessing the possibility of “becoming themselves as musical beings in relation to others” (Almqvist, 2016, loc. 794). Increasingly, policy-makers, teachers and scholars within multicultural contexts have turned their attention to the idea of inclusive music education that welcomes students into a diverse range of musical practices (Elliott & Silverman, 2015) and provides equitable access to music’s wider benefits (Hallam, 2015) and creative career pathways (Gibb & DfE, 2015). Inclusive music education, in this sense, is thought to be underpinned by practices concerned with lifting barriers and shifting perceptions, structures and pedagogies so as to “benefit the entire diversity of students” (Bahou, 2011, p. 5). Elliott and Silverman (2015, p. 449) add that an approach is required that is inclusive in preserving the integrity of diverse musical cultures and practices, yet also expansive in that it “goes beyond local preferences and ethnocentric notions of music”. Non-formal teaching has been proposed as an inclusive pedagogy (Green, 2008, 2014; Wright, 2016) that meets students’ musical needs, interests and aspirations, privileges the student voice and makes links with the music that young people engage with outside of school (Spruce, 2013). The non-formal teacher’s responsibility is to meet students on their own ground, entering into their musical worlds and then enabling musical learning through non-directive facilitative interventions that may include modelling, playing alongside students or providing information where requested.

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Cooperative or autonomous facilitation modes (Heron, 1999) form the foundation of this non-formal model. In this vein, inclusive teacher actions take the form of supportive interventions that function as a catalyst for students to discover new knowledge, with any authoritative interventions being more informative (e.g. providing factual knowledge when requested) than prescriptive (e.g. telling students what to do) or confronting (e.g. highlighting what aspects of work require attention). Learning, in relationship with non-formal teaching, may be autonomous, characterised by informal, collaborative and student-led practices (see Box 4.1, below). Alternatively, where activities are pre-planned and sequenced, learning may be conceptualised as being closer to cooperative and target-led. In either scenario, a non-formal pedagogy will likely involve peer learning and individual accountability alongside collective goals, with the differences focusing around the ways in which teachers intervene or guide the learning. Notwithstanding arguments that link inclusivity with non-formal teaching, Almqvist (2016) cautions that neither non-formal teaching nor informal learning guarantees inclusive practices. In particular, she notes both risks and responsibilities within these models. For example, she highlights a pedagogical responsibility for confronting the reproduction of gendered roles in informal learning models applied within formal secondary school contexts. McPhail (2016, p.  1156) adds that informal learning models risk fostering “inequalities of access to powerful conceptual knowledge”. In a similar vein, Derbyshire (2015) highlights that an inclusive music education landscape must accord equal status to informal, non-formal and formal musical contexts and progression routes, providing young people with the information and resources that will support informed choices relating to engagement with music education. Examples such as this reinforce the complex intersections between pedagogical roles, responsibilities, intentions and contexts, highlighting the ways in which such intersections can shape the possible musical selves of school-aged musicians.

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 articipation: Supporting Musical Possible P Selves Through Authentic Music Learning and Teaching In response to widespread and pervasive youth disaffection with school music (Hallam, Creech, & McQueen, 2015; McPherson & O’Neill, 2010), much research concerned with secondary school music education has been concerned with the idea that music can be made more relevant for students by bridging in-school and out-of-school musical experience. This “quest for authenticity” (Allsup et al., 2018, p. 246) has focused in part around what is taught, for example being expressed as the “congruence between a music program and the musics that adolescents identify with” (Allsup et al., 2018, p. 246). In Scandinavia in the 1960s and 1970s, concerns about students’ perceived relevance of school music were framed by a general education policy that highlighted the entitlement of each student to have his or her individual interests recognised in schools. As a consequence, moves were undertaken to forge stronger links between students’ extra-curricular musical interests and classroom activities. Popular music became part of the compulsory school curriculum, typically being taught using informal learning approaches similar to those adopted by popular musicians (Karlsen & Vakeva, 2012). In this vein, the search for relevancy has involved teachers including what they perceived to be “the music of youth culture … with the aim of affording students greater voice and the opportunity to develop their selfhood” (Allsup et al., 2018, p. 242). However, reports concerning the extent to which popular music per se could solve the relevance problem were equivocal. Pupils enjoyed music-making in school, but disengagement continued to be an issue when repertoire chosen by teachers was perceived as outdated and non-representative of the students’ contemporary out-of-school music (Bergman, 2009; Skolverket, 2004). Others (notably Folkestad, 2006; Green, 2002, 2006, 2008) have conceptualised authenticity more in terms of how pedagogical processes frame music learning and the development of musical possible selves, in secondary schools. As Heron’s autonomous pedagogical orientation would suggest, authentic learning requires opportunities for experiential

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sense-making of students’ known musical worlds and the scope to exercise “agency and ownership” over their unfolding musical stories (Allsup et al., 2018, p. 242). Authentic learning, conceptualised this way, may in turn underpin the integration, expansion and even transformation of students’ imaginal, conceptual and practical musical knowledge. Authentic and relevant pedagogical approaches have been explored in the UK, Australia, Canada and elsewhere through the adoption of informal learning practices in school music, implemented largely through the Musical Futures approach, launched in 2003 and emerging from the work of Green (2002, 2008). Green researched how musicians working in popular genres learned through listening and playing by ear. Musical Futures was designed to devise new and imaginative ways of engaging young people, aged 11–19, in musical activities, providing all children with opportunities to engage with music that reflected their interests while also empowering them in taking control of their musical learning (Finney & Philpott, 2010). Informal learning and its ‘partner’ in the form of autonomous or cooperative non-formal teaching have emerged as the cornerstone concepts in Musical Futures. Through informal learning, the intention is that students set their own targets and learn through self-directed activities starting with familiar music, moving on to other genres and ultimately composition with the teacher modelling, supporting, advising and guiding. Non-formal teaching includes fully inclusive group-based activities in performing, listening, composing and improvising with teachers and students co-constructing content. Box 4.1, drawn from an interview with a UK Musical Futures Champion School teacher, demonstrates the complexity of the teacher role. In this example, the teacher demonstrates a hierarchical orientation towards planning the learning, taking a unilateral decision to ‘try something different’ and ‘let go’, with the intention that students find meaningful points of connection. Having taken that decision, she moves into an autonomous orientation with regard to structuring the activity, indicated by her assertion that her role was to ‘let them choose … let them do what they want to do in terms of the music’, yet retains some hierarchical control with regard to classroom behaviour. Overall, there is a sense that, within a formal secondary school environment, informal learning supported by non-formal teaching involved something of a ‘leap of faith’ into unfamiliar and potentially risky territory.

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Box 4.1  A Teachers’ Perspective on Promoting Student Agency Promoting student agency in a Musical Futures classroom When we started working together this Year 9 group was quite boisterous and quite noisy, there are quite a few characters in there. I was trying to get them to do stuff and I thought ‘let’s try something different here’. I said ‘right, you choose your songs, you choose your group, you choose your friends’, and that was the turning point. It was the best lesson I’ve ever done. Literally within 3 minutes, all that negativity in the room about what I was making them do disappeared and they were all focused on something, all doing different songs or a different instrument. You’ve just got to let go. Let them do what they want to do in terms of music, not behaviour wise but in terms of music. Let them choose. Let go and let them do it. It can be really stressful for the teacher. I think you have to go into it with this sort of positive attitude. You have to say, ‘well, actually this is going to be chaotic. This is going to be up in the air. This is going to be loose’, and you know you’re going to wonder if actually they’re getting anything out of it whatsoever. In the first couple of weeks it seemed utterly chaotic, looked like kids were just doing nothing, just fooling around in the room, swapping instruments around, swapping choice of song, generally just sitting there. It looked like a youth club environment. I think as a teacher you’re very conscious of what your colleagues perceive is going on in your lessons. You’ve got this situation where they’re looking for drum sticks and leads and mics and they’re all in a room and they’re shouting and arguing with each other because they’ve decided who’s going to play what but he’s not in today and da, da, da, and he’s forgotten his CD. It can be utterly chaotic, but you’ve got to have faith in the outcome and it’s nothing short of a miracle but the results are outstanding. (Music Teacher) Hallam et al., 2011, pp. 55–56

Concerns about relevance and authenticity have led to popular music being embraced in some American secondary music curricula, too. For example, Byo (2018) investigated the perceived value of a Rock Band approach, in one US secondary school. In his example, the sole approach to music education in the school was ‘Modern Band’, whereby students learnt musical concepts and acquired musical competencies (including reading notation as well as playing by ear) through participation in rock bands, learning well-known popular songs selected by the teacher, with some input from students. Interviews with 19 students representing

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grades 6–8, the music teacher and the school principal revealed that music was valued, students experienced a sense of community and they expressed strong identity as musicians. Byo describes a flexible pedagogical approach, with the teacher functioning for the most part as a guide, but allowing space for cooperative group work, problem-solving and independent work. Integrated musical learning was articulated as small group projects where students engaged in listening, performing, improvisation and composition. According to Byo (2018, p.  267), the programme could be interpreted as “an example of meaningful, authentic, and valuable music education that is positioned between the extremes of formal and informal learning, process and product orientation, and teacher- and student-centered pedagogy”.

 he Implications of Secondary School Music T Education for Musical Possible Selves The drive to make music relevant has far-reaching implications with regard to the ways in which secondary school music may shape students’ musical possible selves. To recap (see Chap. 1), musical possible selves, or self-stories, provide coherence in our musical lives, yet are also dynamic and may be disrupted and reconstructed through a cyclical process of interactions and interpretations of past and present musical learning and participation, influencing orientations towards a musical future. These musical self-stories require elaborate understanding and a deep degree of personal significance and salience. Thus, our musical possible selves express personal agency and meaning-making; and emerge from encounters framed by music education principles, practices and pedagogies. In England, Dalladay (2017) explored the perceptions of secondary school music teachers with regards the perceived importance of various contextual and experiential facets of music education. His mixed-­methods study comprised questionnaires, observations and semi-structured interviews with secondary school music teachers and teacher trainees, focusing on a model of 12 musical competencies and 12 contexts for musical development (Dalladay, 2017). In phase 1, 39 participants ranked the importance of the 12 competencies and 12 contexts. This was followed by classroom

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observations of 11 participants and their students, as well as interviews with 10 participants. Findings from the initial survey suggested that performance skills were privileged; ‘performing with others’ and ‘regular music practice’ were ranked as the top two most important contexts for developing musicianship, while ‘performing on an instrument’ and ‘performing by ear’ were ranked as the two most important musical competencies. Mixed messages emerged with regard to ‘improvising’ and ‘composing’, which ranked among the three least important contexts for developing musicianship, yet were ranked 5th and 6th in importance as musical competencies. Observations revealed that classroom practice did not always reflect the values and beliefs indicated in the survey results. For example, very little singing was observed, and when students did sing, there were few strategies to improve quality. Similarly, although composing was considered to be an important musical competency, where composition or improvisation activities were observed, there were limited strategies for development and improvement. While the use of information and communications technology (ICT) to develop and enhance music-making had been ranked as the least important musical competency, in practice the picture was also somewhat different. Classrooms were organised around ICT equipment and much classroom time was devoted to the use of ICT. Overall, Dalladay (2017, p.  332) concluded that the study demonstrated a model of secondary school music education that provided young people “with a series of music-related experiences” that were not necessarily oriented towards progression and the development of detailed and salient musical possible selves. Dallaway’s findings chime with wider critiques of so-called relevant curricula that have resulted in short-term, relatively unplanned and populist programmes with many one-off activities, which arguably lack the progression opportunities that may be integral to coherent and far-reaching musical self-stories (Georgii-Hemming & Westvall, 2010; Skolverket, 2004). Questions have been raised about the ways in which secondary school music education can provide a context within which students construct musical self-stories, building upon informal and intuitive musical knowledge. Philpott and Wright (2018) reflect upon how students may be afforded the necessary tools to support critical reflection on current musical experience and detailed understandings of future musical participation,

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arguing that enhancement, a key principle in Bernstein’s (1996) framework for democratic education, may be key. Enhancement refers to the process whereby students develop critical understandings of new possibilities through their experience of “tension points between the past and possible futures” (Philpott & Wright, 2018, citing Bernstein, 1996, p. xx). Applied in the context of secondary school music education, enhancement has been interpreted as the possibility for meaningful encounters with new knowledge to shape students’ capacity to “look beyond what they already know” (McPhail, 2014, p.  312). In this vein, music in school, according to McPhail (2014, p. 329) “needs not only to provide inclusion and participation through the immediacy of procedural and experiential knowing but also to give students a sense of a conceptual meta-structure for music that may enable stylistic and possibly even cultural boundary crossing”. McPhail suggests that enhancement occurs through the interplay between what is known and what might yet be known. This interplay has been expressed as a reflective cycle of learning (Heron, 1999). The reflective cycle, which may be said to underpin the formulation of musical possible selves, may be conceptualised as comprising experiential learning in the moment of encounter with new knowledge; practical learning that “gives voice to sonic materials” (McPhail, 2014, p.  310); conceptual learning focused on ‘know-that’; and imaginal learning articulated as visualisations of new ideas and future possibility.

 sing Technology to Develop Agency U in Musical Possible Selves This chapter began by highlighting the shifting nature of secondary school music education. The rapid changes and advances in music technology play a significant contributory role in the shifts we are witnessing with regard to the way that music education is articulated within curricula and practice. Elsewhere in this book (see Chap. 12), we discuss more fully the intersection between technology, musical possible selves and orientations to learning. Here in this section, we touch briefly on some key ways in which technology has influenced the structure and dynamics of secondary school music education.

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Digital technologies foster inevitable and unavoidable changes within the classroom environment, if for no other reason than the influence technology has had with regards the intuitive knowledge, skills and approaches to learning that students bring in to the classroom with them. Typically, twenty-first-century music learners in the developed world are digital natives, accustomed to exploring and constructing their musical experience through a variety of mobile and web-based devices. Technology can serve as a vehicle where young people can learn informally through listening, observing, analysing and copying. Students can furthermore compose or improvise without boundaries or constraints; and create, access, critique and share any music from any location at any time, invoking the idea of a “global classroom” (Merrick, 2017). Music technology offers a means of enriching narratives of possible musical selves, “enabling us to become better musicians; understand music and/or the wider impact that music has on our lives and ongoing development” (Himonides, 2012a, p. 437). In this vein, free of dependence upon traditional tools, language or pedagogies, the use of digital technologies may underpin autonomous orientations to learning, where teachers and their students can collaborate in learning communities, sharing diverse forms of expertise and musical experience (Ruthmann & Dillon, 2012). Of course, technology is not an end in itself, nor is it a panacea that can in and of itself foster meaningful connections, creativity or agency amongst learners. Rather, meaning is constructed via flexible pedagogical decisions concerned with how technologies may intersect with matters relating to inclusive curricula. However, it seems important to note that these pedagogical decisions need not always be taken unilaterally, but rather could be negotiated among teachers and students, with a critical focus on “why a technology should be employed and how it could be used effectively in celebrating our musicality and furthering our development as musicians and learners” (Himonides, 2012b, p. 431). The wider influence of music technology includes the scope it offers for students and teachers to learn as ‘fellow-travellers’, for peer collaborations that extend beyond the classroom, for self-directed learning and assessment, and so on. However, notwithstanding steady shifts, and possibly in some instances, transformations in pedagogical orientations, music technology may continue to elude teachers who are firmly rooted within a hierarchical

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or even cooperative paradigm, where their expectation of themselves is as gatekeeper to knowledge. The teacher quoted in Box 4.2 highlights the possibilities of technology as a tool that supports inclusive, differentiated practice and that reaches students in music outside of the parameters of the curriculum. Nonetheless, there is a strong articulation of a hierarchical orientation to planning and structuring learning, with the teacher demanding of herself that she gain the skills to ‘pass on’ to the students. Crucially, this teacher perceives that her own limitations will limit her students. As Purves (2012, p. 457) highlights, teachers (themselves often digital immigrants) are most likely to make use of technologies that are within their zone of comfort, aligning “closely with their existing practice, beliefs, and teaching and learning objectives”. This may point to the strong and reciprocal relationship between technology, pedagogical orientations and musical possible selves. For example, students need not be limited if teachers embrace collaborative or autonomous approaches to music learning and participation with technology. Autonomous facilitation modes, in particular, may open the door to ‘pushing the boundaries’ with unfamiliar forms of experiential learning framed by technology, in turn underpinning the construction of new narratives of musical learning and participation. Box 4.2  Technology as a Medium for Exploring Musical Possible Selves Music technology—a teacher’s view It’s definitely something that could be expanded … People who find composition quite tricky, if you’re going with more traditional methods of piano and a piece of paper, can really respond to music software, and it has quite a lot of cross curricular scope as well. There’s nothing to say we have to create music just for music. We could create it for other purposes or to go alongside assemblies or for other subjects. So, I don’t think it should just be in lesson time. Again, that might be an opportunity for people who did not choose music in their curriculum—something they could keep going … I have enough knowledge in music technology to get me by and support people in particular when it comes in exam-based work for GCSE and stuff like that, but I haven’t tried it very much myself, so I’m limited with what I can pass on. And I would hate to limit the students because of my own limitations. (Music Teacher) From Creech, Saunders, & Welch (2016)

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 ssessment of Secondary School Music and Its A Contribution to Lifelong Musical Possible Selves There has been considerable research concerned with the assessment of musical skills in the classroom (Denis, 2017), although limited attention has been paid to how student assessment may influence musical possible selves. We refer to assessment as the judgements made about student attainment and progression in music. Questions concerning the ways in which assessments may shape musical possible selves must take account of what is assessed, how it is assessed and who does the assessing. Approaches to assessment reflect the diverse practices that may be found within secondary school music classrooms around the world, for example, including assessments of instrumental performance, composition, aesthetic understanding, listening skills and so on. Typically, in formal secondary school contexts, at least some assessment is summative in nature, being focused on assessment of learning. Summative assessments can be ‘high stakes’ and related to subject benchmarks, having far-­ reaching consequences with regard to access to further or higher music education. In this sense, there are direct implications for how students conceptualise their musical possible selves. Recall that musical possible selves are theorised here as being dynamic and interdependent with self-­ concept (see Chap. 1). Possible selves, being susceptible to goal change brought about by summative assessment, may also become ‘lost possible selves’. Much attention has been paid to the important role that formative assessment plays in education generally, and in music education more specifically. Formative assessment forms the basis of assessment for learning, and according to Black and Wiliam (1998), effective formative assessment can potentially raise student attainment by as much as 16 percentage points. Effective formative assessment is characterised by personalised feedback focused on clarifying for students the next steps needed to fulfil their learning goal, and dynamic and responsive dialogue focused on student progression. From this perspective, formative assessment reflects Heron’s notion of facilitative intervention, whereby the

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teacher role is to guide the student in developing the capacity for self-­ assessment and self-regulation (see Chap. 1). However, it is important to caution that formative assessment that is focused on externally set learning objectives and criteria compliance risks fostering a culture of student dependency on teacher feedback (Torrance, 2012). Alternatively, formative assessment within an autonomous orientation may be structured around self and peer assessments and student-led criteria. The intersection between facilitation, formative assessment and musical possible selves may be best captured in the idea of ‘encounter’. Just as possible selves may emerge through encounters between what is known and what is yet to be understood, formative assessment encounters may function as catalysts for elaboration, expansion or indeed reframing of musical possible selves. Finally, the idea of authenticity has been explored in relation to assessment, too, whether the assessment is summative or formative in nature. The notion of authentic assessment involves tasks that simulate ‘real life’ musical activities outside of formal education contexts (Lebler, 2008). Authentic assessments require students to problem-solve and produce quality performance through engagement with the resources as well as the constraints or affordances that characterise their musical lives. Authentic assessment also requires that criteria are transparent and jointly constructed and understood among students and teachers (Wiggins, 1993). The importance of authenticity, in relation to musical possible selves, lies in the capacity for authentic assessment to provide high-­quality information about the ways in which we and others perceive our musical potential or limitations. Thus, authenticity in assessment may have significant implications for the enrichment of secondary students’ agency and criticality in developing meaningful and musical self-narratives. Box 4.3 demonstrates some ways in which assessment was integrated in to a non-formal approach to learning (Hallam, Creech, Pincas, Varvarigou, et al., 2011). Here, the teacher first indicates that a hierarchical approach was taken to planning the assessment, with criteria devised by the teachers, albeit with the aim of recognising differentiated student achievement. The teacher goes on to allude to structuring the assessment

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practice in a cooperative manner, using checklists, modelling and reflection to guide students towards understandings of how they could progress in relation to the criteria. Note that this example stops short of an autonomous orientation to assessment, which would involve students in a process of devising criteria, making decisions about what is assessed, how it is assessed and who should carry out the assessment. Box 4.3  Assessment Within a UK Musical Futures Champion School A hierarchical/cooperative orientation to assessment People perceive it [Musical Futures] to be a one-off rock and pop-based curriculum, a ‘have a good time’ project. So initially we wrote our own levels. We gave difficulty levels for instruments and we wrote that into our assessment structure so if we saw somebody playing something very challenging, we would give credit for that. If we see somebody doing peer leadership, for example, you may not play anything but have actually brought that group together, then we would give credit for that too. And that was going really well and being used successfully and we did sheets for the students as well so they could see exactly where they were. And they saw the difficulty levels and they could see, oh right, we played a tune over it, to get to the next difficulty level you need to play longer riffs and to get to the most difficult you do this, and I like that, I like that progression. (Music Teacher) A lot of our focus is assessment for learning and there’s all the feedback when we’re going ‘round the groups and then we do a lot of peer assessment when it comes to performance time. A group will perform and their peers will basically look at the success criteria and say ‘have they done that, have they done that, yes, I agree. What do you think they can improve upon?’ … Say we’re doing a keyboard topic with a Year 8, say we’re doing the blues, you’re teaching them 12 bar blues, a scale for improvisation so the first ten minutes you’re modelling at the front, then they’ll go off and practice the ingredients … They’ll play, the kids will say what they thought was successful about their performance and an area for improvement. (Music Teacher) Hallam, Creech, Pincas, Varvarigou, et al. (2011)

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Concluding Thoughts In this chapter, we have highlighted the shifting and complex nature of secondary school music education. A key message is that the musical worlds of twenty-first-century youth are multifaceted, at times contradictory and always dynamic. Therefore, a challenge (and opportunity) for secondary school music educators is in how to plan and scaffold inclusive, meaningful learning that may integrate with, and expand, young people’s narratives of musical possible selves. Inclusive secondary school music education is rightly premised upon the idea that all young people have the right to explore who they are as a musician, the musical communities to which they belong and who they can become, musically. As one secondary student has commented, “Once you find that inner passion for music it never goes away. Because when you get that passion you find that you can’t stop playing” (Y7 pupil, from Creech, Fairbanks, et al., 2016). We have highlighted alignments between inclusive pedagogies and cooperative as well as autonomous orientations to learning, where critical thinking, agency and creative activity are promoted. However, a second key message relates to the danger of over-­ simplification with regard to pedagogy and its intended outcomes. We have therefore highlighted, too, that truly inclusive connections with the diverse, multiple musical possible selves that students bring in to the classroom will require similarly multifaceted pedagogical responses. In this vein, support for progression within expansive narratives of musical being, belonging and becoming may require, at one time or another, hierarchical, cooperative or autonomous orientations to learning, teaching and assessment. Within each one of those orientations (hierarchical, etc.), the dimensions of learning that relate to content and relevancy (the planning, structuring and meaning dimensions) may be articulated in multiple different ways. Similarly, inclusivity requires a tapestry of strategies that represent hierarchical, cooperative or autonomous articulations of the dimensions of learning concerned with group dynamics (the feeling dimension), resistance to learning (the confronting dimension) or creating a culture of respect for ‘other’ (the valuing dimension). In turn, these multiple pedagogical approaches will, we argue, provide

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scope for the exploration and elaboration of rich, expansive musical possible selves that will feed in to lifelong narratives of musical learning and participation.

References Allsup, R. E., Westerlund, H., & Shieh, E. (2018). Youth culture and secondary education. In G. E. McPherson & G. F. Welch (Eds.), Music learning and teaching in infancy, childhood, and adolescence: An Oxford handbook of music education (Vol. 2, pp. 460–475). Oxford University Press. Almqvist, C. F. (2016). Becoming a guitar playing woman—The risk of unequal gender role conservation in non-formal ensemble music education. In R. Wright, B. A. Younker, & C. Beynon (Eds.), 21st century music education: Informal learning and non-formal teaching (Chap. 2). Canadian Music Educators’ Association. Bahou, L. (2011). Rethinking the challenges and possibilities of student voice and agency. Educate, January(Special Issue), 2–14. Bergman, A. (2009). Vaxa upp med music: ungdomars musikanvandande i skolan och pa fritiden (Growing up with Music: Young people’s use of music in school and during lesson time). PhD dissertation, University of Gothenburg. Bernstein, B. (1996). Pedagogy, symbolic control and identity: Theory, research, critique. Taylor & Francis. Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (1998). Inside the black box: Raising standards through classroom assessment. King’s College. Byo, J. (2018). “Modern Band” as school music: A case study. International Journal of Music Education, 36(2), 259–269. https://doi.org/10.1177/ 0255761417729546 Creech, A., Fairbanks, S., Gonzalez-Moreno, P., Lorenzino, L., Sandoval, E., & Waitman, G. (2016). El Sistema and Sistema-inspired programmes: A literature review of research, evaluation, and critical debates. Sistema Global. Retrieved from http://www.artshealthresources.org.uk/docs/el-sistema-and-sistemainspired-programmes-a-literature-review-of-research-evaluation-and-critical-debates/ Creech, A., Saunders, J., & Welch, G. (2016). Musical pride: Music education in plural communities. Retrieved from http://leicestershiremusichub.org/ uploads/musical-pride-music-education-in-plural-communities.pdf

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activities. Unpublished Final Project Report. Institute of Education, University of London. Heron, J. (1999). The complete facilitator’s handbook. Kogan Page Ltd. Himonides, E. (2012a). The misunderstanding of music-technology-education: A meta perspective. In G. E. McPherson & G. F. Welch (Eds.), Oxford handbook of music education (Vol. 2, pp. 433–456). Oxford University Press. Himonides, E. (2012b). Commentary: Music learning and teaching through technology. In G. E. McPherson & G. F. Welch (Eds.), Oxford handbook of music education (Vol. 2, pp. 430–432). Oxford University Press. Jeanneret, N., & Wilson, E. (2016). Musical futures and informal music pedagogy: Historical perspectives and factors of success. In R. Wright, B. A. Youker, & C. Beynon (Eds.), 21st century music education: Informal learning and non-­ formal teaching approaches in school and community contexts (Kindle ed.). Canadian Music Educators’ Association. Karlsen, S., & Vakeva, L. (Eds.). (2012). Future prospects for music education: Corroborating informal learning pedagogy. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Lebler, D. (2008). Popular music pedagogy: Peer learning in practice. Music Education Research, 10(2), 193–213. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 14613800802079056 McPhail, G. J. (2014). The right to enhancement: Students talking about music knowledge in the secondary curriculum. Curriculum Journal, 25(3), 306–325. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585176.2014.91 McPhail, G.  J. (2016). Music on the move: Methodological applications of Bernstein’s concepts in a secondary school music context. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 37(8), 1147–1166. https://doi.org/10.1080/0142569 2.2015.1044069 McPherson, G. E., & O’Neill, S. A. (2010). Students motivation to study music as compared to other school subjects: A comparison of eight countries. Research Studies in Music Education, 32(2), 101–137. https://doi.org/10.117 7/1321103x10384202 Merrick, B. (2017). Popular music and technology in the secondary school. In A. King, E. Himonides, & A. S. Ruthmann (Eds.), The Routledge companion to music, technology, and education (pp. 171–180). Routledge. Philpott, C., & Wright, R. (2018). Teaching, learning and curriculum content. In G. E. McPherson & G. F. Welch (Eds.), Music learning and teaching in infancy, childhood and adolescence: An Oxford handbook of music education (Vol. 2, Kindle ed.). Oxford University Press.

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5 The Role of Further and Higher Education in Shaping Musical Possible Selves

In this chapter, we consider the aims, scope, purpose and curricula within tertiary music education contexts. The persistent practices that characterise learning, teaching and assessment within further education, universities and conservatoires are discussed, as well as those that are shifting in response to a rapidly changing social, educational and professional landscape. We discuss the interplay between hierarchical, cooperative and autonomous orientations to facilitating learning within further and higher music education, arguing that facilitation modes may have implications for the formulation of adaptable and creative musical possible selves that support successful transitions into lifelong professional careers. The possibilities for inclusive and innovative practice to be articulated within higher music education are explored, framing this with the idea of tertiary music education as a space that can support expansive narratives of musical possible selves. As Allsup, Westerlund, & Shieh (2018, p. 471) have stated, “education … is presented here as the story of interaction and exchange, community and schooling, teachers and students, formation and reformation …”. Finally, we discuss the far-reaching life-course implications of musical possible selves shaped by tertiary music education experience. © The Author(s) 2020 A. Creech et al., Contexts for Music Learning and Participation, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48262-6_5

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 ecoming a Musician in Further and Higher B Music Education Purpose of Tertiary Music Education The perceived purpose of tertiary (post-secondary further and higher) music education has influenced who accesses learning within those contexts, the way that learning is planned and structured and the types of knowledge that are privileged, with direct implications for the expectations and aspirations of learners. Therefore, we begin this chapter by considering the place of music within tertiary education, and its attendant purpose, roles and responsibilities. Traditionally, higher music education, comprising conservatoires and university music departments, has been concerned with training musicians within the Western classical paradigm. Arguably, this focus has been framed by a narrowly defined version of what it is to be a musician and what ‘counts’ as musical expertise (Willingham & Carruthers, 2018). For example, within this traditional paradigm, expertise is evidenced by excellence in specific performance practices that in turn are underpinned by particular theoretical or historical knowledge. Accordingly, there is often a perception of exclusivity, with higher music education being the preserve of an elite ‘musical’ few. However, within our twenty-first-­ century social context, tertiary institutions have met increasing demands for greater economic accountability, as well as a focus on inclusiveness, widening participation and academic-community partnerships; and a call to articulate their relevance in relation to global social challenges. These demands are met, to some extent, by Further Education (or “continuing education”), which has been associated with providing foundation and life skills, offering “second chance” access for those wishing to return to continuing education, or playing a role in re-engaging disaffected learners (Conlon & Rogers, 2010). Notwithstanding this, the persistent paradigm for tertiary music programmes has been that of a training ground for those pursuing professional careers (Bowles & Jensen, 2012). In this vein, conservatoires continue to be strongly steeped in the practice of specialised training for musicians within the Western classical

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tradition, while (until relatively recently) universities have been concerned largely with music performance, history, theory and composition and music teacher training. Within this context, many critical questions have arisen with regard to the relevance of an exclusive model of higher music education, where entry is often directly related to socio-economic privilege and cultural capital (Willingham & Carruthers, 2018; Gaunt & Westerlund, 2013). Perhaps owing to the contested definition of ‘professional musician’, debates concerned with purpose have accelerated in recent years (e.g. Lapidaki, 2016; Parkinson, 2017; Willingham & Carruthers, 2018). These debates can be traced back to the 1980s (e.g. Renshaw, 1986) and encompass far-reaching ideas concerning the personal qualities, social and ethical roles and responsibilities, and pedagogical and musical skills required by musicians and music educators within our communities. As Willingham and Carruthers (2018, p. 597) state, “the question of relevance to societal needs and values is increasingly germane”. Amidst critical reflection upon these issues, the territory occupied by tertiary music education is certainly shifting, for example, now routinely encompassing multiple musical genres and a recognition of the need to equip students with transferable skills needed to navigate complex portfolio careers (Bennett, 2014).

 haping Musical Possible Selves Within S Tertiary Music Education Tertiary music learners are typically at a critical point of transition to adulthood and professional life, “self-focused … yet full of hope and possibilities” (Bennett, 2014, p. 239; Juuti & Littleton, 2012; Parkinson & Smith, 2015). Within this transitory space, “learning how to become” (Johnsson and Hager, 2008, p. 526) and narratives of professional identity can develop over a lengthy period of time, described by Daloz and Parks (2003, p. 20) as “years of great promise as well as great peril, a time when the young mind can open afresh to the stimulation of great questions and the nourishment of worthy dreams”. Tertiary education

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curricula play a significant role in shaping these professional identities (Carruthers, 2018). Influenced by curricula, narratives concerned with the multiple selves that comprise a professional musical life may be “instrumental in motivating and defending the self in the course of adult development” (Cross & Markus, 1991, p. 230). Possible musical selves may thus be particularly salient for tertiary music learners in navigating the complexities around defining and articulating the professional practice of musicians. However, recall that to function effectively as motivational drivers, possible selves must be psychologically accessible, building on experiential learning within authentic real-world contexts and practices (see Chap. 1). In this vein, further education music programmes have typically been characterised by a strong vocational ethos, with community and industry partnerships and opportunities work-based learning (Box 5.1). Box 5.1 Shaping Musical Possible Selves with Experiential Learning within Further Education Conlon and Rogers (2010) described the range of music foundation degrees found in Further Education in the UK, including music composition for media; music production; music business and management; music performance; musical instrument making and so on. Courses typically consisted of modular, project-based units advertised as preparation for a successful career in the music industry. Colleges also built programmes around community and industry partnerships. Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) (2009) offers an example of collaboration between FE and the local community in which an ‘Arts Depot’ is incorporated within a FE college. The Arts Depot is a fully functioning community arts centre and has two equipped theatres; an exhibition gallery with opportunities for multi-media projections and displays; rehearsal studios for music, dance and theatre, and a disability arts and education forum. The result is what Ofsted describes as a ‘model’ of a shared use arts space in which students ‘behave and work to professional standards’. According to Ofsted this ‘unique venue’ helps students develop ‘realistic’ creative knowledge and skills more comprehensively than they would have had they studied exclusively in a college environment. Both the venue and the learning provision help to motivate young people, some of whom have previously been disaffected or disengaged. (p. 246)

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Notwithstanding initiatives as described in Box 5.1, questions have been raised with regard to the extent that tertiary music education (and higher music education in particular) connects with students’ prior learning and experiences (Burnard et  al., 2017) or aligns with professional realities (Canham, 2016). It has been claimed that, intended or not, a consequence of the traditional reified version of music in higher education has had the consequence of separating music from the real-life experience of learners. This tension has implications for the ways in which students formulate and reformulate their musical possible selves. Professional musical identities are unpredictable (Lapidaki, 2016) and have been described as “fluid and ongoing” (Carruthers, 2018, p. 213). Similarly, possible selves are neither certain, predictable, stable, nor bounded, but rather are fluid and dynamic (see Chap. 1). Within the specific domain of tertiary music education, musical possible selves will naturally be intertwined with the development of expertise, but the definition of ‘expertise’ is itself contested, situated and contextualised within a rapidly changing professional landscape. Therefore, the capacity to formulate conceptual, practical and experiential understandings of musical possible selves requires skills in critical reflection and creative thinking. These, arguably, are the qualities that will support students in navigating diverse and complex demands in their professional and artistic lives.

 rientations to Learning and Teaching O in Further and Higher Music Education It has been suggested that musicians can explore and develop multifaceted and socially relevant identities through “the embracing of multiple modes of learning, including non-formal and informal pedagogies that are increasingly prevalent in the common practice of music-making” (Willingham & Carruthers, 2018, p. 601). Willingham and Carruthers highlight that silos (i.e. music performance, music history, community music etc.) within the music profession are not tenable and indeed are increasingly redundant. From this perspective, we argue that a shift from content-based curricula towards an emphasis on critical thinking and

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creativity will support emerging music leaders in expansive thinking about their roles, not just as culture-bearers with responsibility for preserving cultural practices, but also as culture-builders and culture-brokers (Bowles & Jensen, 2012). The environment and guidance experienced within tertiary music education can shape students’ “personal identity, knowledge of self, understanding of others, and a whole host of other applicable skills” (Willingham & Carruthers, 2018, p.  606). Therefore, flexible and dynamic musical possible selves may be framed by wide-ranging roles and responsibilities that are in turn shaped by curricula that privilege the development of critical thinking, creativity, imagination and innovation founded on problem-solving. These key skills require orientations to learning and teaching that allow the scope for risk-taking and reflective practices with regard to developing leadership, empathy, collaboration, respect, contemplation and mindfulness. In this sense, further and higher education practices may support (or constrain) emergent musical possible selves that are adaptable and expansive rather than restrictive, framed by an orientation towards lifelong learning that brings a sense of coherence to informal, non-formal and formal musical practices; interdisciplinary understandings of music learning and participation in relation to wellbeing; and a strong sense of identity in relation to service within community. Gaunt (2013) acknowledges resistance to such pedagogical change within traditional conservatoire-style higher music education, attributing this to the enduring phenomenon of teachers who reproduce the ways in which they were taught, behind closed doors and with little collaboration or integration within wider institutional structures. As Renshaw (2011, p. 64) noted, “many musicians see themselves as pragmatic people who can feel alienated by too much focusing on ‘why’ questions. Their identity, their self-esteem and sense of self-worth are rooted in practical music-making, rather than on reflection that might raise unsettling personal and professional issues”. Bennett and Freer (2012, p. 14) concur, adding that students themselves often arrive in tertiary education with narrowly defined performance-oriented possible selves.

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The students … seemed focused on a conceptualisation of their present self with little ability to think forward toward a possible future self that would blend the role of performer with the role of teacher and, beyond that, to the multiple possible roles of a musician.

In this vein, “pedagogues seeking to broaden students’ self-concept can encounter confusion and opposition [among their students] when [the students are] faced with a real-world view that is at odds with a more traditional, performance-focused trajectory” (Bennett & Freer, 2012, p. 17). However, Gaunt (2013) goes on to caution that the rapid pace of change within the music profession means that increasingly musicians find themselves working in interdisciplinary and collaborative ways, necessitating a response in tertiary education curricula. Furthermore, higher music education is positioned within tertiary education more generally, where “effective teaching is now being seen in terms of an emergent collaborative and improvisational process between teachers and students” (Gaunt, 2013, p. 51).

 ierarchical Orientations to Learning H and Teaching Much has been written about the persistence of the hierarchical master-­ apprentice model of teaching and learning within higher music education, where the development of artistry and craftsmanship within music performance remains a cornerstone of many programmes (e.g. Burwell et al., 2019; Carey et al., 2018; Creech & Gaunt, 2012). Although the practice of ‘apprenticeship’ has been found to vary across institutions, generally this model is characterised by strong hierarchical authority vested in the teacher, who functions as a gatekeeper to knowledge. Pedagogical practice focuses primarily around practical learning, achieved via a cycle of diagnosis and modelling (by the teacher), followed by repetition, imitation, and trial and error (by the student) in response. In some instances, however, the master-apprentice relationship has been found to extend well beyond musical matters, exerting a far-reaching influence with regard to the student’s personality, musical preferences,

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attitudes and beliefs about what it means to be a musician (Manturzewska, 1990). As noted earlier in this chapter, we have witnessed shifting discourses related to the roles and responsibilities of higher music education (e.g. Willingham & Carruthers, 2018); this has naturally raised many critical questions concerned with the pedagogies that can support agency, critical thinking and creativity, and the limitations in this respect associated with the hierarchical apprenticeship model (e.g. Gaunt & Westerlund, 2013). The isolated nature of one-to-one master-apprenticeship may encourage passive learning and a sense of anonymity, both of which may function as impediments to deep engagement with learning and the formulation of well-elaborated possible musical selves (Burwell et  al., 2019). Furthermore, for teachers the sense of invisibility, together with minimal connection or accountability within the institution, may constrain the formulation of a professional identity that encompasses the teacher role. In this sense, it may be that the master-apprentice paradigm, for both students and their teachers, reinforces narrowly defined possible selves framed as performer, “to the exclusion of anything else” (Bennett & Freer, 2012, p. 17). Nonetheless, the practice of one-to-one master-­ apprenticeship continues to be held as the benchmark of prestige and proxy for a high standard of provision, even in some institutions that have their focus on musical genres other than Western classical (Burwell et al., 2019). Of course, as Burwell et al. (2019 p. 379) rightly highlight, “It would be simplistic to argue that there is a single tradition of studio pedagogy, and in recent generations the extension of studio instruction to a wider range of musical genres presumably has broadened the range of approaches taken to teaching and learning”. Indeed, Carey et al. (2018) have highlighted pedagogies that challenge traditional hierarchical paradigms and expand the capacity of learners to interact with the complex demands and responsibilities of twenty-first-century music careers. In the following sections of this chapter, we turn to cooperative and autonomous orientations to learning and teaching, and consider how these approaches can be located within the shifting landscape of tertiary music education.

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 ooperative Orientations to Learning C and Teaching Increasingly, the focus in tertiary music education has turned towards the possibilities offered by cooperative orientations to learning, premised upon a learner-centred framework where the teacher role is as a guide or facilitator. Cooperative approaches, rooted in social constructivist theory (Shotter, 1989), are founded upon the idea that learning emerges within a social context and is mediated by the use of cultural tools. Scaffolding is a central concept, whereby learners are facilitated and guided by more knowledgeable others in a process of expanding their knowledge and skills and constructing new understandings. Translated in to the context of tertiary music education, one way that cooperative learning has been interpreted and articulated has been within a mentoring framework (Gaunt et al., 2012). In contrast with the more directive style of apprenticeship concerned with developing specific skills, learning and teaching within a mentoring paradigm is holistic, concerned with helping students to formulate short- and long-term goals and “to map out a future vision that is sustainable and rooted in practice-based evidence and experience” (Gaunt et al., 2012, p. 30). Open questioning is used to promote critical reflection on the interplay between personal, professional, and artistic matters, and mentors seek to empower students to “take responsibility for their own learning and to seek out direct evidence from their practice and experience” (Gaunt et al., p. 30). Understood in relation to the framework of manifold experiential learning, as proposed by Heron (1999, 2009), mentoring can be seen as an approach whereby students are guided by ‘cooperative’ teachers in sense-making that encompasses creative ‘imaginal’ problem-solving and the construction of conceptual understandings, alongside the development of practical ‘know-how’. Mentoring, as illustrated in Box 5.2, thus responds to the challenge set out by Camlin and Zeserson (2018, p. 712), who stipulate that “structuring teaching-learning situations so that individuals can occupy the position of agency … is no simple task. It requires more than just teaching skills, it is a holistic endeavour involving learners’ self-­ actualisation as people”.

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Box 5.2 A Cooperative Approach in Conservatoire Education Gaunt et al. (2012, p. 25) explored Conservatoire students’ perceptions of how they were supported in realising their aspirations as professional musicians and making the transition to professional life. Data were analysed using a conceptual framework of mentoring. Students made few references to facets of mentoring, and the teaching interactions they described tended towards modes of coaching, advising and instructing. However, some teachers were described in terms reminiscent of a ‘cooperative orientation’ (Heron, 1999); here, students recognised the implications for taking ownership of their own learning process. I think the thing that has inspired me most about my teacher has just been, he won’t ever tell me … for instance he won’t tell me I am sharp or flat. He’ll say, what do you think of the intonation? And it just trains your mind a little bit more to assess your own playing and your approach, because at the end of the day if you’re working, you’re not going to have that person to say, you’re sharp or flat or you’re playing it a little bit wrong. To be your own boss has been the main thing that he’s taught me, I think. (Year 1 brass) (p. 36) An imperative for incorporating facets of mentoring in to conservatoire education was supported by the finding that few participants in this study could articulate their musical possible selves, beyond the idea of becoming ‘better’ on their instruments. Almost none of the students had reflected upon the interconnections between their personal identity, motivation and professional journey. I don’t really tend to think about where I am against where I might be in maybe five years time. Maybe I’m just not organised to think enough in that sort of planning detail. I’ve always thought that you do music and it’s just something that you do better. You get the right tuition and then it just carries on getting better. You get the right ideas and then you get success. (Year 3 brass) (p. 37)

Likewise, cooperative learning is aligned with the idea of ‘transformative pedagogies’ (Carey & Grant, 2014; Carey et al., 2018) within formal higher education one-to-one teaching and learning. As Carey and Grant (2014) explain, transformative pedagogies are flexible, responsive to individual needs of students and expansive in the sense that notions of excellence are open to debate and innovation. Content is clearly contextualised and scaffolded, with the focus on supporting students in making personal

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sense of their learning, in relation to their wider knowledge, goals and aspirations. Ultimately, the role of the teacher is to guide students in using imagination, exploration and critical reflection to construct and re-construct musical knowledge and musical self-stories. Carey and Grant (2016, p. 55) argue in favour of the strong “potential of transformative pedagogical approaches to … support students’ personal and professional growth, and to help them develop strong career and life skills”.

 utonomous Orientations to Learning A and Teaching Previous sections of this chapter have touched upon the changing nature of the music profession. The notion of a ‘portfolio career’ is well established, and it is recognised that professional life requires the capacity to situate and apply (in meaningful ways) high levels of musical expertise within diverse communities, navigating a range of artistic challenges. Alongside this, we have seen corresponding shifts within tertiary music education. For example, boundaries between further education, universities and conservatoires have weakened, and within each of those contexts, one can now find the co-existence of multiple musical genres (e.g. popular music, jazz, world music, Western classical music), as well as intersecting professional domains (e.g. community music, music therapy, music & health, music performance, musicology, composition, etc.). Within this landscape of tertiary music education, there is a growing understanding of the relevance of interdisciplinarity, reflective practice, authentic learning experiences and collaborative and creative activities with a focus on problem-solving. In particular, the concept of learner agency has gained considerable momentum (Gaunt & Westerlund, 2013); and there has been an increasing focus on critical pedagogies that can support learners as autonomous critical thinkers, where content knowledge is positioned “in the service of agency-driven curricula” (Schmidt, 2005, 2014, p.  32). Carruthers (2018) defines agency as the catalyst that links identity and curriculum. From this perspective, agency may be cultivated through curricula that nurture self-determination and empowerment through a reflective cycle

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comprising experiential, conceptual, imaginal and practical learning. Accordingly, agency may be “involved in improvisational creative negotiation of one’s unique identity and finding of productive lines of development … expertise expressly develops and grows through overcoming obstacles and challenges, a process during which the participants’ epistemic horizons gradually transform” (Hakkarainen, 2013, p. 23). This process has been conceptualised as “paradigm reflection, involving fundamental rethinking about content and approach to a field” (Gaunt, 2013, p. 50). Paradigm reflection may be interpreted as a creative response within a complex professional landscape, underpinning the capacity to craft and re-craft our narratives of musical possible selves. Hakkarainen (2013, p. 23) draws our attention to the central role of critical questioning and problematising: Knowledge creation involves some sort of creative troublemaking without which it would be hard to go beyond prevailing practices and break the boundaries of established ways of doing things … rather than assimilating knowledge and experience of older generations passively, representatives of younger generations bring their own objects, interpretations and frameworks to a creative dialogue.

Through paradigm reflection, learners may cultivate critical artistry (Burnard et  al., 2017), whereby new conceptual insights and practical skills are developed within a process framed by experiential learning. Imaginative vision, risk-taking and an openness to embracing new challenges are implicated in this process of developing artistic identity. In brief, the ideas around agency, critical pedagogy, critical artistry and paradigm reflection require an orientation to learning and teaching that is characterised by a reflective experiential learning cycle, self and peer assessment practices, support for self-regulation and learner autonomy. These autonomous pedagogical approaches serve to equip learners with the skills and qualities that underpin the capacity to control, respond and effect change in their professional narratives and journeys (Carruthers, 2018). The principles inherent within an autonomous orientation to learning and teaching have been articulated within tertiary music education in the approach known as “students as partners” (Coutts, 2018a, p. 122). Here, emphasis is placed on the idea of students and teachers working

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collaboratively in a partnership that recognises the value of the educator’s pedagogical and content knowledge alongside the learner’s prior experience and skills, expectations and goals. Applied in practice, Coutts (2018a) notes that ‘students as partners’ required activities that supported curiosity and critical reflection on personal musical identities and values, as well as the communication of value and purpose. These objectives were achieved through inviting students to challenge, question and explore new ideas. Thus, the teacher role may be conceptualised as fellow-learner and facilitator, for example, scaffolding an emotional zone of proximal development (Hakkarainen, 2013) within which learners problem-solve (with permission to fail and to learn through trial and error), explore and expand the boundaries of competence and identity. Autonomous orientations to learning and teaching have been associated with popular music, where it is normal for learners to engage with informal learning by ear, learning in groups and learning from peers, in what Green (2008, p. 10) describes as “haphazard, idiosyncratic and holistic ways”. In this vein, autonomous learning may necessitate space for a “state of chaos within classroom … allowing creative practice with the process of failing often” (Schmidt, 2014, p. 32). Within higher popular music education, Box 5.3 demonstrates how the idea of students as partners may to some extent reconcile formal institutional demands for skills and knowledge with an ideology of autonomy and authenticity in relation to expression as well as ‘real-world’ experience (Parkinson & Smith, 2015). Box 5.3  An Autonomous Orientation to Curriculum within a Popular Music Programme An example of a scaffolded yet self-directed pedagogy is provided by Lebler (2008), who describes a popular music pedagogy within higher education, founded upon the collaborative, self-directed, self-assessed orientations to learning that characterise the prior informal experience of popular music learners who enter tertiary education. The programme places a strong emphasis on collaborative peer learning and assessment through reflexive journals and interdisciplinary creative portfolios. Crucially, students are integrally and equally involved in the assessment process, alongside staff whose role is as mentor or critical friend. Therefore, “this moves responsibility for learning to the student as a self-monitoring, strategic decision-­ maker about the nature and quality of the learning” (Lebler, 2008, p. 207).

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An autonomous orientation to learning is furthermore strongly implicated within the framework for community music in higher education, proposed by Willingham and Carruthers (2018). From this perspective, curricula focus on critical thinking and personal musicianship (embracing leadership, creative and improvisational processes, analytical listening and discernment), alongside qualities of empathy, respect and mindfulness. The framework also promotes an awareness of the role of music in positive health and community development; a commitment to lifelong learning and inclusivity; and a recognition of the intersections between artistic endeavours and societal responsibilities. These objectives may be achieved, according to Willingham and Carruthers (2018, p.  603), through a culture of enquiry embedded within a negotiated curriculum that allows the scope for “a variety of informal and nonformal practices [that] provide learners with opportunities to explore various facets of musical development within a limitless range of modes and practices”. Within a negotiated curriculum, learning may be framed with multiple orientations, including an autonomous (arguably ‘informal’) approach, without direct teacher intervention and characterised by self or peer assessment practices. Notwithstanding our examples which highlight the ways in which traditions of learning within different musical genres may differ, we do not intend to suggest that orientations to learning and teaching fall along musical genre lines. Rather, we intend for our illustrative examples to underline the point that within the context of twenty-first-century tertiary music education, where it is now usual for the diverse cultures of popular music, traditional folk music, jazz, community music and Western classical music co-exist, there is a remarkable opportunity for interdisciplinary learning and sharing of practices. In this way, to return to Willingham and Carruthers’ (2018, p. 601) metaphor, learners may realise their enormous potential as “culture-builders” and “culture-­ brokers”. As Hakkarainen (2013, p. 23) claims, “prevailing cultural models do not determine the participants’ activities”, notwithstanding the significant leverage those models may have with regard to narratives of possible selves that are infused with anticipations and constructions of future activity.

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 he Implications of Further and Higher Music T Education for Musical Possible Selves Across the Life-Course Musical Possible Selves in Lifelong Music Careers For those who envisage a lifelong career in music, there are clear implications relating to their experience in tertiary music education. There is widespread agreement that twenty-first-century professional music careers are unpredictable and diverse (e.g. Bennett & Freer, 2012; Bennett, 2014; Canham, 2016). Accordingly, musicians need to be adaptable and entrepreneurial, with the capacity to traverse interdisciplinary boundaries. However, many have questioned the extent to which synergies exist between formal tertiary music education and the reality of professional life (e.g. Bennett, 2014; Canham, 2016. Willingham & Carruthers, 2018). Canham (2016) notes a struggle with professional musical identity among music students and graduates, and a tendency towards narrow views of career roles. This, she suggests, may be related to limited opportunity within tertiary education to imagine and elaborate an independent artistic self. Canham (2016) argues in favour of a curriculum that celebrates ‘mavericks’—artists who find traditional roles, problems and solutions constraining—and supports them with the permission to experiment with and explore new possible selves. Therefore, one key message in this chapter is that curricula, necessarily framed by particular orientations to learning and teaching, have direct implications for the narratives of professional musical selves that students construct and pursue. For tertiary music students, narratives of adaptability, curiosity, creativity and self-determination in turn have implications for their “capacity for lifelong learning, their emotional intelligence, preparedness, hope, resilience and employability” (Canham, 2016, p. 409). A second key message is that learning within the formal context of tertiary music education may encompass a rich interplay between the three orientations to learning discussed above and in Chap. 1. Decisions and actions relating to planning content, structuring learning activities or

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making meaningful connections may be taken within a hierarchical, cooperative or autonomous orientation to learning and teaching. These curricular decisions concerned with the ‘what’, ‘how’ and ‘why’ of learning in turn intersect with the ways in which resistance to learning is confronted, with complex group dynamics and with the processes that underpin an inclusive climate of respect. Therefore, although we have organised the discussion earlier in this chapter in such a way as to distinguish between hierarchical, cooperative and autonomous orientations to learning and teaching, we suggest that curricula that provide learners with the scope to explore multifaceted musical possible selves may necessarily encompass a fluid interplay between person, context, content and the dimensions and orientations to learning and teaching as set out in Chap. 1.

 he Implications of Musical Possible Selves T Among Teacher Educators and Teacher Trainees Within higher music education, music teacher training programmes aim to prepare primary and secondary school teachers who will in turn deliver structured musical experiences that will “inspire and prepare people for a lifetime of music participation” (Bowles & Jensen, 2012, p. 277). Within a traditional closed loop of music education trainee teachers therefore become culture-bearers, shaping the musical possible selves of the children and young people they work with in intentional, strongly bounded ways that do not necessarily promote expansive exploration and elaboration of musical stories of self. Teachout (2012, p.  687) points to the potential for music teacher training institutions to support new music educators as mavericks (Canham, 2016), “searching for and implementing forward-thinking practices that are not widespread currently”, and developing an augmented sense of their roles as music educators. This may involve nurturing a creative and critical mindset with regards the musical possible selves that may emerge at the intersection of person, place and practice (Schmidt, 2014) As Teachout (2012) highlights, dynamic engagement

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with a full range of orientations to learning can equip leaders in music education or music in the community with the tools for superseding current practices and becoming culture-builders and culture-brokers (Willingham & Carruthers, 2018).

Musical Possible Selves in Lifelong Learning Although this chapter has focused primarily on tertiary music learners who are at the start of their professional adult lives, student cohorts may become increasingly diverse. For example, it is likely that within our global demographic climate characterised by ageing communities (Creech et al., 2014), we will see more senior adults entering the realm of tertiary music education. Some will engage with music as a vehicle for personal development, while others will pursue skills, knowledge and qualifications for entrepreneurial opportunities within their communities. Some will engage with programmes in a continuous fashion, while others will dip in and out of structured learning. The diverse cohort labelled as ‘older learners’ may be seen as a strength and a resource for tertiary music education, in that older adults introduce an intergenerational dynamic and furthermore bring a wealth of lifetime experience as well as strong community links in to structured educational environments. Adults also bring their own deeply established narratives of what it means to be a learner; this will necessitate responsive, differentiated and inclusive curricula that limit potential anxieties about unfamiliar orientations to learning and teaching. In turn, through dialogue and peer learning, these facets of an intergenerational learner group may influence the ways in which narratives of musical possible selves are shaped amongst fellow learners.

Concluding Thoughts In this chapter, we have argued in favour of the idea that tertiary music education curricula have a significant bearing on the ways that learners frame, explore and elaborate their musical possible selves. This has far-­ reaching implications for the professional trajectories of those aspiring to

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a career in music, but also has wider implications for lifelong learning and for the communities that are served by formal tertiary institutions. We have proposed that a rich panoply of orientations to learning and teaching may be found within tertiary music education, and that an opportunity exists to maximise the potential offered by each of those orientations to deepen our narratives of musical possible selves. In particular, though, we have emphasised the overarching need for curricula that prioritise ‘learners as partners’, promoting creativity and critical thinking within authentic, collaborative and interdisciplinary experiential learning.

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Creech, A., & Gaunt, H. (2012). The changing face of individual instrumental tuition: Value, purpose and potential. In G. McPherson & G. Welch (Eds.), Oxford handbook of music education (pp. 694–711). Oxford University Press. Creech, A., Hallam, S., Varvarigou, M., & McQueen, H. (2014). Active ageing with music: Supporting wellbeing in the third and fourth ages. IOE Press. Cross, S., & Markus, H. (1991). Possible selves across the life span. Human Development, 34, 230–255. Daloz, L.  A., & Parks, S.  D. (2003). Mentoring big questions and worthy dreams for young adults. Adult Learning, 14(1), 20–22. Gaunt, H. (2013). Promoting professional and paradigm reflection amongst conservatoire teachers in an international community. In H.  Gaunt & H.  Westerlund (Eds.), Collaborative learning in higher education (pp. 50–61). Ashgate. Gaunt, H., Creech, A., Long, M., & Hallam, S. (2012). Supporting conservatoire students towards professional integration: One-to-one tuition and the potential of mentoring. Music Education Research, 14(1), 25–43. https://doi. org/10.1080/14613808.2012.657166 Gaunt, H., & Westerlund, H. (2013). Collaborative learning in higher music education. Ashgate. Green, L. (2008). Music, informal learning and the school: A new classroom pedagogy. Ashgate. Hakkarainen, K. (2013). Mapping the research ground: Expertise, collective creativity and shared knowledge practices. In H.  Gaunt & H.  Westerlund (Eds.), Collaborative learning in higher music education (pp. 13–26). Ashgate. Heron, J. (1999). The complete facilitator’s handbook. Kogan Page Ltd. Heron, J. (2009). Life cycles and learning cycles. In K. Illeris (Ed.), Contemporary theories of learning: Learning theorists … In their own words (pp. 129–146). Routledge. Johnsson, M. C., & Hager, P. (2008). Navigating the wilderness of becoming professional. Journal of Workforce Development, 20(7/8), 526–536. Juuti, S., & Littleton, K. (2012). Tracing the transition from study to a contemporary creative working life: The trajectories of professional musicians. Vocations and Learning, 5(1), 5–21. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s12186-011-9062-9 Lapidaki, E. (2016). Uncommon grounds: Preparing students in higher music education for the unpredictable. Philosophy of Music Education Review, 24(1), 65–83. https://doi.org/10.2979/philmusieducrevi.24.1.06

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6 Musical Possible Selves in Extra-­ Curricular Ensembles and Instrumental and Vocal Tuition

In this chapter, we discuss the aims, scope and purpose within a range of non-formal contexts for extra-curricular music learning and participation. As non-formal music learning for adults (Chap. 9) and for children in the Early Years (Chap. 2) are addressed elsewhere, our focus here is on music learning and participation that is positioned outside of formal education curricula, targeting school-aged children and young people. A key message is that non-formal extra-curricular contexts provide learning environments where expansive, holistic and creative learning may be nurtured. Furthermore, we explore the idea that inclusive pedagogical practice may be cultivated within music learning opportunities that are framed by the principles of positive and creative youth development. The processes by which this could be achieved are discussed with reference to Heron’s model of modes and dimensions of facilitation. We consider the implications for musical possible selves across the life-course, highlighting the ways in which lifetime musical possible selves may be shaped within extra-curricular musical activities with a focus on creative youth development.

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 xtra-Curricular Contexts for Music Learning E and Participation: Definition and Purpose As its label suggests, ‘extra-curricular’ music learning and participation is in some contexts positioned as an ‘add-on’ to formal music education curricula (Leung, 2003). Encompassing ‘co-curricular’ and ‘out-of-­ school’ opportunities, this domain of music education may also be conceptualised as ‘complementary’, or alternatively as ‘other’, in relation to formal curricula. In sum, extra-curricular music learning and participation occupies “an increasingly contested middle ground between classroom teaching and the informal or self-directed learning” (Pitts, 2007, p. 63). One familiar and well-established sector of extra-curricular music learning encompasses activities that take place outside of the formal curriculum but within the formal school environment (Leung, 2003). In many instances, school music teachers play a dual role, responsible for the formal curriculum but concurrently running an extra-curricular programme that may encompass a range of music clubs or ensembles (Andrews, 2013). In a variation of this approach, schools may establish partnerships with outside providers of music education. For example, the tradition of English Local Authority music service provision has been organised around instrumental tuition offered by visiting teachers on school premises. Area music ensembles (taking place in one school, but serving young people from several schools in one local area) are typically led by musicians employed by the music service, and offered after school hours, at weekends and during holidays (Hallam, Creech, Rogers, & Papageorgi, 2007). This idea of partnership working has been further extended in England, wherein 2012 Music Hubs were established. Music Hubs function as an ‘umbrella’ structure, within which schools, music services, community groups, arts organisations and voluntary groups work together in a complementary fashion, to meet the specific music education priorities and needs of local communities. This structure responds to the objectives as set out in the UK National Plan for Music Education:

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Schools cannot be expected to do all that is required of music education alone: a music infrastructure that transcends schools is necessary. Hubs will augment and support music teaching in schools so that more children experience a combination of classroom teaching, instrumental and vocal tuition and input from professional musicians. Hubs will be able to deliver an offer to children that reach beyond school boundaries and draws in the expertise of a range of education and arts partners, such as local orchestras, ensembles, charities and other music groups. (DfE & DCMS, 2011 p. 10, cited in Fautley & Whittaker, p. 4)

In a similar partnership model, the Australian Children’s Music Foundation (ACMF) works in collaboration with schools to provide musical instruments and deliver music programmes, focusing in particular on disadvantaged children or under-served communities. For example, Barrett and Bond (2015) describe ACMF initiatives that supported music learning and participation in remote and socio-economically disadvantaged communities. An alternative model of extra-curricular music learning and participation is founded upon the idea of a community music school—an institutional structure that exists outside of and independently of formal primary and secondary schools. For example, in Finland, a network of extra-­ curricular music schools offers general and advanced music instruction to children and young people (Kallio & Heimonen, 2019). Similarly, extra-­ curricular music learning in Sweden is located within independent Municipal music schools serving local communities (Heimonen, 2004). Like the ACMF and the English Music Hub models, the Finnish and Swedish networks of music schools are premised upon a principle of social justice, whereby every child is deemed to have the right to access quality music education. Notwithstanding this, critical questions have been raised with regard to the extent to which this has been achieved (Kallio & Heimonen, 2019). Indeed, Heimonen (2004) highlights the complex relationships that exist at the intersection of formal and non-­ formal structures, whereby the aims, objectives and activities of the music schools reflect (to greater or lesser degrees) local political and socio-­ economic issues.

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The Finnish and Swedish networks of music schools resemble the very well-established North American model of the community music school. With their roots in the early settlement houses set up to provide education for immigrant communities, the community music school movement has a long history of a commitment to the principle of ‘music for all’ (Bush & Krikun, 2013). Typically, community music schools are non-profit, nondegree awarding institutions whose mission is to offer open access to quality music education. In the USA, the mission statements of community music schools, under the umbrella of the National Guild for Community Arts Education (2019), have become aligned strongly with the idea of positive and creative youth development, discussed later in this chapter. Finally, ‘out-of-school’ opportunities for music learning and participation include the many community arts initiatives and projects around the world that exist entirely independently of school partnerships or structured community music schools. To this end, Youth Music (2019a) in England invests in music of all genres and types, with the aim of promoting an early love of music, providing diverse role models and introducing young people to potential career paths. Examples include music projects in healthcare settings, open orchestras and vocal ensembles for young people and adults living with disabilities, youth-led song-writing and music production workshops and gigs, as well as opportunities for immigrant and refugee communities to engage with music learning. Although the landscape of extra-curricular music learning and participation is undoubtedly diverse, there are some key characteristics that many of these contexts share. First, they may typically be described as ‘non-formal’, in the sense that activities are student-centred and outside of formal education curricula, and are voluntary yet structured (Mok, 2011). Secondly, in many extra-curricular contexts, there is no formal, compulsory assessment framework, although some may encompass audition entry requirements (as is the case in Portuguese extra-curricular schools offering specialised music education: Costa & Creech, 2019), or may offer formal instrumental, vocal or theory examinations through external examination boards. Many extra-curricular contexts claim to be inclusive, in the sense that they subscribe to the idea, as enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (cited in Heimonen, 2004, p. 20) that all children and young people, regardless of

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challenging circumstances, should have opportunities to “participate freely in cultural life and the arts”. Perhaps the greatest unifying characteristic is a commitment to furthering personal development through musical activities. Certainly, the reported benefits of extra-curricular learning and participation in music focus around perceptions of improved social and emotional competencies (Ilari, Perez, Wood, & Habibi, 2019; Leung, 2003), enriched aesthetic and spiritual life (Leung, 2003), and enhanced confidence, social networks and sense of belonging (Ng, 2017; Pitts, 2007, 2013). Reporting on outcomes for youth involved in four-year programmes facilitated by community music leaders in partnership with schools, Youth Music (2019b) notes enhanced engagement with formal education, positive relationships, creativity and resilience. The potential for extra-curricular music learning and participation to support musical, personal and social development is also noted by Pitts (2007, p. 148), who adds that “for teenagers, particularly, extra-­curricular participation has been shown to have powerful effects on self-­esteem and identity formation … which allow previously marginalized students to feel adequate and successful”.

 xtra-Curricular Music Learning E and Participation: Positive and Creative Youth Development In the previous section of this chapter, we have demonstrated that there is some commonality among extra-curricular music contexts in relation to an ideology that embraces the idea of music learning and participation as a vehicle for nurturing musical, personal and social development. Of course, music educators around the world, whether it be within formal, non-formal or informal contexts, use the collective practice of music-­ making to support youth development within specific communities. This is not necessarily solely the ‘gift’ of extra-curricular music learning and participation. However, in this section we argue that extra-curricular contexts, typically voluntary and free of compulsory assessments and externally imposed learning objectives, may be particularly well placed to focus on the developmental potential of music learning and

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participation, and that this may be understood within the framework of positive and creative youth development. Extra-curricular music learning and participation offers rich potential for positive youth development (PYD), which emphasises “the manifest potentialities rather than the incapacities of young people” (Damon, 2004, p. 15). PYD programmes have been said to foster six core facets of development, including competence, confidence, connection, character, caring and contribution (Barrett & Bond, 2015; Oberle, Ji, Guhn, Schonert-Reichl, & Gadermann, 2019). Accordingly, youth may flourish within extra-curricular music activities that support “positive and sustained adult–youth relationships; skill building activities; and opportunities to use these skills by participating in, and leading, community-based activities” (Lerner, 2005, p.  30). Indeed, PYD outcomes are strongly reminiscent of the reported outcomes associated with extra-curricular music learning and participation, noted earlier in this chapter. For example, PYD has been found to support individual assets such as creativity, leadership, altruism, agency, autonomous action, morality, spirituality and initiative (Damon, 2004; Larson, 2000), as well social competencies such as bonding and prosocial involvement (Bonnell et  al., 2016). In brief, youth engaged in activities that support PYD have been described as “awake, alive, and open to developmental experiences in a way that is less common in other parts of their daily lives” (Larson, 2000, p. 175). In the context of music learning and participation, PYD may be fostered through opportunities that support young people’s experiences of “meaningful roles and responsibilities that will foster their own sense of development, growth, transformation, and excellence” (O’Neill, 2006, p. 471). To achieve this, extra-curricular music learning opportunities often adopt a student-centred and differentiated approach (Tomlinson, 2000) that is flexible, collaborative and respectful (Barrett & Bond, 2015; O’Neill, 2015). In accordance with PYD principles, such programmes engage young people in learning and discovering their musical, personal and social potential, irrespective of personal, socio-economic or cultural factors or prior skills and competencies (see Box 6.1). In brief, rather than an approach that focuses on what young people cannot do or what young people are at risk of doing, within PYD programmes learners are seen as resources; the contribution of music learners is celebrated and built upon through enriching, motivating and personally significant opportunities (Barrett & Bond, 2015).

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Box 6.1  Musical Opportunities Framed by PYD Discovering musical potential within a music studio for emerging adults experiencing homelessness, framed by Positive Youth Development (Kelly, 2018) Teen Living Programs (TLP) provide services to young people experiencing homelessness on the south side of Chicago, IL. Educational, recreational and vocational programming are offered for ‘emerging adults’ aged 18–21. Access to an on-site music studio is open to all. Staff with experience in music performance and production train those interested on how to use the studio equipment, and are available to provide technical support as needed. Staff members explain the ways in which the programme is guided by PYD principles, which align with phases in the development of possible selves. 1. It is strengths based: “they’re the experts in their lives, and they help us understand where they’re coming from and how we can help them.” [Discovering] 2. Young people have a voice in defining and setting their goals and are provided with opportunities to do so: “asking the question of, ‘Well, what do you think this should be like?’ gives voice to the person.” [Imagining] 3. Young people define success in ways that are meaningful to them: “Whatever you need to be successful, based on your action plan, is here. If we don’t have it, we’ll partner, collaborate, link with somebody who does to make sure these young people get what they need to be successful. Success is defined by them.” [Thinking, Reflecting] 4. Staff work with young people to challenge and expand their definitions of success: “I see part of PYD as giving them a different definition of success … saying the world is an opportunity for you.” [Growing] 5. Young people are provided with opportunities to take responsibility for their lives and accountability for their actions and decisions: “If a youth knows that ‘This is the expectation, I’m gonna hold you accountable, this has nothing to do with how I feel about you or how amazing I think you are. This is about holding the expectation for you’, then I think it starts to create that safety that we look to create for them… They can challenge us, and it’s still the same relationship. But if we don’t have accountability … it creates an unsafe, unstable, unpredictable environment for them.” [Growing, Performing] Kelly (2018, p.  338) notes that a crucial factor in the impact the music studio has in young people’s lives is the scope for participant-led development of the studio. (continued)

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Box 6.1  (continued) The young people’s voices and interests have continually shaped the development of the studio (e.g., the purchasing of electronic and beat-­ oriented hardware and software as opposed to instruments for the second and third iterations of the studio) and its ongoing maintenance (e.g., participating in fund-raising efforts to rebuild the studio, accountability and security measures to keep the studio equipment safe). In other words, the success of the programme has depended to a significant extent on the young people themselves and their contributions in shaping the music learning environment.

Creativity may be the mediating factor that accounts for the power of extra-curricular musical activities in relation to youth development (Stevenson, 2014). In this vein, the term ‘creative youth development’ has gained much traction in recent years, capturing the close relationship between PYD and creative experiences in music. For example, in the USA, the National Guild for Community Arts Education (2019) declares its mission to be to ensure that “all people have opportunities to develop their creative potential”.

F acilitating Learning and Creative Youth Development in Extra-Curricular Activities Extra-curricular music learning and participation, framed by creative youth development principles, has six key characteristics (Holmgren, 2019). The first three are concerned with the planning, structuring and meaning dimensions of learning (Heron, 1999). In this vein, activities are (1) planned in an assets-based manner, celebrating and building on the strengths and prior experience of learners, (2) structured with learners at the centre and (3) have a strong focus on personal growth and development achieved through collaborative and self-directed music-making. Expressed in terms that are strongly reminiscent of cooperative and autonomous orientations to learning (see Chap. 1), young people are guided, yet at the same time encouraged to develop agency and a deep

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sense of personal investment in their own learning. Youth are regarded as partners rather than problems. Three further facets of extra-curricular music contexts have been identified: (4) safe and healthy spaces where young people feel protected, nurtured and secure, (5) positive interpersonal dynamics and relationships and (6) a holistic approach that accounts for the wider context within which learning takes place. These characteristics link with the confronting, feeling and valuing dimensions of learning proposed by Heron (1999), which focus on the ways in which an inclusive ethos, mutual respect and positive relationships can nurture agency, engagement and development. In the following example (Box 6.2, drawn from Youth Music, 2019a), we are introduced to Kallum, a rapper from Cambridge who has been participating in extra-curricular music projects for several years. With the support of these projects, he has become the architect of his own musical identity, developing his lyrical style and technical skills. In addition, he has recently taken on additional responsibilities as a music leader, mentoring younger participants. It is evident that these activities have focused on growth and learning, underpinning his emergent musical possible selves. Within a learner-centred approach, Kallum has had opportunities to make “his own music”, building on his personal preferences within a framework where he was free to ‘rebel’ against norms, and learning through experiential exploration. The case study evidences an assets-­ based approach, whereby participants like Kallum take leadership roles, sharing the skills they have acquired and functioning as role models for newcomers. Solid friendships have been formed, and these underpin collaborative and creative musical practices. The learning environment is perceived as a second home and has functioned as an alternative to ‘drinking on the high street’—a safe space within which Kallum has engaged in creative exploration of his musical possible self. At the start of this chapter, we set out to define extra-curricular contexts for music learning and participation, arriving at the conclusion that this is a diverse landscape, where the boundaries between formal, non-­formal and informal practices are blurred. We have also highlighted the potential for creative youth development (encompassing the conceptualisation and realisation of musical possible selves) to serve as a useful framework for

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Box 6.2  Creative Youth Development in Extra-Curricular Music Learning Kallum’s story (Youth Music, 2019a) Kallum was in his early teens when he first thought about making his own music. There were certain groups, where I’m from, that did music that I liked. They weren’t famous, but they were famous to the community, kind of thing. … That’s what made me want to do music. Do you know when you look up to the older lot? It was just one of those things. [Discovering] Kallum has noticed many changes in his writing style since he first started the extra-curricular projects. It was more like a rebellious thing at first, you just talk about nonsense really, but it evolved—obviously you get older and you mature with the music. … If I wasn’t coming [here] when I was 13, 14, I would have been with my friends drinking on the high street and stuff like that. [Imagining] Today, Kallum is inspired by the lyrical skills of the younger artists he’s helping to mentor. I’d hear [other participants] come in, and I’m like ‘did he actually just say that?’—and that makes me want to just go home and start writing, and then I’ll come in tomorrow and try and beat that, even though he doesn’t know that! [Growing] Kallum has made some solid friendships in the projects and enjoys having the chance to collaborate with others. When you make tunes, you’ve got to have vibes, so I prefer people around me when music’s getting made. [Reflecting] He is also excited about what the future has in store for all the young artists from the project. At least one of us is going to make it, that’s what I feel like anyway…. I’m not even working today, but I come in every Tuesday and help out, I don’t know, I just feel like—it’s like my second house! [Growing] https://www.youthmusic.org.uk/kallum

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understanding the processes by which music learning and participation can support personal development. The pedagogy that underpins creative youth development in extra-curricular music learning, we have argued, aligns broadly with cooperative or autonomous orientations to learning and teaching (Heron, 1999), where the emphasis is on promoting self-directed, collaborative and experiential learning. However, any one of the six characteristics of creative youth development (i.e. assets-based, learner-centred, focused on growth, a safe space, positive relationships and awareness of the wider context) may be achieved through a continuum of intersecting pedagogical approaches. Recall that (as set out in Chap. 1) each of Heron’s dimensions of learning (planning, structuring and giving meaning to learning, as well as confronting resistance, valuing learners and promoting respectful feelings) may be expressed in a hierarchical, cooperative or autonomous fashion. For example, hierarchical decisions relating to planning may coexist with cooperative approaches to structuring and giving meaning to activities. Furthermore, within any one dimension of learning, there may be a fluid interplay between hierarchical, cooperative and autonomous activities; for example, activities may be structured so as to encompass modelling, imitation, as well as exploration and collaboration. Therefore, within one extra-curricular context, one may find a rich and fluid multiplicity of pedagogical approaches, each one concerned with specific dimensions of learning and intended to achieve one or other of the characteristics of creative youth development. This multifaceted model frames an understanding of extra-curricular music learning contexts as spaces that can be highly differentiated and responsive to learner needs. It also raises some critical questions in relation to how authority is articulated and what happens when the intentions of facilitators and participant learners clash, as illustrated in Box 6.3. As the example in Box 6.3 demonstrates, orientations to teaching and learning within extra-curricular contexts can encompass the full continuum of orientations to learning and teaching. It is worth highlighting, at this juncture, that the complexity of the extracurricular landscape is further muddied by the phenomenon of the ‘portfolio career’ (Bennett, 2012), whereby musicians create multifaceted careers working across a number of differing contexts and fulfilling multiple roles. Equally, school music teachers often have responsibility for the formal music curriculum as well as a whole host of extra-curricular activities (Andrews, 2013). Accordingly, it is not unusual for teachers or facilitators of

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Box 6.3  Confronting Resistance to Unfamiliar Ways of Learning in an Extra-Curricular Context Costa and Creech (2019) describe an ensemble programme for Portuguese youth, offered within the context of an extra-curricular specialised music school. The aim was to explore alternative approaches to the hierarchical orchestral structure that students were accustomed to, and to promote students’ musical creativity and exploration through improvisation and composition activities. Having previously participated together in orchestra, a hierarchical teacher-student dynamic had been established, particularly with regard to planning and structuring activities. In the new programme, the instrumental students experienced ways of working that differed significantly from the orchestra classes. As noted in the teacher’s reflective journal, the intention was: “to reduce the directive teacher intervention in the classes, transferring the responsibility to the students”. For example, the young people were encouraged to improvise and to create music without written notation; the teacher acted as a facilitator; and a relaxed, informal environment was promoted. An unexpected yet critical outcome was the young people’s resistance to learning in unfamiliar ways. For example, the teacher’s decision to be non-­ directive created long moments of inactivity without any obvious musical work. During these moments the teacher noted that he was almost panicking and became frustrated when he resorted to be the traditional teacher telling the students what to do. In this vein, a rather paradoxical dilemma was revealed. In seeking to create a safe space where young people could exercise agency and creativity in musical exploration and risk-taking, the teacher had taken a unilateral decision. He had, in effect, exercised his tutelary authority in his intention (articulated as the restructured programme) to bestow ‘agency’ upon the students. Yet, the key emergent message was that it was only the students themselves who could take the decision to take ownership of their learning. Effectively, a transformation in the way that young people engaged with their learning required scaffolding and a disciplined yet also improvisational pedagogical approach, responding flexibly as the activities and group dynamic developed.

extra-curricular music learning to work across multiple contexts and roles, transplanting pedagogical principles and practices from formal contexts to the non-formal extra-curricular domain, and vice versa (Youth Music, 2019b). One-to-one instrumental and vocal teaching and learning is a case in point. The predominance of the traditional master-apprentice approach in this domain has been discussed extensively (e.g. Carey, Coutts, Grant, Harrison, & Dwyer, 2018; Creech, in press; Creech & Gaunt, 2012). It

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seems that this hierarchical model has been nearly impervious to context (Creech & Long, 2012). Whether it is situated within formal institutional contexts, non-formal extra-curricular contexts or within online learning environments (see Chap. 11), a high level of teacher control and a significant amount of student dependence on imitation and teacher diagnosis has been evident (Creech, in press). Nevertheless, a key affordance of extra-curricular music learning contexts is the scope that exists for pedagogical innovation and exploration, without the constraints of a formal curriculum and assessment framework. In this vein, there is potential for one-to-one teachers to exploit the full continuum of orientations to teaching and learning, with a view to promoting transformative musical learning (Carey et al., 2018) alongside creative and personal development. For example, students who attended flagship National Youth Music Ensembles in the UK (extra-curricular ensembles, with entry by audition) described the ways that teachers and students worked together, in the context of one-to-one lessons provided during residential courses (Box 6.4). Box 6.4 One-to-One Instrumental Lessons in an Extra-Curricular Residential Music Course Tutors and students talking about feedback within one-to-one lessons, within National Youth Music Ensemble courses (Creech & Long, 2012) What I think is quite good is how honest and straight to the point the teachers are. They’re not … well, quite a few teachers I’ve had in the past have been quite complementary and almost in a way a little bit patronizing. But here they just treat you…like you’re an adult. … What was quite good was that we got a 15-minute tutorial from the tutors, giving us advice on our future plans with jazz … I found that useful … really good advice about quite important decisions in your life. (student) The feedback they get is from the tutors … Often, it’s not in a very obvious way, in that we won’t always be saying, you know, ‘that’s great’, or ‘what you need to do is such and such’. A tutor might see what needs to be done, but they want them to work out how to do it, so they’ll be leading them more with questions sometimes, rather than always giving them … the youngsters get a bit cynical about that, if you’re constantly telling them they’re great, that’s not enough for them. They want to improve, so we find that those questions are often the best way. … so we find the easiest way for feedback is drawing it out question-­wise. (Programme director)

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 he Implications of Extra-Curricular Activities T for Musical Possible Selves Across the Life-course Music learning within extra-curricular contexts, particularly those that emphasise creative youth development, can function as a bridge between “hope and how” (Holmgren, 2019, p. 172). Accordingly, there may be direct and significant implications for lifelong musical possible selves emerging within extra-curricular opportunities where music learning and participation functions as a context for the elaboration of personal, social and creative competencies. As Pitts (2007) notes, extra-curricular music-­ making can represent a critical event in youth identity development. Citing Woods (1993), Pitts conveys the far-reaching impact that extra-­ curricular events can have: Those who took part in Godsell will always remember it. It will figure among the high peaks of their achievements. In giving people a sight of the ultimate, an indication of possibilities, some hitherto undreamt of, and new views of themselves, it established a platform for even greater endeavours. (Woods, 1993, p. 140)

Similarly, Youth Music (2019b, p. 23) notes that youth who had participated in extra-curricular community-based music projects “had developed new music-related identities. They had started to see themselves as musicians, and had a strong sense of direction for their future.” As noted in Youth Music (2019b), music teachers too developed expansive musical identities, through their partnership work alongside community music leaders. The teachers “were no longer just teachers in school. Their musician identity—often left outside the school gate—was now better integrated into the classroom” (p. 27). Recall that the distinctive characteristics of possible selves are salience (personal value and meaning invested in the possible self ) and elaboration—a rich and detailed understanding of the possible self and the means by which it may be achieved through vicarious experience and authentic learning opportunities, accompanied by critical reflection (see Chap. 1).

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Salience may emerge as a particularly distinctive facet of extra-­curricular music contexts, where participants very often have chosen to participate precisely because of the personal value and meaning they have invested in music. Take for example the National Orchestra for All (NOFA) in England, an inclusive, open entry residential orchestral programme that seeks to attract disadvantaged young people for whom music is a passion (Creech & Tsaklagkanou, 2019). Musical possible selves are nurtured within NOFA, but typically upon entry, individual young musicians have already attached great value to the programme, as it accords strongly with their self-concept and aspirations. In other words, NOFA could be said to offer a framework for building on ‘hope’ by offering detailed experiential learning with regard to the ‘how’ (Holmgren, 2019). Extra-curricular music learning and participation may also be very well-placed to support the elaboration of musical possible selves. For example, authentic ‘real world’ music projects, facilitated by professional Music Leaders, may provide important opportunities for making personal sense of experiential learning, for developing mentor-mentee relationships and for personalised in-depth knowledge of the characteristics, competencies and qualities that are implicated in musical identities. Of course, formal music education can serve this purpose too, but extra-­ curricular contexts provide particular scope for exploration outside of the institutional and curricular constraints of formal education.

Concluding Thoughts In this chapter, we have highlighted that there are multiple contexts and models for extra-curricular music learning and participation. Within this complex and multifaceted territory, which exists somewhere on a continuum between formal music education and informal music in the community, there is great potential for understanding young people’s engagement with music (Pitts, 2007). We have furthermore suggested that extra-curricular music programmes and projects, understood from the perspective of creative youth development, may function as a context where young people can freely explore their possible selves,

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developing personally meaningful narratives around the role that music learning and participation plays in their lives. Indeed, within extra-­ curricular contexts, “the learning that can occur through music and the arts—in all of their forms—can help us find new ways of being …” (Upitis, 2012, p. 692). However, some key critical questions remain. First, although we have used language indicating the affordances that may be found in the ‘freedom’ from formal institutional and curricular constraints, we do not mean to position formal music education as somehow in deficit, as compared with extra-curricular offers. On the contrary, as we argue in Chaps. 3, 4 and 5, formal contexts offer the potential for deeply engaged and self-directed musical learning. However, as Lonie and Dickens (2016, p. 88) note, while formal music education may be “significant in developing certain types of musician within specific forms of music, the opportunities are not always aligned with the musical interests or learning styles of young people across a full range of sites”. We argue, though, that rather than focusing on the ‘otherness’ of extra-­ curricular music learning, it may be more fruitful to consider the complementarity of extra-curricular opportunities in partnership with formal music education, focusing on differentiated, student-centred pedagogies. Secondly, a closely related key issue is concerned with inclusivity and access. Much has been written about access and barriers to formal music education (e.g. see Lonie & Dickens, 2016). However, barriers to extra-­ curricular music learning remain relatively under-researched, notwithstanding some outstanding examples of inclusive practice such as the initiatives spearheaded by Youth Music (2019a, b), the Australian Children’s Music Foundation (2020), alongside a wide network of extracurricular music programmes around the world that aim to reach underserved communities (e.g. Creec, Fairbanks, et al., 2016; Kelly, 2018; also see Chap. 8), subscribing to the principle that every young person has a right to access music education. Barriers can be related to pedagogical principles and practices, such as resistance to unfamiliar ways of learning, or alternatively may be related to limited opportunities for young people to be scaffolded in taking ownership of their musical learning and development. A key message for understanding the enmeshed nature of extra-­ curricular practices and the development of creative, lifelong musical possible selves is that “what makes a place musical for these young

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learners is the extent to which they can access it, claim ownership of it, enact their musical identities, explore other … types of music and be supported by those with a shared interest, within it” (Lonie & Dickens, 2016, p. 99).

References Andrews, K. (2013). Standing ‘On Our Own Two Feet’: A comparison of teacher-directed and group learning in an extra-curricular instrumental group. British Journal of Music Education, 30(1), 125–148. https://doi. org/10.1017/S0265051712000460 Australian Children’s Music Foundation (ACMF). (2020). Retrieved from http://acmf.com.au/ Barrett, M.  S., & Bond, N. (2015). Connecting through music: The contribution of a music programme to fostering positive youth development. Research Studies in Music Education, 37(1), 37–54. https://doi.org/10.117 7/1321103X14560320 Bennett, D. (2012). Life in the real world: How to make music graduates employable. Common Ground Publishing LLC. Bonnell, C., Hinds, K., Dickson, K., Thomas, J., Fletcher, A., Murphy, S., et al. (2016). What is positive youth development and how might it reduce substance use and violence? A systematic review and synthesis of theoretical literature. BMC Public Health, 16(1), 135–148. Bush, J., & Krikun, A. (2013). Community music in North America: Historical foundations. In K.  Veblen, S.  Messenger, M.  Silverman, & D.  J. Elliott (Eds.), Community music today (pp.  13–24). Rowman & Littlefield in Partnership with NAME: National Association for Music Education. Carey, G., Coutts, L., Grant, C., Harrison, S., & Dwyer, R. (2018). Enhancing learning and teaching in the tertiary music studio through reflection and collaboration. Music Education Research, 20(4), 399–411. https://doi.org/1 0.1080/14613808.2017.1409204 Costa, J., & Creech, A. (2019). Teaching and learning in unfamiliar territory. In G.  G. Johansen, K.  M. Holdhus, C.  Larsson, & U.  MacGlone (Eds.), Expanding the space for improvisation pedagogy (pp. 147–163). Taylor & Francis. Creech, A. (in press). Instrumental music teaching: Contemporary research perspectives. In G.  Spruce & N.  Beach (Eds.), Instrumental music teaching: Perspectives and challenges. Trinity College Press.

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Creech, A., & Gaunt, H. (2012). The changing face of individual instrumental tuition: Value, purpose and potential. In G. McPherson & G. Welch (Eds.), Oxford handbook of music education (pp. 694–711). Oxford University Press. Creech, A., & Long, M. (2012). Encouraging talent and potential: Spotlighting initiative. Institute of Education, University of London, for Youth Music. Creech, A., & Tsaklagkanou, L. (2019). A national orchestra for all: An ethos of inclusiveness within music-making for positive youth development. In B.  Kaufman & L.  Scripp (Eds.), Music learning as youth development (pp. 72–94). Routledge. Creech, A., Fairbanks, S., Gonzalez-Moreno, P., Lorenzino, L., Sandoval, E., Waitman, G. (2016). El Sistema and Sistema-Inspired Programmes: A Literature Review of research, evaluation, and critical debates. Sistema Global. http://www.artshealthresources.org.uk/docs/el-sistema-and-sistemainspired-programmes-a-literature-review-of-research-evaluation-and-critical-debates/ Damon, W. (2004). What is positive youth development? The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 591(1), 13–24. DfE & DCMS. (2011). The importance of music—A national plan for music education. London: Department for Education, and Department for Culture, Media, and Sport. Hallam, S., Creech, A., Rogers, L., & Papageorgi, I. (2007). Local authority music services provision (2007) for key stages 1 and 2 (No. Department for Children, Schools and Families Research Report No. DCSF-RR014). Institute of Education, University of London. Heimonen, M. (2004). Music and arts schools—Extra-curricular music education in Sweden: A comparative study. Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education, 3(2), 1–35. Heron, J. (1999). The complete facilitator’s handbook. Kogan Page Ltd. Holmgren, E. (2019). Changing the ecology of music learning: Lessons from creative youth development. In B. Kaufman & L. Scripp (Eds.), Music learning as youth development (pp. 166–184). Routledge. Ilari, B., Perez, P., Wood, A., & Habibi, A. (2019). The role of communitybased music and sports programmes in parental views of children’s social skills and personality. International Journal of Community Music, 12(1), 35–56. https://doi.org/10.1386/ijcm.12.1.35_1 Kallio, A. A., & Heimonen, M. (2019). A toothless tiger? Capabilities for indigenous self-determination in and through Finland’s extracurricular music education system. Music Education Research, 21(2), 150–160.

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Kelly, B.  L. (2018). Positive youth development: Developing, implementing, and sustaining music-based services for emerging adults experiencing homelessness. Emerging Adulthood, 7(5), 331–341. https://doi.org/ 10.1177/2167696818777347 Larson, R. (2000). Toward a psychology of positive youth d ­ evelopment. American Psychologist, 55(1), 170–183. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461380032000085559 Lerner, R. (2005). Promoting positive youth development: Theoretical and empirical bases. White paper prepared for Workshop on the Science of Adolescent Health and Development, National Research Council/Institute of Medicine. Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences. Leung, C. C. (2003). Extra-curricular music activities in Hong Kong secondary schools. Music Education Research, 5(2), 183–197. Lonie, D., & Dickens, L. (2016). Becoming musicians: Situating young people’s experiences of musical learning between formal, informal and non-formal spheres. Cultural Geographies, 23(1), 87–101. https://doi. org/10.1177/1474474015587477 Mok, O. N. A. (2011). Non-formal learning: Clarification of the concept and its application in music learning. Australian Journal of Music Education, 1, 11. National Guild for Community Arts Education. (2019). Creative youth development. Retrieved from https://nationalguild.org/programs/creative-youthdevelopment Ng, C. (2017). Australian primary students’ motivation and learning intentions for extra-curricular music programmes. Music Education Research, 19(3), 276–291. O’Neill, S.  A. (2006). Positive youth musical engagement. In G.  McPherson (Ed.), The child as musician: A handbook of musical development (pp. 461–474). Oxford University Press. O’Neill, S. A. (2015). Transformative music engagement and musical flourishing. In G.  McPherson (Ed.), The child as musician: A handbook of musical development (2nd ed., pp. 606–625). Oxford University Press. Oberle, E., Ji, X.  R., Guhn, M., Schonert-Reichl, K.  A., & Gadermann, A.  M. (2019). Benefits of extracurricular participation in early adolescence: Associations with peer belonging and mental health. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 48(11), 2255–2270. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s10964-019-01110-2 Pitts, S. E. (2007). Anything goes: A case study of extra-curricular musical participation in an English secondary school. Music Education Research, 9(1), 145–165. https://doi.org/10.1080/14613800601127627

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7 Lifelong Musical Possible Selves: Adult Music Learning and Participation

This chapter discusses differences in aims, scope and purpose within a range of adult leisure music-making activities, focusing primarily on non-formal contexts. We synthesise literature from the field of ‘leisure studies’ that is concerned with facilitating learning, highlighting the ways that emergent musical possible selves as well as rediscovered lost possible selves can be nurtured and supported. We also explore the question of whether there are shared characteristics that could be said to be typical of adult learners. The concepts of andragogy and geragogy are critiqued, framing this discussion with our model of manifold musical possible selves. This chapter concludes with a discussion on the life-course implications of specific approaches to learning and teaching in music within adult leisure activities.

Music-Making as Leisure in Non-Formal Contexts Bands, orchestras and choirs have become hubs of adult learning. In these groups, adults gather together, coming from “very different music and education backgrounds, lifestyles, professions and ideologies, who often © The Author(s) 2020 A. Creech et al., Contexts for Music Learning and Participation, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48262-6_7

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after attempts and failures in music, find flexible, more than adequate situations where they can develop their musical and interpretative skills” (Gomez-Ullate & Trujillo, 2016, p. 397). There are many reasons that explain why adults seek musical experiences within bands, orchestras or choirs, or learn musical instruments in small groups or one-to-one instruction. For example, older adults may have free time following retirement from full-time work and family commitments; some adults desire to share musical experiences with other family members such as children or grandchildren; others wish to fulfil the dream of learning to play music or of returning to music after years of non-participation (Clift, 2012; Cooper, 2001; Coutts, 2018b; Creech, Hallam, Varvarigou, & McQueen, 2014; Gomez-Ullate & Trujillo, 2016; Goodrich, 2019; Jutras, 2011; Taylor, 2012; Wristen, 2006). Music learning and participation may satisfy personal needs for self-cultivation, for self-fulfilment and for reframing their identity (Creech et  al., 2014; Dabback & Smith, 2012; Kunaeva, 2019). For adult music learners, the term ‘leisure’ encompasses different ways of participating and differing levels of time investment (Goodrich, 2019). For some, music learning and participation is ‘serious leisure’ (Mantie & Smith, 2017b), referring to the systematic pursuit of an amateur, hobbyist, or volunteer activity sufficiently substantial, interesting, and fulfilling for the participant to find a (leisure) career there requiring and expressing a combination of its special skills, knowledge and experience. (Stebbins, 2017, p. 350)

However, there are many different ways of ‘investing’ and engaging in music-making. For example, whilst some engage in regular and structured practising at home, others do not (Creech et al., 2014). Similarly, some attend rehearsals and treasure opportunities to participate in public performances (Kruse, 2007; Ruck Keene & Green, 2017), whilst others prefer to learn independently (see Chap. 11) or avoid public performance (Kunaeva, 2019; Roulston, 2010). Notwithstanding these differences, music learning and participation among adults has been linked to several positive outcomes. In this vein, McCarthy (2017, p. 24), influenced by Max Kaplan’s ideas, emphasised

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that a framework for music-making and leisure should recognise that the function of music is multi-layered, embracing “the collective and the personal, the therapeutic and the moral, the symbolic and the incidental”. For example, reported benefits include cognitive wellbeing (improved concentration, memory, imagination, alertness, focus and hand-eye coordination) as well as the development of technique, musicianship and musical creativity (Jutras, 2011; Taylor, 2012; Creech et al., 2014). Social benefits too have been reported widely; there is strong evidence to suggest that time for socialising can be an important motivator for adult participants in non-formal music groups (Goodrich, 2019; Weren, Kornienko, Hill, & Yee, 2017). For adult learners, making music alongside other adults or in intergenerational ensembles is an important experience that connects them with others, supports new friendships and provides a sense of belonging and social support in difficult times. Through singing and playing instruments with others, including tutors in one-to-one settings, learners can build relationships that are “personal, meaningful, fulfilling” but also “challenging, frustrating and complex” (Mantie & Smith, 2017a, p.  5). It can be argued, therefore, that music-­making as leisure creates conditions that “advance human happiness and wellbeing” (Mantie & Smith, 2017a, p.  4). What is more, music programmes for adults are increasingly popular for their potential physical benefits, which include improvements to the lungs and cardiovascular system, posture, muscle tone, flexibility, energy, dexterity and coordination (Clift, 2012; Creech et al., 2014; Jutras, 2011; Kunaeva, 2019). Finally, emotional benefits are related to a sense of accomplishment, relaxation, fun, escape from everyday routine, stress relief, and a sense of purpose (Creech et  al., 2014; Jutras, 2011; Kunaeva, 2019). Music-making in non-formal contexts may be attractive to adults for several additional reasons, beyond the cognitive, social, emotional and physical benefits noted above. Firstly, an integrated approach that blends aural and notational approaches with flexible choice in repertoire and instruments can make music learning an inclusive experience. Secondly, non-formal contexts tend to be learner-led (rather than teacher-led) (Veblen, 2017, p. 246), where “discipline, order and technical proficiency” are used to serve “individual musical needs and preferences” (McCarthy, 2017, p.  25). Thirdly, non-formal contexts appear to be attractive

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environments for adult learners, for learning is facilitated by experienced musicians who provide a structured framework within which adults derive personal meaning and fulfilment. These musicians act as role models and motivators for learning. Interactions with these role models as well as other co-learners “serve to reinforce identities” and create the conditions for adult learners to explore and construct alternative or additional possible selves as musicians (Dabback & Smith, 2012, p. 235).

Frameworks for Adult Learning The term andragogy (Knowles, 1970; Lindeman, 1925) was coined to describe the teaching and learning strategies associated with adult learners. The term ‘critical geragogy’ has subsequently emerged, focusing specifically on teaching and learning among older adults and seeking to unsettle assumptions of older learners’ dependence (Formosa, 2012). From a critical geragogy perspective, older adults are facilitated in confronting new challenges in personally meaningful domains, fostering a sense of community and social inclusion. Knowles and colleagues (1984, p.  12) articulated five assumptions about adult learning that they claimed made it different from children’s learning (‘pedagogy’). These were: 1. Self-concept: As a person matures his [sic] self-concept moves from one of being a dependent personality toward one of being a self-­ directed human being. 2. Experience: As a person matures, he [sic] accumulates a growing reservoir of experience that becomes an increasing resource for learning. 3. Readiness to learn: As a person matures his [sic] readiness to learn becomes oriented increasingly to the developmental tasks of his social roles. 4. Orientation to learning: As a person matures his [sic]time perspective changes from one of postponed application of knowledge to immediacy of application, and accordingly his orientation toward learning shifts from one of subject-centeredness to one of problem centredness. 5. Motivation to learn: As a person matures the motivation to learn is internal.

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These underlying assumptions have been critiqued (e.g. Brookfield, 1986). First, as elaborated in previous chapters, and as critical geragogy would suggest, through a manifold experiential learning cycle, even very young children or very old adults can become self-directed learners. Second, children and mature adults (Creech & Hallam, 2015; Lebel, 1978) build on previous experiences as they acquire new knowledge. In the example of collective music-making, this can be achieved through an experiential learning cycle that interweaves affective, imaginal, conceptual and practical learning. A third critique is that “daily life, or some significant aspect of it, is consciously undertaken as a learning process”. In this sense, learning, which has started in the womb (Adachi & Trehub, 2012) and continues across the life-course, serves many purposes. Therefore, learning does not necessarily lean increasingly towards fulfilling social roles, as implied in andragogy’s third assumption. Likewise, adult learners are a heterogeneous group with diverse expectations and orientations to learning. Therefore, as noted above, it should not be implied that all adults engage in music learning and participation with specific goals in mind. Some might want to improve their knowledge and skills in music, others to create friendships, to play with and for family members and/or to experience personal growth and challenge. Finally, some adult learners are highly motivated because they have the time and desire to pursue interests for self-fulfilment and satisfaction (Wristen, 2006). Many adult learners also display a serious work ethic that results from “lifetimes of responsibility” (Dabback & Smith, 2012, p. 232). Nonetheless, children, adults and mature adults might equally need external sources of motivation, such as performing in concerts and opportunities to ‘give back’ to their communities. In sum, we argue that the musical learning of children (pedagogy), adults (andragogy) and older adults (geragogy) may not vary tremendously. As Standifer (1982, p.  48) argued, “As continuing education becomes more widespread in contemporary society, the notion of children as learners, adults as doers, and the elderly as watchers becomes increasingly outdated” (Standifer, 1982, p. 48). However, there are nuanced—and important—differences. For example, selection, optimisation and compensation (Baltes & Carstensen, 2003) are implicated in andragogy, describing considerations that may frame decisions made by adults about what to learn, where to invest time

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and how to find ‘work arounds’ that compensate for particular barriers. The participants in one study (Gembris, 2008) were selective about the repertoire that they practised (selection) and the time that they allocated to instrumental practice (optimisation). Furthermore, they had developed a range of compensatory strategies in coping with the physical and technical demands of making music. Participants in the Music for Life Project (Creech et al., 2014) shared similar narratives on how selection, optimisation and compensation boosted their self-concepts as musicians (Box 7.1). On the other hand, when adults set high expectations for themselves or when they have unrealistic goals (Coutts, 2018b), they may experience anxieties and frustrations that might even lead some to drop out of music participation (Kunaeva, 2019). Kruse (2007) illustrated that high expectations or lack of patience acted as barriers to developing a self-concept as musicians (Box 7.1). In addition, adult learners can be easily frustrated by a “cognitive—motor skill disconnect: the adult brain knows what it wants to accomplish musically, but the fingers are frustratingly slow to respond” (Wristen, 2006, p. 398). Box 7.1 Selection, Optimisation and Compensation in Developing Musical Possible Selves among Adults Enabler: Compensation strategy I came with a very good right hand; with the ability to pluck the string but my left hand for the chords was weak … so I have come back to the intermediate group where I have to practise moving my left hand with the chords, which is what I need the practice on … because I am retired I do a lot of practice. (Creech et al., 2014, p. 70) Barriers: High Expectations and lack of patience Nathan Kruse (NK): Do you consider yourself a musician? MW: Not yet. No… My expectations are very great, and I haven’t fulfilled my expectations, so I don’t consider myself a musician… Because my expectations for other people are very [high], I don’t consider myself a musician … yet! ‘Yet’ is important. I’m thinking of taking lessons, and, you know, someday I’ll probably consider myself a musician. TD: I think that [musical understanding] is basic, I would think even more basic than timing and tone. I can see a chart like Bandology, and I have a hell of a time with cut-time, and so I pretty well lay outta that. I go get a cup of coffee or something if I can manage it. (Kruse, 2007, p. 135)

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 esponsive Leadership of Learning R and Teaching As argued elsewhere in this book, rich and deeply understood musical possible selves emerge when music learning and participation is facilitated by responsive leaders who inspire and motivate; create space and time for incorporating learner experiences and decision-making; and respond to the learners’ individual needs. Adult learners explicitly report that their facilitators are the most significant influence contributing to fostering their enjoyment and learning in and through music (Darrough & Boswell, 1992; Hallam, Creech, McQueen, & Varvarigou, 2011; Wristen, 2006). Adult learners often consider their facilitators to be the “reward of the class” (Wristen, 2006, p. 399). Characteristics of effective facilitation, identified by adult learners, include: being positive and encouraging; providing clear, concise feedback and clarity of instruction (Creech, Hallam, & Varvarigou, 2012). Likewise, unskilled leadership has been emphasised as a factor limiting the success of music programmes for adults. Even within traditionally hierarchical ensembles, responsive leaders can create space and time for integrating the experiences and opinions of the learners on issues connected to pace, content and modes of learning and interaction. Box 7.2 illustrates an overarching hierarchical approach

Box 7.2 The Conductor as Facilitator of Learning (Kruse, 2007, p. 6) The conductor divulges the agenda for the day’s rehearsal [Hierarchical– Planning] and promptly begins by having the band play an assortment of long-tone exercises, scales, and arpeggios from the method book [Hierarchical–Structuring] that graces the players’ music stands. The conductor experiments with various rhythmic patterns, articulations, and dynamic fluctuations within each exercise, attempting to touch on aspects that the group will experience later on in other pieces [Hierarchical–Practical learning]. They are quiet and still, even when the conductor pushes them to improve upon what they are already doing well. “What’s different about this particular exercise?” he asks and then finds responses from the group, redirecting and probing further, when necessary, their replies [Cooperative– (continued)

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Box 7.2  (continued) Conceptual learning]. They continue to work on fundamentals for nearly three-quarters on an hour until such time as the conductor realises he has lost track of time… “Thank you”, one of the players declares. “We really needed the work on those scales [Co-operative–Practical learning]. Can we do more of them after break? Another band member joins in. “Oh, yes”, she says. “I just love doing the basics! They make us sound so much better” [Cooperative–Experiential learning, Reflecting].

that shifts dynamically between hierarchical and cooperative facilitation. The leadership style promotes conceptual, practical and experiential musical learning where adult music learners set musical goals, monitor and update these goals and thus enhance their self-concept as musicians. In the example, the facilitator explored different dimension of learning balancing planning and instruction with opportunities for reflection.

 ooperative Orientations to Learning C and Teaching Kruse (2009, p.  222) reported that older adults in his study on band participation often preferred “teacher-centred, autocratic approaches that were not concerned with maintaining a democratic classroom” (a hierarchical orientation). However, as Laes (2015, p.  60) argues, formal approaches may (and arguably should) nevertheless be “pedagogically engaged”, with responsibility for encouraging, supporting and scaffolding musical growth and agency. Pedagogically engaged teaching values “overall musicianship and a complete musical education that goes beyond the ‘how’ of music playing into the ‘why’ of music” (Jutras, 2011, p. 77). In this vein, pedagogically engaged teachers incorporate cooperative approaches that scaffold deeper musical understandings and strengthen musical self-concept among adult learners. The issue of repertoire selection has been identified as one area where pedagogically engaged music facilitators can enhance enjoyment in music leisure, learning and participation (Coutts, 2018b). Some researchers

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have reported that adults tend to prefer musical material that they consider familiar (Coutts, 2018b; Darrough & Boswell, 1992). Others argue that traditional ensembles are premised upon inflexible and “narrow musical repertoires concentrating on Western classical music” (Laes, 2015, p.  53) that do not ultimately support learner agency. Here, we explore the ways in which cooperative approaches to repertoire selection, intersecting with extensive scaffolding of learning, may influence adult experiences of music learning and participation. Music facilitators are encouraged to select musical material that learners enjoy (Cooper, 2001) and that has meaning for them. Earlier it was argued that adults are a heterogeneous group, so the chosen repertoire should reflect the diversity of musical cultures and backgrounds (McCarthy, 2017). Coutts (2018b, p. 289) explained that prior to her study on repertoire selection for adult piano students in one-to-one contexts, she tended to select repertoire from a broad spectrum of musical styles, which she felt “resulted in a well-rounded music education”. She noticed, however, that her students practised the pieces that they liked and were aurally familiar with and made excuses for not practising less familiar repertoire. She acknowledged nonetheless that striking a balance between student autonomy, which is highly recommended for adult learners, and selecting repertoire that is pedagogically appropriate presented a great challenge and suggested that “support, guidance and discussion” (p. 291) are key for encouraging enjoyable learning. In accordance with the idea of responsive leadership and pedagogical engagement, Coutts also underscored that the music repertoire selected should align with benefits that students seek, for if adult learners experience success in their musical learning endeavours their motivation will be sustained. Apart from the selection of repertoire, pedagogically engaged, cooperative facilitation includes opportunities for contribution by all members of a group (valuing dimension). In addition, music facilitators could take responsibility for guiding the learners in setting learning goals and then collaboratively assess musical outcomes. Supportive and positive feedback can take the form of discussions about musical development and musical outcomes. These approaches can support the process of conceptualising and articulating coherent musical possible selves that account for past, present and future musical self-beliefs, experience and goals.

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 utonomous Orientations to Learning A and Teaching Autonomous orientations put learners at the centre of the learning process. Accordingly, learners assume at least some responsibility for the various dimensions of a learning-teaching encounter, including issues relating to how and what to learn (i.e. planning, structuring and meaning) and those relating to inclusivity and group dynamics (confronting, feeling, valuing). Facilitators and learners may together discover new material and new ways of doing things; the learner could also become the leader during collective exploration. Characteristics of an autonomous orientation may therefore include peer learning; learning through immersion in an authentic context; collaborative exchange of knowledge and self-­ directed skill building. For example, Waldron and Veblen (2009) explored the learning experiences of adult amateur musicians who performed Irish traditional music. For these musicians, learning took place during gatherings of like-minded musicians (the presence of the social element of music-making was again rather strong), in summer schools or traditional music weekends. Session learning may simulate a manifold experiential learning cycle in many respects: the learners experience familiar and unfamiliar repertoire by ear, through attentive listening and focused observation of other performers playing together (experiential learning). The more they interact musically and socially with fellow musicians, the more they make sense of the music performed—its structure, tunes and rules (imaginal learning). By being members of a learning community of like-­ minded people and by discovering material together in the session in a collaborative and reciprocal way, the adult learners build their knowledge of the genre and its terminology (conceptual learning), and as they become more familiar with the music, they develop their skills in improvisation and performance (practical learning). For these musicians, too, music-making was “serious fun” (Waldron & Veblen, 2009, p. 71): the activity was an important investment of time and effort on the part of the learners. In summary, we have argued in these previous three sections that meaningful music learning and participation among adults flourishes in

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contexts where formal and informal learning approaches go hand-in-­ hand, where musical learning experiences are characterised by openness and inclusiveness and where emphasis is placed on the actual learning and on celebrating participation. These goals can be achieved with a pedagogically engaged, responsive leadership style, where (as we have argued elsewhere in this book) facilitators make full use of the multiple possible intersections between hierarchical, cooperative and autonomous modes; the six dimensions of learning-teaching encounters; and the manifold experiential learning cycle.

Implications for Musical Possible Selves Rathunde and Russell (2017, p.  140) stress that “the first step in any learning and creative process, including identity development, is the exploration of new challenges that extend the reach of the self ”. Participation in musical learning offers adults such challenges for creative self-expression (Varvarigou, Hallam, Creech, & McQueen, 2013) and for conveying “individuality through performing, composing or listening” (Dabback & Smith, 2012, p.  235). Through music learning and performance experiences, adults develop musical possible selves and re-­ discover lost possible selves as musicians (Creech et al., 2014; Rathunde & Russell, 2017), instrumental or vocal teachers (Taylor & Hallam, 2011), as well as entertainers who share their skills with others and who give back to their communities (Rathunde & Russell, 2017; Taylor, 2012; Varvarigou, Creech, Hallam, & McQueen, 2011). Narratives of oneself as a musician articulated in terms of the past, present and future musical life have been found to be bolstered when individuals feel a sense of being embedded within a community of musicians, when they have opportunities to perform alongside professional musician facilitators and when they spend many hours making music and practising. In this way, for example, older adult participants in the Music for Life Project rekindled and elaborated deeply meaningful or salient lost musical possible selves (Creech et  al., 2014) (see Box 7.3). These participants, all of whom were older adult music learners within non-formal facilitated choirs and a ukulele group, described having been

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Box 7.3  Rediscovering Lost Musical Possible Selves I have had a love of music all my life from a very young age. During my school years and early adulthood, I was always part of a choir. After marriage this was stifled somewhat). But now that I am divorced and I have a partner of similar interests the doors are once more opening to me. My partner and I watch a live band every week. We are proof that over 50 isn’t the end of life and enjoyment. (Choir participant) I started piano when I was about 13, 14, something like that and carried on until, more or less until I left school (past—music embedded in sense of self). And I did a little bit of evening class when I was about 25, I did a duet class but that sort of folded, when I got married. And I promised myself when I was 60 I would restart learning the piano because I wouldn’t be able to sing any more (future—musical possible self), but because I can still sing I haven’t started to play the piano! (Choir participant) At primary school I have been told that I could not sing and so had never attempted to do so. After taking singing lessons for 18 months I joined a choir and can honestly say that it added a new dimension to my life. I could never call myself a singer but I love singing and I know the joy I feel spills over to all areas of my life. (Choir participant) At first when I started playing this—because I have never seen a ukulele before—I had played guitar years ago but I taught myself. So, at first it was like this foreign object and it was so difficult and suddenly one day I thought ‘it feels like part of me’ and I don’t have to look any more. (Ukulele group participant)

embedded within musical communities and daily or weekly music-­ making. They often described becoming subsequently ‘disentangled’ from music, during periods of their lives where other responsibilities and demands prevailed. Participant 2 recalls ‘promising herself ’ that she would return to music later in her life, indicating the value she placed in a future musical possible self. Each of the participants describes ‘turning points’ when ‘doors were once more opening’, providing a way back to music in their present or future lives. In their study with 67 career-change instrumental and vocal teachers, Taylor and Hallam (2011) found that the positive experience of having

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had an inspiring teacher as child or student and positive musical participation and learning as adult were the reasons that led most amateur musicians participating in the study to developing a musical possible self as instrumental and vocal teachers. What is more, the experience of teaching had impacted significantly on their personal engagement with music to the extent that, in addition to improving their musical skills and increasing their musical knowledge, teaching had strengthened their musical identities. One of the participants in the study said: By analysing music through teaching, I feel my own abilities as a musician have improved enormously. I have gained confidence in performance and in my identity as a musician. I have met many new friends and shared music with them. More than that it has given me an identity and a reason, as although I may have started out as an amateur, I do feel like a professional after all these years! [Piano and recorder teacher]. (Taylor & Hallam, 2011, p. 318)

In a later study with mature adults, Taylor (2012) argued that older adults used their musical learning to construct their musical identity and achieve growth and self-fulfilment. This was achieved when they experienced control over their learning and when learning fostered a sense of achievement, enjoyment and self-confidence. Similarly, Wristen (2006) explained that in the process of acquiring new skills, adult instrumental learners enhance their musical understandings, modify their musical goals and reframe their musical identities. The examples offered here suggest that conceptualising and exploring musical possible selves, whether these are articulated as performers or teachers, is a process that extends over different stages starting from the discovery of musical strengths and interests, thinking about target areas in music that require development, imagining oneself as musician, setting future musical goals, monitoring their development and finally applying them and reviewing them regularly. An example of this process of developing musical possible selves through musical learning was described by Taylor (2012) who monitored the musical development of her 73-year-old piano student, James, over the period of two years. Apart from learning to play the piano as a

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member of a workshop class within a college (non-formal context), James also played the Appalachian dulcimer, a plucked folk instrument, which he had made himself (informal context). Box 7.4 maps James’ experience of musical learning to the six stages of developing musical possible selves (Freer, 2009; Hock, Deshler, & Schumaker, 2006). His narrative reveals

Box 7.4 James’ Narrative of Musical Possible Self as a MatureAged Adult [Discovering]—I love the idea of just setting off to do something new, and trying to find out about it, and trying to get on top of it…and in any case although I am not getting very far in some ways there is an immense amount of satisfaction from it as well…partly this immense satisfaction is being able to learn, to actually do something, in itself. But the other thing is the satisfaction at being able to make some music as well… It’s mainly, all the little bits of achievement, which really make me feel good’ (p. 239). [Thinking]—Keep an open mind about, were you’re going to go and progress you’re going to make, and your own expectations… I’m a great believer in having realistic expectations (239). [Imagining]—Being older hinders you because you are more bothered about getting it right, unlike when you’re eight. On the other hand you don’t care and I can do things I wouldn’t have dreamed of doing (p. 241). [Reflecting]—I quite like being older, [chuckles] actually, it’s quite nice… being older helps because you’ve got the time, there’s no children there so you can [practice] and you’ve absolutely chosen it because you want to, you haven’t lots of other pressures (241). [Growing]—This thing of playing with other people, that you have never played with, and you can’t really do that from music you can only do it by listening to everyone else…you just glance at each other…it’s great, is this, it’s a bit like sort of organised thought mind reading, it’s rather nice [laughs] (242). [Performing]—Making up tunes I’ve improvised, that’s definitely improved enormously …what I’ve just been doing recently, when somebody else is playing, is trying not to play a melody at all, and just to play either a counter melody or a series of sort of harmonizing [sic] notes’ (p. 242).

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how the interactions of formal learning approaches used by his piano teacher and his informal music-making with friends were woven together in an emergent musical identity as musician as well as entertainer who used music-making to contribute to his community. A study by Creech (2013) illustrated how musical possible selves emerged within an intergenerational and inclusive community opera, where participants supported by expert musical role models and facilitators. IMAGO was a community opera commissioned by Glyndebourne Opera Education Department in partnership with Scottish Opera. The opera premiered at Glyndebourne in March 2013, following a rehearsal period of five months. The project aspired to nurture the talent and skills of community and professional singers and instrumentalists through intergenerational musical experiences that included participants from diverse backgrounds. The project took place in Glyndebourne Opera House, a centre of international artistic excellence set in the heart of England’s rural East Sussex. Adult community participants experienced working alongside international experts, in a context where high musical expectations were set. The intergenerational dynamic, involving a chorus of older adults, young adults and children, fostered opportunities for peers and professionals to act as positive role models. One of the senior adult community participants said: I will remember sitting there listening to Joanna sing that aria—and because I am going in to retirement now, this is a springboard for doing stuff that I want to do. But that singing; her beautiful, beautiful voice. That will stay with me. (Elders Chorus, in Creech, 2013, p. 54)

As highlighted by the adult music learners featured in Boxes 7.3 and 7.4, IMAGO and numerous other projects cited in this chapter (Creech et  al., 2014; Ruck Keene & Green, 2017), musical possible selves can perhaps be conceptualised, articulated or reframed at any point in our lives. Just as at any point in the life-course, musical possible selves provide a framework that allows music learners to attach salience and purpose to establishing structured practising routines (Cooper, 2001; Taylor, 2012), to attending rehearsals and performances regularly (Creech et al., 2014); and to setting musical goals and monitoring musical progression.

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Furthermore, exploration of musical possible selves, as has been argued in this chapter, can be supported within contexts for collaborative, joyful music-making, where hierarchical, cooperative and autonomous facilitation modes are used in a thoughtful, dynamic and responsive manner. With this support, there is every reason to believe that adults of all ages can explore, acquire or restore musical possible selves.

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Kruse, N.  B. (2009). ‘An elusive bird’: Perceptions of music learning among Canadian and American adults. International Journal of Community Music, 2(2 & 3), 215–225. Kunaeva, T. (2019). Music masters: Facilitating community music participation by older adults in instrumental ensembles. PhD, Griffith University, Queensland, Australia. Laes, T. (2015). Empowering later adulthood music education: A case study of a rock band for third-age learners. International Journal of Music Education, 33(1), 51–65. Lebel, L. (1978). Beyond andragogy to geragogy. Lifelong Learning: The Adult Years, 1(9), 16025. Lindeman, E. C. (1925). The meaning of adult education. New Republic. Mantie, R., & Smith, G. D. (2017a). Grasping the jellyfish of music making and leisure. In R.  Mantie & G.  D. Smith (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of music making and leisure (pp. 3–10). Oxford University Press. Mantie, R., & Smith, G. D. (Eds.). (2017b). The Oxford handbook of music making and leisure. Oxford University Press. McCarthy, M. (2017). Creating a framework for music making and leisure— Max Kaplan leads the way. In R. Mantie & G. D. Smith (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of music making and leisure (pp. 13–30). Oxford University Press. Rathunde, K., & Russell, I. (2017). Playing music and identity development in middle adulthood—A theoretical and autoethnographic account. In R. Mantie & G. D. Smith (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of music making and leisure (pp. 131–149). Oxford University Press. Roulston, K. (2010). ‘There is no end to learning’: Lifelong education and the joyful learner. International Journal of Music Education, 28(4), 341–352. Ruck Keene, H., & Green, L. (2017). Amateur and professional music making at Dartington International Summer School. In R. Mantie & G. D. Smith (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of music making and leisure (pp.  363–383). Oxford University Press. Standifer, J. (1982). Creativity and aging: The Black musician’s perspective. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 72(Fall), 40–51. Stebbins, R. (2017). Leisure music production—Its spaces and places. In R. Mantie & G. D. Smith (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of music making and leisure (pp. 349–361). Oxford University Press. Taylor, A. (2012). Using repertory grids to explore musical skills and attitudes in a mature-age adult at the early stages of learning for self-fulfilment: A case study of James. British Journal of Music Education, 29(2), 233–250.

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Taylor, A., & Hallam, S. (2011). From leisure to work: Amateur musicians taking up instrumental or vocal teaching as a second career. Music Education Research, 13(3), 307–325. Varvarigou, M., Creech, A., Hallam, S., & McQueen, H. (2011). Bringing different generations together in music-making—An intergenerational music project in East London. International Journal of Community Music, 4(3), 207–220. Varvarigou, M., Hallam, S., Creech, A., & McQueen, H. (2013). Different ways of experiencing music-making in later life: Creative music sessions for older learners in East London. Research Studies in Music Education, 35(1), 103–118. Veblen, K. (2017). Adult music learning in formal, nonformal and informal contexts. In G. McPherson & G. Welch (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of music education (Vol. 2, pp. 243–256). Oxford University Press. Waldron, J., & Veblen, K. (2009). Learning in a Celtic community: An exploration of informal music earning and adult amateur musicians. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 180(Spring), 59–74. Weren, S., Kornienko, O., Hill, G., & Yee, C. (2017). Motivational and social network dynamics of ensemble music making. In R. Mantie & G. D. Smith (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of music making and leisure (pp.  319–343). Oxford University Press. Wristen, B. (2006). Demographics and motivation of adult group piano students. Music Education Research, 8(3), 387–406.

8 Supporting Musical Possible Selves in Programmes With Social Aims

This chapter focuses on music programmes that aim for social change or social justice, exploring their contexts, facilitation modes and characteristics of learning, as well as the implications for musical possible selves. We also discuss the ways in which inclusion is understood and articulated within (primarily) non-formal music learning and participation initiatives that seek to effect social change. The salience of self- and peer-­ evaluation is considered within music for social change initiatives, in relation to the role of those assessment practices in sustaining musical possible selves in the participants. We explore two programmes, analysing them using our model for manifold musical possible selves.

 he Landscape of Music Education T With Social Aims There is widespread belief that access to the arts, especially musicking opportunities, offers some potential for transforming the lives of children, young people and adults alike. This transformation has been observed in areas such as creativity, risk-taking and imagination, original © The Author(s) 2020 A. Creech et al., Contexts for Music Learning and Participation, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48262-6_8

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thinking, ownership, empathy, collaboration with others and self-­ evaluation, to mention a few (Burton, Horowitz, & Abeles, 1999). There is also robust research evidence that directly points in particular to the salient contribution of musicking to the lives of vulnerable children and young people who experience “social, economic, cultural, or geographical disadvantage” that prevents them from “accessing activities that will help them grow and progress” (Youth Music, 2008). For instance, musicking has reportedly enhanced a sense of achievement and productivity, positive feelings, self-esteem and self-control, peer relations and wellbeing among young people in UK and USA prisons (Cohen & Duncan, 2015; Digard, Grafin von Sponeck, & Liebling, 2007; Henley, 2015; Henley, Caulfield, Wilson, & Wilkinson, 2012), in the USA and Australian juvenile detention centres (Barrett & Baker, 2012; Hickey, 2015), among young refugees and newly arrived immigrants in Australia (Marsh, 2015) and among disadvantaged youth in Venezuela and around the world (Creech, Fairbanks, et al., 2016). Several organisations around the world offer long- and short-term programmes that aim to use ‘the power of music’ to support positive youth development, quality of life and wellbeing: There is a strong understanding in many programs that the social and personal wellbeing of all participants is as important as their musical learning (if not more important). [They] frequently emphasize the power of music to bring people together, and to nurture both individual and collective identity. (Veblen, 2007, p. 6)

These initiatives are located mainly within non-formal (outside formal education, supervised by adult professionals) and informal (when young people participate in music learning without supervision) education settings (Mullen & Deane, 2018). Some projects that aim to bring about social change are structured around a variety of improvisation, composition and song-writing activities that prioritise musical creativity and expression. These experiential learning activities enable the participants to express their thoughts, feelings and needs within a safe context that focuses on collaborative processes while also providing scope for individual expression.

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In her work with young refugees and newly arrived immigrants in Australia, Marsh (2015) underscored the transformative power of music and dance in assisting these groups to create transitional identities and experience belonging and empowerment. Comparing participatory (focus on social interaction) with presentational (focus on providing music to another group) performance, she underlined a dilemma faced by facilitators or programmes where an aim is to use the performing arts, such as dance and music, to help vulnerable young people envision a positive future. Marsh (p. 181) explained that the Sierra Leonean girls who engaged in the music and dance activities offered to them as a means for creative expression appeared to value participatory performance over presentational performance. This ‘dilemma’ is reminiscent of the tensions that are highlighted later in this chapter with regard to El Sistema, where some have argued that a focus on “product” (e.g. high-profile performances) may detract from the process of nurturing musical development and wellbeing among young people (Baker, 2014). Marsh’s study highlights that in order for vulnerable young people to conceptualise and articulate musical possible selves, it is important that their musical opportunities include social interaction, are self-satisfying and promote agency. Other projects or programmes with social aims are structured around large ensembles such as orchestras or choirs (see our discussion below of Sistema-inspired programmes). Irrespective of the format for music-­ making, small groups and large ensembles can facilitate teamwork, shared responsibility and joint expression. These experiences have been found to contribute to an improved life outlook, optimism and motivation to participate in musicking (Roy, Devroop, & Getz, 2015) and promote a sense of belonging and self-confidence (Osborne, McPherson, Faulkner, Davidson, & Barrett, 2016). Lastly, successful programmes for supporting vulnerable young people use music repertoire that reflects and responds to the young people’s musical preferences (Marsh, 2015; Varvarigou, 2018). Through such an approach, the programmes show that they recognise and value the music that has meaning for the participants themselves. This music is often popular and traditional music, having significance for vulnerable young people because it connects them to “significant others and their domestic contexts” (Rimmer, 2018, p. 48).

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 usical Learning and Participation Within M Sistema-inspired Programmes The El-Sistema ‘movement’, originating in Venezuela, now comprises programmes around the world that aim to “to effect the social development goals of the community being served” through intensive, disciplined music ensemble participation (Silberman, 2013, p. 71). Typically, the orchestra and choir are seen as the structures through which social change can be fostered at the level of the individual child, family and community. The orchestra as a form is crucial. For an orchestra to succeed, it must be greater than the sum of its parts. Every person has a role to play. It combines leadership, teamwork, discipline, communication skills and respect with friendship, great fun and positive social experiences. It develops the foundations of musicianship and musical literacy through the enjoyment of learning, rehearsing and performing as an ensemble of musicians. (Senior Leader, In Harmony Liverpool, cited in Burns, 2019, p. 6)

In order to achieve social change, typical key principles are that the programme should be inclusive and accessible to all and should offer ‘immersion’ in music, with daily participation in ensembles. Intensity and regularity of contact within consistent, dependable contexts are prerequisites for programmes that aim to provide a constructive activity that keeps young people out of danger (Majno, 2012). Intensive ensemble activities are seen as a rich opportunity for nurturing positive citizenship skills, including “respect, equality, sharing, cohesion, team work, and, above all, the enhancement of listening as a major constituent of understanding and cooperation” (Majno, 2012, p. 58). The success that Sistema-inspired programmes have had in reaching and inspiring disadvantaged young people to participate in musicking has been widely cited (Creech, Fairbanks, et al., 2016). However, there have been several criticisms regarding the facilitation of music learning and participation within such programmes (Baker & Frega, 2018; Rimmer, 2018). Overall, El Sistema has been critiqued for a lack of “an identifiable and consistent method” (Baker & Frega, 2018) that could advance young

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people’s musical education and social development. In this vein, some have argued that El Sistema privileges delivering high profile musical performance for audiences around the world, at the expense of focusing on the musical development and wellbeing of the young people participating (Baker, 2014). Educators and scholars have critiqued El Sistema’s prioritisation of practical learning (i.e. a focus on instrumental skills) over engaging young people in experiential, imaginal or conceptual musical learning. For example, typical repertoire is focused on a relatively limited Western classical canon and rehearsal approaches prioritise imitation and repetition, with little scope for exploration or reflection on repertoire. The emphasis on rehearsal of musical repertoire from the Western canon because it is considered “a universal cultural right…[that] belongs to all…” (Bergman, Lindgren, & Saether, 2016, p. 369) appears to disregard young peoples’ notable interest in popular and traditional music as well as music activities that are valued such as dance and singing along to popular and traditional songs as a means of creative expression (Rimmer, 2018). Furthermore, a hierarchical mode of facilitation prevails, potentially limiting opportunities for creativity, collaboration and autonomy amongst learners. Indeed, this approach to facilitation may severely challenge the idea of ‘inclusivity’, as argued by Laes and Westerlund (2017; see our discussion in Chap. 10). In this vein, the notion that the orchestra can be conceptualized as an idealised community where citizenship is fostered—an idea that permeates much El Sistema discourse—has been critiqued. Borchert (2012) suggests that ‘discipline’ does not necessarily align with ‘social inclusion’ or socially responsible citizenship. Therefore, the musical possible selves that emerge within such contexts may be shaped in very particular—and potentially limiting—ways. Finally, some important ethical issues have been raised with regard to media discourses and rhetoric that highlight the condition of ‘poverty’ or ‘vulnerability’ amongst members of Sistema-inspired ensembles, rather than their work and effort. For example, discussing Sistema-inspired programmes in the UK, Bull (2016, p.  120) argues that “the language of ‘deprived communities’ and ‘anti-social behaviour, drug abuse, and crime’ (Arts Council England, 2012) that is used to describe those targeted by

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these programmes, while well-meaning, echoes common stigmatizing discourses about class that circulate within policy and the wider public sphere”. Notwithstanding these critiques, some Sistema-inspired programmes around the world have addressed the issues raised here and have been found to be “responsive and flexible to local community needs… have responsive leadership… and are committed to high quality teaching” (Creech, Fairbanks, et al., 2016, p. 12). For example, the Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA) not only offers orchestral ensemble experiences to its participants but also classes in musicianship, singing, solfège, semi-­ private lessons and academic tutoring, where music learners are engaged in “direct challenges… constructive criticism and self-evaluations” (p. 85). What is more, they rehearse culturally relevant material such as orchestral works from Latin America, Africa and Korea as well as popular music. Through these approaches, YOLA maintains high levels of participant motivation. In a similar vein, the facilitators in Batuta Caldas, in Colombia, used participation in orchestral playing as a means to develop young people’s socialisation. This was achieved by generating and strengthening the young people’s sense of identity and membership in collaborative learning that was “sensitive, problematized, open, affective, and equitable” (p. 87). In Harmony Liverpool, reaching children deemed to have the greatest need and fewest resources (classified as living in poverty) aims to “improve the life chances of children” through the “power and discipline of ensemble music-making” (Burns, 2019, p.  3). The programme is founded upon partnership working (schools, community and a professional orchestra) and takes a whole school approach where children learn instruments alongside their teachers. Music learning is structured around instrumental learning, frequent performance opportunities (including high-profile events where learners perform alongside professional musicians), singing, listening, appraising, music technology activities, composing and improvising. While group music-making nurtures peer learning, a positive sense of citizenship, a sense of belonging and the joy of collective sounds, one-to-one instruction fosters musical progression and personal development through the experience of setting goals,

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self-evaluation and revising or achieving individual goals. Children encounter an eclectic range of musical genres, including “new music commissions and arrangements from local composers and works written specifically by the team for the children they teach” (Burns, 2019, p. 5). Crucially, the programme is facilitated by “a team of high level, deeply committed professional musicians and educators, specialising in working with children and young people, supported with regular professional development, planning and reflection” (Burns, 2019, p. 6). Box 8.1 sets out the key findings from ten years of evaluation of In Harmony Liverpool, demonstrating the multiple ways that the programme has influenced those who have participated.

Box 8.1 In Harmony Liverpool: Bringing Music into Community and Family Life In Harmony Liverpool has positioned ‘musical possible selves’ as a significant theme in emergent self-stories, at an individual and community level. As one community participant stated: “We are all musicians now”. A community leader added: “classical music is no longer a world that we’re excluded from…it’s now our world, we love being in it, and we love having the opportunity to share it with others!” (Burns, 2019, pp. 10–11). Summarising ten years of evaluation, Burns (2019, pp. 10–11) reports that: • In Harmony Liverpool has improved the life chances of children and young people through generating multiple outcomes including resilience, aspiration, wellbeing, confidence, self-esteem, mood, concentration, motivation and their sense of happiness and determination. Children have consistently demonstrated high levels of musical progress. • In Harmony Liverpool has positively impacted on families and family life developing social and cultural capital and generating pride. • Through working together in partnership, In Harmony Liverpool has contributed to civic pride, hope, aspiration, building stronger communities and the shaping of a ‘place’. It has placed professional musicians at the heart of the community, generated long-term relationships, friendships and trust, and provided role models and progression pathways. • In Harmony Liverpool has impacted on Liverpool Philharmonic itself generating cultural and structural change, helping to reposition the orchestra and enhance its civic role. • This has been achieved through music which is now seen as a normal part of community and family life.

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 ocial Inclusion Through Collaborative S Purposeful Listening and Playing and Singing by Ear Group playing and singing by ear from recordings is inclusive in the sense that no prior theoretical knowledge is necessary, and because it promotes group cohesiveness through the collaborative, purposive listening (Varvarigou, 2018). Music-making by ear takes the musickers through the full cycle of manifold learning, facilitated in ways that have been recognised as promoting a sense of achievement, productivity, positive feelings, self-esteem, peer relations and wellbeing. Six core principles underpin the facilitation of music-making by ear. These are: 1 . Clear musical goals that enhance the participants’ sense of purpose; 2. Participant agency in relation to choosing musical material and ways of engaging in musicking with others; 3. Collaborative and peer learning, which promotes relationship building with fellow musicians and the facilitator(s); 4. Sense of responsibility, by motivating the musickers to take responsibility for the final musical outcome; 5. Expectation for success—by boosting the young musicians’ sense of social affirmation; and 6. Strategies for learner autonomy—by enabling the musickers to identify the strategies that work best for them when musicking with others (Varvarigou, 2018, p. 3). These principles support the development of musical possible selves by placing an equal emphasis on the cultivation of musical, social and personal skills and creativity. The specific ways that this can be achieved are discussed below. Purposeful listening underpins group playing by ear; and refers to the process of copying music by ear from recordings, with the aim of reproducing it or creating a rendition of it within a group. For some music learners, the idea of purposeful listening may be unfamiliar. For others more familiar with the approach, acting as peer ‘coaches’ could highlight

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their personal strengths and prior knowledge (see Chap. 10). Therefore, experiential learning through purposeful listening could promote ‘discovery’ of particular preferences or interests in music (Freer, 2009). Collective purposeful listening that encompasses experimentation and improvisation could promote group creativity where the learners might ‘imagine’ themselves in the future as musicians and also ‘think’ about how these musical possible selves may be achieved. During this process of experiential and imaginal learning, learners can explore and experiment with musical possible selves. Conceptual learning might require some hierarchical or cooperative facilitation, whereby learners are scaffolded in the construction of cognitive understandings of musical concepts. Conceptual learning could engage the musickers in ‘reflecting’ on how their developing musical skills could be elaborated and what their musical priorities could be. Specific solutions to problems encountered in instrumental playing (practical learning) may similarly require cooperative facilitation. Finally, performance (another expression of experiential learning, where practical skills, imaginal learning and conceptual knowledge are drawn together) may involve hierarchical facilitation (the facilitator or fellow musician leading the group) or may be autonomous, where the music facilitator joins in the performance as an equal partner. The cycle of manifold learning could start afresh by engaging the musickers in group reflection, self- and peer-evaluation on the process of learning and the musical outcome achieved. Musical possible selves are thus articulated through the development of action plans for the achievement of musical goals (‘Growing’) and for refining these action plans in response to self-perceived progress towards specific musical goals (‘Performing’). Collaborative playful listening and singing by ear were at the core of the Gobsmacked project (www.inspire-music.org). The project nurtured the musical possible selves of students with Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties (PMLD) as well as non-PMLD students and staff by engaging all music participants in ‘singing’ that encompassed, treasured and celebrated the wide range of vocal sounds produced by the human voice. All participants were introduced to extended voice techniques. Through copying by ear, creating ideas and remembering song repertoire often with

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the use of assistive music technology such as a microphone, loop station and digital or live echoes, the facilitators encouraged listening and improvising within a free rhythmic, harmonic and melodic context. Vocalising in filmed or live performance was used to support communication and connection between the facilitator and the music-makers as well as between PMLD and non-PMLD music-makers. Cooperative and autonomous orientations to music facilitation promoted musical possible selves by “affirming students’ sense of self by using their vocalisations as an integral part of a new work” and by “supporting students’ conscious development of the musical content and structure”. A non-PMLD student expressed how the project nurtured his/her musical possible self through this approach to singing: Made me want to sing a lot more, express my singing voice and not be afraid to let my singing out.

F ostering Musical Possible Selves Among Vulnerable Young People in Prison Participation in active music-making has been found to contribute to positive change in the lives of those in detention, including incarcerated men, women and juveniles. According to the Prison Reform Trust (2003, p. 30), “music was the course most desired, and least provided. Prisoners praised the music courses they had had at other prisons, and longed to have another chance”. Good Vibrations, a programme in UK male and female prisons, successfully demonstrates that an inclusive (accessible to all as it requires no prior knowledge of music or playing an instrument) and informal (revolving around group composition, improvisation, learning about Javanese culture and associated art forms such as Javanese dance and puppetry) approach is effective in promoting musical learning, individual agency and social interactions (Henley, 2015). Evaluations of the facilitation of the project have identified core factors that contribute to these positive outcomes: (a) giving the participants more responsibility (component also identified by Varvarigou, 2018), (b) autonomy in choosing their level of involvement, (c) a strong voice on how to improve the music and (d) opportunities for creative expression through improvisation and

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composition. In turn, these strategies led to greater confidence, ownership of the project and ownership of the music (Digard et  al., 2007; Henley et al., 2012). Positive musical possible selves among young people in juvenile detention centres have been fostered and nurtured through weekly instrumental tuition. Funded by the Australian Children’s Music Foundation (ACMF), “Youth at Risk”, is an initiative that provides music programmes for young people in detention centres with the aim to “develop their sense of self-worth, build skills in self-discipline and communication, foster resilience, and re-engage with life and the community” (Barrett & Baker, 2012, p.  246). The programme adopts an informal learning approach where participants (1) decide their level of involvement (peripheral or central) in the programme, (2) choose the instrument that they want to learn from guitar, bass, drum-kit and vocal tuition, (3) choose the repertoire that they want to learn and practise and (4) develop ownership and creativity skills through song-writing. Twenty-two young people participated in the project between 2007 and 2008; for some, the programme shaped new musical possible selves. Box 8.2 presents Toby, who re-defined himself through the music programme, developing a strong

Box 8.2  Musical Possible Selves Through a Music Programme in a Juvenile Detention Centre Toby’s story (18 years old) If someone comes up to you and asks if you can play guitar, you can say, ‘Yes!’, instead of ‘No’ [‘Discovering’] … Sitting down around the campfire, singing a couple of songs… I want to continue with it … get a CD brung out… sing about past, yeah… [‘Imagining’] Freedom, and being locked up and how I feel about being here and me family out there—and how they feel. What I’ve done, around these things, since I’ve been in  lock-up… Helping out in the community, yeah. Helping other people learn music. Yeah, teach them. [‘Performing’] … Yeah. Interestin’ and all. It’s good. Somethin’ to do in my life. [‘Discovering’]. Everyone loves music, it doesn’t matter what band it is—you’re bound to find one person that likes that music. Or more than one people [sic]. Everyone likes music. If you had no music, then it’d just be borin’, like no TV or computers. You gotta have music. It’s good to play, itself, so. It gives you somethin’ to do. It’s good. (Toby) (continued)

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Box 8.2  (continued) Toby as a music teacher… A lot of the students did look up to him (Toby), for his musical ability and for his leadership role (‘Valuing’]. And I didn’t realize how great a thing that was until I went to the awards barbecue at the end of the year, when they were handing out the school’s academic awards. And ah, saw how popular Toby was. But not in a ‘hero’ sort of way, but just a, everyone wants to talk to him, everyone asks him his opinion, and when he got up to play drums, everyone went nuts, cheering for him. Everyone felt really happy for him, and he felt the same way [‘Valuing’]. So, in Toby’s case, I feel that it couldn’t be more positive [‘Feeling’]. Like, I got to see how all the nonmusical people out there reacted to his music. Yeah, it was very positive… (ACMF Music facilitator) Ah, well, with Toby … he got to the point where he was actually a really helpful teacher for Matthew. And actually, sometimes, I’d—I don’t know whether it was my language, or whatever, but Matthew wouldn’t get the drift of what I was saying. And if it was in a session with Toby, Toby would step in [‘Confronting’] and put it in a way that he did understand [‘Meaning’]. Take on a sort of leadership role in the programme, and help other students. And he did it really well. Like, he used a lot of discretion in how he managed himself in that role … [‘Feeling’] (ACMF music facilitator) A music facilitator’s perspective on how young people at ACMF develop and sustain musical possible selves Well, hopefully they learn to take baby steps. You can’t just have this lofty goal in mind, that’s out of reach, you know, and then make it in one big leap. Ah, that you do just one step at a time [‘Structuring’]. And make it a step that you can succeed at, and you will get there. And I think it helps—well, at least half of the students on that list, with patience [‘Feeling’]. Like, I imagine it impacts on their school work, because I’ve noticed that, with me, they’re willing to take their time and make a mistake. Students are very hard on themselves in the first lessons—if they make a mistake—a twang or a fret buzz, and you say, ‘Well, that’s the process, you know. You make mistakes, in order to work out what’s wrong, so that you can do it right, and move on, to the next thing’ [‘Confronting’]. And ah, I don’t think I’ve ever failed yet, in getting a student to take their time—do small steps and keep your goal in mind, when you’re doing it [‘Structuring’]. (ACMF music teacher). From Barrett and Baker (2012, pp. 251–255)

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identity both as a music performer and as a music teacher. We illustrate here how Toby’s narrative may be interpreted through Freer’s (2009) framework, showing how new musical possible selves were discovered, imagined and performed. Complementary narratives from music facilitators demonstrate how dimensions of the learning-teaching encounter, particularly those concerned with positive interpersonal dynamics (e.g. valuing, feeling, confronting) and personal meaning, may have been interwoven into the emergent musical possible selves (Barrett & Baker, 2012).

Manifold Learning and Youth Development Music learning and participation has powerful potential as a context for life-changing experience (Hallam, 2015). In this vein, music learners can collaborate; express themselves individually or collectively; and develop musical and personal skills such as leadership, collaboration and teamwork. Box 8.3 illustrates how a charitable organisation, Keys of Change,

Box 8.3  Keys of Change Keys of Change is a charity founded by Greek concert pianist Panos Karan. The charity believes that “playing music can make the world a better place” by “empowering youth, giving hope in times of crisis and bridging communities” (Keys of Change, n.d.). Their stated aim is to use music “as an agent for bridging people of different backgrounds, demonstrating that the preparation for a concert can bring varied communities together for the common purpose of listening to music—an act so simple and so powerful, yet so underappreciated”. Since 2011, Keys of Change has reached more than 10,000 people who “are living in or have been through extraordinary circumstances in life”. Participants have included inhabitants of remote communities in the Amazon, tsunami survivors in Japan, conflict survivors in Sierra Leone, disadvantaged communities in India or HIV affected children in Uganda. Descriptions of their projects (“Bach in the Amazon”, “Fukushima: A Journey of Hope”, “Sierra Leone: The Road to Recovery”, “Uganda: Music Positive”, “Siberia: Audience of One”, “Kolkata Sounds” and “Xanthi: Minority Notes”) can be found in the website (www.keysofchange.org) accompanied by rich audio-visual evidence. (continued)

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Box 8.3  (continued) Participants’ testimonies appear below and denote how participating in the charity’s projects has supported their developing musical possible selves. When I think of my accomplishments for this year, the main one without a doubt, is music [‘Discovering’]. Thanks to hard work, patience and dedication to practice, I am now able to play the guitar [‘Growing’]. Music has changed my life. Now I can see life differently [‘Reflecting’] … Playing the guitar also relaxes me and I am happy in times of sadness [‘Discovering’]. I hope to keep progressing and developing myself more in music [Performing] (Edison, Quito, Newsletter 2013) My name is Nangendo Ruth. I am a primary four. I like playing musical instruments. I can play thumb piano, xylophone and panpip [Discovering]. I enjoy it so much because it relaxes my mind [Reflecting]. I want to continue learning how to play and become an international player [Imagining]. Playing instruments has helped me to get more friends because we play them in a group. It has also helped me to be responsible of my property because every time we have to keep our instruments clean and safe [Growing]. Thank you for buying for us instruments” (Ruth, Kampala, Newsletter, 2013). Only music gave me courage and strength when I changed school from my home town, Minami Soma, because of the radiation [Discovering]. I feel very nervous to play in such a prestigious hall [Imagining], but I would like to convey my appreciation to music [Reflecting]. I have been practising hard with my friends, aiming to become a symbol of restoration of Fukushima [Growing]. I wish the audience today will share our excitement (Kyosuke Takano, Fukushima, Newsletter 2014).

supports youth development by funding non-formal music education projects, delivered in partnership with local music teachers. Through these opportunities, young people discover and articulate what music means in their lives, reflect on musical learning, imagine musical futures and grow and perform their musical possible selves. In Ecuador, the charity supports weekly guitar and violin lessons for young people from deprived backgrounds. These learners have in turn begun to give their own performances to local children in hospitals. In Fukushima, India and Mexico, the charity makes regular visits to work with young musicians to help them improve their playing and to offer

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them performance opportunities in joint concerts with Keys of Change musicians. Keys of Change projects prioritise expert facilitation with regard to the dimensions of ‘feeling’ (i.e. taking care of a positive group dynamic) and ‘valuing’ (i.e. respect for all participant voices). For example, diverse cultural values, challenging circumstances and the ways in which at risk and disadvantaged young people are feeling when they experience musicking is handled with great sensitivity and respect. These facets of facilitation are central to achieving the goal of social change. One of the charity’s projects, Himalayan Notes, took place in Nepal. The charity’s 2016 Newsletter describes the process of music facilitation: Panos Karan [founder and facilitator] brought with him a portable keyboard in a very recognisable blue case, and, in most circumstances, played on it, sharing with the children a variety of melodies and musical stories, using music as an invitation to imagination and communication [Hierarchical planning and structuring; Autonomous meaning]. The end of each musical presentation had the children playing rhythms in small percussion instruments [Cooperative structuring and meaning], and after a short rehearsal, participating in the music making [Hierarchical planning; Autonomous structuring and meaning; Cooperative valuing and feeling)].

Here, the facilitator utilised a range of facilitation modes that intersected with dimensions of learning. Experiential learning occurred through initially listening and then through exploration of rhythms using percussion instruments. Facilitator and participants collaboratively imagined a short performance [imaginal learning] which was rehearsed and then presented to the audience.

 oncluding Thoughts: The Implications C of Programmes With Social Aims for Musical Possible Selves We have argued that non-formal learning programmes that aim to bring about social change may function as contexts where individuals and groups can conceptualise, explore and articulate musical possible selves. However, this may require that certain conditions are in place. First, the

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music programmes should have clear goals and guidelines within which participants can establish personally meaningful links and set personal goals. In this vein, reflective self-and peer assessment or evaluation activities can support learner autonomy and the elaboration and refinement of action plans towards their musical goals [‘Growing’], therefore shaping present and future musical possible selves (see Chap. 10; also, Boucher & Creech, in press). For example, Sistema-inspired programmes have been founded upon the idea that students learn best from peer feedback (Creech, Fairbanks, et al., 2016). According to Uy (2012, p. 14), informal peer-­assessment opportunities foster a sense of ownership and deep engagement, allowing “students to view themselves as resources rather than as problems”. Secondly, programmes should encompass opportunities for individual and group agency, for example by giving participants some autonomy in their choice of repertoire, instruments or level of participation. Thirdly, music should be used both as an area for learning and as an opportunity for building relationships with fellow participants and facilitators. This could be realized when music facilitators explore all three modes and six dimensions of facilitation identified by Heron (1999). Finally, while such programmes have ‘social aims’, participants should never therefore be stigmatised or drawn into music programmes with the aim of ‘normalising’ participants. Rather, the overarching musical experience should encompass and enable different ways of ‘doing’ and accessing music. With these conditions in place, vulnerable children and young people may have the freedom to ‘discover’ musical strengths and interests, and to ‘think’ and ‘imagine’ what their musical possible selves could be.

References Arts Council England. (2012). In Harmony commissioned grant guidance for applicants. Retrieved from http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/media/uploads/ pdf/In_Harmony_commissioned_grant_guidance_final.pdf Baker, G. (2014). El Sistema: Orchestrating Venezuela’s youth. Oxford University Press. Baker, G., & Frega, A. L. (2018). ‘Producing musicians like sausages’: New perspectives on the history and historiography of Venezuela’s El Sistema. Music Education Research, 20(4), 502–516.

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Barrett, M., & Baker, J. (2012). Developing learning identities in and through music: A case study of the outcomes of a music programme in an Australian juvenile detention centre. International Journal of Music Education, 30(3), 244–259. Bergman, A., Lindgren, M., & Saether, E. (2016). Struggling for integration: Universalist and separatist discourses within El Sistema Sweden. Music Education Research, 18(4), 364–375. Borchert, G. (2012). Sistema Scotland: A critical inquiry into the implementation of the El Sistema model in Raploch. Unpublished M Mus thesis, University of Glasgow. Retrieved from http://theses.gla.ac.uk/4044/ Boucher, M., & Creech, A. (in press). The role of formative and summative assessment in music learning and participation. In A. Creech, D. Hodges, & S. Hallam (Eds.), Routledge international handbook of music psychology in education and the community (Chap. 24). Routledge. Bull, A. (2016). El Sistema as a bourgeois social project: Class, gender, and Victorian values. Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education, 15(1), 120–153. Retrieved from http://act.maydaygroup.org/articles/Bull15_1.pdf Burns, S. (2019). In Harmony Liverpool: 2009–2019—Reflections on ten years of learning. Liverpool Philharmonic with in Harmony UK.  Retrieved from https://www.liverpoolphil.com/media/232814/10-years-of-learning-in-harmony-liverpool-january-2019.pdf Burton, J., Horowitz, R., & Abeles, H. (1999). Learning in and through the arts: Curriculum implications. In E.  B. Fiske (Ed.), Champions of change (pp. 50–61). Washington, DC: President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. Cohen, M., & Duncan, S. P. (2015). Behind different walls—Restorative justice, transformative justice, and their relationship to music education. In C.  Benedict, P.  Schmidt, G.  Spruce, & P.  Woodford (Eds.), The Oxford ­handbook of social justice in music education (pp. 554–566). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Creech, A., Fairbanks, S., Gonzalez-Moreno, P., Lorenzino, L., Sandoval, E., & Waitman, G. (2016). El Sistema and Sistema-inspired programmes: A literature review of research, evaluation, and critical debates. Sistema Global. Retrieved from http://www.artshealthresources.org.uk/docs/el-sistema-and-sistemainspired-programmes-a-literature-review-of-research-evaluation-and-critical-debates/ Digard, L., Grafin von Sponeck, A., & Liebling, A. (2007). All together now: The therapeutic potential of a prison-based music programme. The Prison Service Journal, 170, 3–14.

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9 The Emergence of Musical Possible Selves Through Musical Learning in the Home

In this chapter, we explore how immersion in music in the home can support salient musical possible selves and musical development in childhood and as adults. We consider the role of the parent in supporting musical learning and development through (a) early musical interaction between mothers and young children in the home; (b) supervision and involvement in instrumental learning; and (c) musical guidance within a home-schooling environment. Furthermore, we discuss the phenomenon of the ‘bedroom musician’, referring to young people and adults who engage in self-directed musicking in the home, principally using technology to support learning. The chapter concludes with a discussion of home experiences and their influence in narratives of musical possible selves.

 arents and Children as Musical Partners P in the Home In Chap. 2, we discussed parental involvement with their young children in non-formal music programmes (Abad, 2017; Niland, 2017; Pitt, 2014). It emerged that parents considered musical activities to be © The Author(s) 2020 A. Creech et al., Contexts for Music Learning and Participation, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48262-6_9

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beneficial for the children’s social, cognitive and emotional development. Early shared musical experiences contributed to the development of their children’s and their own musical possible selves, conceptualised in this book as the musical self-stories that shape interpretations of present musical experience and orientations towards future musicking (see Chap. 1). This chapter considers how musical engagement in the home, an informal music learning context, similarly benefits music learners, providing salient experience that shapes present and future musical possible selves. One of the key findings of research concerned with music-making at home underscores that prior experiences with music in turn influence adult ‘musical parenting’. Mehr (2014) investigated why parents were motivated to engage with their children in musical activities in the home, for example, singing, listening to recorded music or through playing together using commercially or home-made musical instruments. Parents in his study believed such activities contributed to improving their young children’s intelligence, academic achievement and social development. Interestingly, it also became apparent that there was a strong correlation between the frequency of parents’ early experiences with song (i.e. being sung to as a child) and the frequency of singing in the home (i.e. singing as a parent). This corroborates earlier research by Custodero and Johnson-­Green (2003), who argued that “experience matters—parents with specific music educational experiences as well as memories of being parented musically were much more likely to sing and play music with their infants than those without those experiences” (p. 110). What is more, it emerged from Mehr’s study that parents’ general skill and comfort with singing did not appear to influence the frequency of music behaviours in the home. Similarly, Custodero and Johnson-Green (2003) discovered that having had experiences of singing repertoire or playing an instrument, or having taken music lessons as a child, did influence the types of activities that parents promoted in the home; for instance, parents with rich musical backgrounds tended to sing made-up songs to their infants.

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A later study by Custodero (2006) delved into the singing practices in the homes of ten American families. Singing was used in three different ways: (a) to support daily routines, such as mealtime, bath time, bedtime; (b) in established activities that became part of a family routine (such as singing in church); (c) to accompany spontaneous activity through invented songs (i.e. a driving song, a waking-up song, silly songs etc). Singing was also used to form and maintain family traditions past or new. The children developed a large repertoire of songs and used these songs “freely during other times of the day” (p. 52). Finally, these ten families used musical play with learned, adapted and invented songs. Each of these three types of musical play was facilitated by parents in particular ways that corresponded to some extent with hierarchical, cooperative and autonomous orientations to learning (see Chap. 1) For example, parents structured musical play in a hierarchical manner when they reinforced specific singing practices their own parents had used and that had been kept intact (Custodero, 2006). In this sense, parents acted as ‘culture bearers’ who maintained musical practices that connected themselves and their children with past generations, often geographically distanced (Custodero, 2006). Parents also acted as ‘culture-­brokers’ forming musical partnerships with their children where musical play was scaffolded in a more cooperative orientation. Here, children were encouraged to explore their own musical preferences and to initiate musical activity—“they want to choose, they need to, they like to choose their songs at night” (p. 47). Finally, children were supported as ‘culture-­builders’ with an autonomous orientation that enabled the children to invent songs that promoted personal expression and imagination. The parents in a study by De Vries (2007) added that recognising, valuing and involving their children in autonomous musical play was salient for strong parent-child musical partnerships. Box 9.1 (from Custodero, 2006) provides an example of an autonomous orientation as mother Kerrie describes how her three-year-old daughter Kylie used spontaneous song as a vehicle for self-expression.

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Box 9.1  An Autonomous Orientation to Promoting Invented Singing with Young Children at Home Spontaneous singing at home After Kylie had played the little piano and sung to me in her bedroom, she brought the [instrument] into the … foyer of our house … We were alone … “I’m going to sing my last song to you”. She sang this lo-o-o­ng thing, where she was playing piano, you know, just punching the random keys, and she … wasn’t singing any recognizable tune, but she was singing. And it was the long expressive thing, where she was talking about her whole day. She talked about how she missed her mom during the day, and then she was happy when her mom came home. She talked about how she was sad because she wanted her beautiful day, and the rain kept coming and it wouldn’t go away, and she couldn’t have her beautiful day because of the rain, and all this stuff. Very lengthy, expressive thing she was doing, she was singing, while she played the piano. And of course, I was thinking, well, you know, Kylie’s a genius. Okay, that’s it [Laughter]. (Custodero, 2006, p. 46)

Like music-making in the home, the car has been found to be an informal environment where musical routines are found. Koops (2014) revealed that the car provided a space for the development of musical traditions, musical play and strengthening parent-children musical partnerships. In the car, where there were reduced distractions for children, as well as sibling interaction and children-parent discussion, children sang along to known or improvised songs, moved to the music, or listened to recorded music. As with Custodero’s (2006) research concerned with making music in the home, the children in Koops’ study engaged in various forms of musicking. Listening to recorded music helped them sit back and relax, while observations made through the car window were expressed through singing adapted or invented songs. Singing was also used to express emotions or engage in interactions with their parents. Custodero connected this finding with DeNora’s (2000) concept of “musically reconfiguring agency”. In other words, parents and children used the properties of music such as pitch, rhythm or harmony gestures “as referents or representations of where they wish to be or go, emotionally, physically and so on … When respondents are choosing music as

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part of this care of self, they are engaging in self-conscious articulation work, thinking ahead about the music that might ‘work’ for them” (DeNora, 2000, p. 53).

Parental Involvement in Music Learning Instrumental Practice Parents continue to play a significant role in children’s musical lives, for example providing behavioural, cognitive and personal support for children’s instrumental learning (Creech, 2016). In this vein, parents supervise home practice, provide space and resources for instrumental playing in the home, ferry children to and from musical activities, discuss music and share musical experience with their children and generally act as their children’s champions, providing a positive interpersonal climate within which salient musical possible selves emerge (Creech, 2016). McPherson and Davidson (2002) emphasise that parents are “critical motivators of practice” (p. 142). Their study revealed that the children whose parents did not encourage them to practise were more likely to cease instrumental learning. Conversely, enthusiasm for instrumental learning was supported when parents promoted a consistent approach to practice by providing modelling, direct instruction and reinforcement of a more cooperative nature. Acting as facilitators of learning in the home, parents negotiate the dimensions of learning (see Chap. 1) in a number of ways. For example, as seen in Box 9.2, Creech found that parents exercised varying levels of hierarchical control or alternatively support for autonomy in relation to (a) setting goals and structuring learning in the home (planning and structuring dimensions), (b) acknowledging resistance to practice and exploring ways to overcome it (confronting dimension), (c) responding to the interpersonal dynamic amongst children, teachers and parents in the context of instrumental learning (feeling dimension) and (d) respecting the child’s input and decisions with regard to what, when and how they engage with instrumental learning and participation (meaning and valuing dimensions) (Creech, 2006).

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The ways that parents exercised controlling or responsive approaches to facilitating instrumental learning may also have had significant implications for children’s musical possible selves, as emerged through their drawings and interviews collected as part of Creech’s study (2006). Parents who offered their children autonomy during music practice (e.g. children planning and structuring the practice themselves or playing music that had personal meaning; and parents responding to the needs of the children rather than following their own agenda) scaffolded positive musical possible selves for their children. On the contrary, parents whose involvement in facilitating practice was strictly hierarchical or non-­ existent could negatively influence their children’s musical possible selves. Creech (2006) analysed drawings produced by 220 violin students who were asked, “What is it like to learn the violin?” A content analysis of the drawings was carried out, revealing some patterns that linked elements of the drawings with self-reported characteristics of the parent-­ pupil-­teacher relationships that had been measured through a survey approach. For example, smiling pupils, parents and teachers were frequently found in the drawings that had been created by pupils who experienced strong motivation, high receptiveness to parental support and high enjoyment of music. Conversely, children who drew unhappy faces or figures with no face generally had lower motivation, less parental support and diminished enjoyment in their instrumental learning (see Figs. 9.1 and 9.2). ‘Responsive leadership’ may be particularly important for understanding parental support for instrumental learning (Creech, 2006). While children needed guidance, structure and personal support, they also needed autonomy and freedom to be agentic in their own learning. In this vein, effective and supportive parental involvement was found to be characterised by much practical assistance and emotional support during the early years of learning, resilience in the face of reluctant practising and sustained commitment as the child’s interested and supportive advocate long after practical help had ceased to be appropriate or welcomed (Box 9.2). A key take-away message from Creech’s study was that parents should not become uninvolved in their children’s learning in the name of agency, nor disempower their children in the name of ‘support’.

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Fig. 9.1  Parental support woven in to a positive musical possible self

Home-Schooling in Music Home-schooling is another situation where parents facilitate musical learning. Nichols (2005) explored music education in home-schooling for three families in the USA. It emerged that learning music as part of the children’s formal education at home served different purposes for each family. These purposes influenced the way musical learning was organised and facilitated. For example, one of the families used music learning to

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Fig. 9.2  Limited parental support woven in to a negative musical possible self

Box 9.2  Different Modes of Facilitating Practising at Home Hierarchical mode Her expectations of herself are often far higher than she is prepared to push herself to reach. Because I have always been part of her practice sessions, she finds it difficult to motivate herself to practise, and I feel I have to do a lot of the work to get her to practise. (Mother of 11-year-­ old pupil) With the Suzuki method, parents are very involved and the teacher always ensures we as parents understand the teaching points needed to practise at home. I don’t think Harriet would have made as much progress if she had had traditional lessons. (Mother of 10-year-old pupil) I always assisted in the past, helping with positioning, accompanying and reading instructions … (Mother of 14-year-old pupil) (continued)

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Box 9.2  (continued) Recently allowed him to practise by himself which has had a positive effect. I think he feels more responsible for his own progress. (Mother of 12-year-old pupil) Cooperative/Autonomous mode I’m glad she accepts me as an accompanist and through that we can make music, and I can find ways to comment on her playing which are not ‘fraught’. (Father of 12-year-old pupil) Reassurance, praise and worries discussed when needed. (Mother of 15-year-old pupil) Feel it is vital to be flexible over study. To encourage and support rather than drive and push. Must aim for child to take control and direct own learning … As the father of a 14-year-old violinist (who had the same teacher for over 8–9 years) I have come to learn that a love of playing music is more important than the highest standard in playing music in my child. My dream would be that my son will pick up his violin to play music for the love of music and playing music. Long after I have parted this world!!! (Father of 14-year-old pupil) I see my role as supportive and appreciative. Too much parental direction would be counterproductive. (Mother of 16-year-old pupil)

help their children foster connections with the world and to nurture transferable skills such as perseverance and effort. As facilitators of learning, these parents planned for the musical activities to take place both in oneto-one (individual piano lessons) and in group settings (a research project at a local university on composing music with computers as well as general music activities such as singing and playing Orff instruments) outside the family home. However, the parents monitored progress by supervising home practice and communicating regularly with the music teachers. For a second family, music learning was thought to stimulate and reveal their children’s potential ‘gifts’ (i.e. talents). The children of this family experienced instrumental tuition outside the home, and there was no reference to parental involvement with their children’s musical learning at home. As the wider literature concerned with parental involvement discussed above

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(e.g. Creech, 2006; McPherson & Davidson, 2002) might have predicted, “out of their nine children, the oldest five have had one year of piano lessons, but none of them have continued piano instruction” (Nichols, 2005, p. 35), although they were encouraged to contribute to musical activities in the church (singing, ringing handbells and playing instruments in worship). Finally, a third family valued music as part of a complete education. This family devised a musical curriculum delivered by the father, who was a trained music educator, differentiated for each of their five children. Musical learning took an integrated approach incorporating “music listening, movement, creative play with music, singing songs, listening to [the father] sing songs, tonal pattern instruction, rhythm pattern instruction… [and being exposed to] a wide variety of music” (p. 35). The music curricula in these three family contexts varied depending on the parents’ philosophies concerned with the role of music in education and more generally in life. Although the researcher (Nichols, 2005) did not provide any information about the children’s perceptions of their musical learning, it may be that the very different frameworks for experiencing music in the home may have become woven into their musical possible selves in particular ways. This is not to say that music learning in the home determines who we might become, musically. Indeed, see Chaps. 6 and 8 in this book for a discussion of some other contexts where home-schooled children may explore and articulate their musical possible selves. Rather, we are highlighting that hierarchical, cooperative and autonomous orientations to learning may be found within the informal home environment and that within that context parent-child musical interactions may have far-reaching consequences for children’s musical trajectories.

 utonomous Orientations to Music Learning A Through Self-Directed Musicking Bedroom Musicians Rapid advances in accessible music technology have contributed to the emergence of “bedroom musicians” (Youth Music, 2019, p. 15), who use technology in the home to intentionally explore and make sense of their

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musical worlds (see Chap. 11 for a full discussion of self-directed learning). Musical meaning-making, among this group of self-directed learners, takes place within a context supported by online open-source software or resources as well as informal peer learning. The bedroom is an environment where music listening takes place for leisure, learning and wellbeing (DeNora, 2000; Green, 2002; Lincoln, 2004). Green’s (2002) work provided several narratives from popular musicians on how the bedroom acted as a space for learning, experimenting and creating through the acts of listening to music and through playing along to recordings or trying original music on musical instruments. Lincoln (2004, p. 400) argued that for teenagers the bedroom “is often the first space in which they are able to exert some control, be creative and make that space their own. It is a space in which their cultural biography can be nurtured” (Box 9.3).

Box 9.3  Bedroom (Professional) Musician Billie Eilish Billie Eilish …At age eight, Eilish was singing in the prestigious Los Angeles Children’s Chorus and writing songs with her brother Finneas while the two were home-schooled. When Eilish turned 13, the duo uploaded their dreamy song ‘Ocean Eyes’ to SoundCloud and the track exploded overnight, eventually racking up over 200 million Spotify plays…‘Ocean Eyes’ was a game-­ changer for Eilish, but it wasn’t the only song the sibling duo self-released before signing to the UK-based A&R company Platoon, and, later, Interscope in 2016. Even with major-label backing, however, Eilish continues to write and record with her brother in his bedroom studio, where they created her debut album, WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?… From a young age the home-schooled Eilish had a lot of freedom to explore every creative impulse and was encouraged to consume all kinds of art. Her father would make her mixtapes featuring everything from Green Day to The Beatles, and, aged nine, Eilish would later perform ‘Happiness Is A Warm Gun’ at her home-school talent show. As she grew up and developed her own musical tastes, she fell in love with hip-hop and other genre-defying artists like Earl Sweatshirt and Childish Gambino… (Retrieved on 28 February 2020 from https://www.udiscovermusic.com/ stories/billie-eilish-introduction/)

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For bedroom musicians making music in the “creative solitude”1 of their personal space, resources such as YouTube videos can function as an integral part of the process of contextualised meaning-making. Such videos are often structured with an informal and friendly dynamic (Marone & Rodriguez, 2019). Although the material itself may be highly structured and sequenced in a linear manner, learners can engage with these resources in a manner that accords with their immediate or long-term goals, and can share and discuss the resources with other learners (Box 9.3). However, notwithstanding the panoply of available online resources that can support and connect ‘bedroom musicians’, Youth Music (2019) draws attention to a well-rehearsed critique of self-directed learning, namely the question of whether such individual learning enables people to reach their full learning potential (Zepke & Leach, 2002). After all, learners “do not automatically select the most appropriate experience” and “for experience to become educational it has to be subjected to critical analysis, not just accepted at face value” (Zepke & Leach, p. 207). Youth Music (2019, p. 15) cautions that: If young people don’t have access to professional guidance, they’re less likely to have support to progress to more advanced levels of technical competence, to learn from expert role models, to understand the career paths available to them, and to be aware of key legal issues and risks in the music industry.

This view would suggest that we need a more fully integrated understanding of music learning, positioning the strategies employed by independent ‘bedroom musicians’ within a holistic framework that includes a range of accessible support for progression.

Musical Compilations The art of crafting music compilations is one form of music-making undertaken by self-directed ‘bedroom musicians’ in the home (Pate &  Retrieved 28 February 2020 from https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/apr/04/tim-jonzeindie-music. 1

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Kumm, 2017). This ‘genre’ has been described as a “gesture toward connection to one’s self, others, and the larger world” (Pate & Kumm, 2017, p. 100) whereby: One is affirming the intensive moments when life events contract to take on the sensuous and sonic meanings carried in a song … One is caught in the act of creation, enchanted in composing a mix of songs that invites, engenders, and solicits connections that are affirmative at the core (Pate & Kumm, 2017, p. 110).

Musical compilations may be interpreted as a form of ‘musical storytelling’ that emphasises listening, creativity and sharing. In this sense, the process can be described as an “aural” and “emotive” experience that the creator shares or “gifts” with the intent “to be playfully expressive by communicating deeply meaningful and significantly felt experiences woven throughout each piece of the grander whole” (Pate & Kumm, 2017, p. 103). Musical compilations, interpreted as a self-narrative, “communicate, invoke or otherwise transmit something of an emotional value, that gives the story significance, meaning and relevance” (p. 104). For example, speaking about Paul Simon’s song “Graceland” (1986), compilation creator Phillip explained: Graceland. Grace. Land. It takes me there. Totally transformed, where I don’t feel disconnected anymore. I feel part of something bigger than me, part of something that validates the core of who I am and I’ve got to share that with somebody (Pate & Kumm, 2017, p. 105).

The compilation process requires musical skills such as being able to aurally identify musical components such as melodies, rhythms, lyrics and tempi, as well as competence in using technology. ‘Good’ compilations depend on the music learners’ ability to successfully combine material from various other sources (decontextualisation) and intentionally recompose different excerpts into a new mix (recontextualisation). Through this mixing of sources, the music learner narrates an intended story that is “inherently vulnerable to criticism, misinterpretation, or even disinterest” (p. 108).

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Understood through manifold learning, the process of crafting musical compilations unfolds through immersion in the full cycle of experiential, imaginal, conceptual and practical learning. Experiential learning occurs through purposeful listening to different musical tracks. Imaginal learning emerges through ‘thinking outside of the box’ about how this material could be combined to communicate an intended message. The creator then develops conceptual understandings of how the musical elements (different rhythms, tempi, melodies, dynamics etc) could work together to support musical expression. Lastly, practical learning emerges from trial and error or ‘just in time’ learning with different music programmes or platforms that could make musical compilations possible. In this vein, guidance on how one could go about crafting compilations can be found on numerous platforms available on social media and online platforms (e.g. Spotify, Facebook, Pandora). Autonomous compilation crafting requires music learners, young and old, to explore what needs to be learnt (planning dimension of learning); to decide on the steps involved in creating these compilations (structuring learning); and to decide how this process has meaning for them (meaning dimension). It may also involve developing strategies for persistence in the face of obstacles (confronting dimension of learning); and making deliberate decisions about which music is privileged, and therefore what kind of cultural message is conveyed, in the compilation (valuing dimension of learning).

 he Implications of Musical Learning T in the Home for Musical Possible Selves As argued in Chap. 1, possible selves may be understood as domain-­specific, dynamic, elaborate and salient narratives that are interdependent with the self-concept. These narratives express agency and convey an ‘insider perspective’ derived from authentic and vicarious experience. In this chapter, we have seen how musical experience and interactions in the home, beginning in early childhood and continuing throughout our lives, can provide the foundation for our musical trajectories and for the ways that we express ourselves musically. Personally, meaningful musical experience within the

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home may be particularly salient for musical possible selves, as “the practices in which we find meaning become the practices in which we invest our identities” (Hall, Curtin, & Rutherford, 2014, loc.4659). Musical experiences in the home through interactions with the parents (singing and playing during early years, in the context of instrumental practice or home-schooling); and through technology (being a bedroom musician; e.g. creating musical compilations) play a foundational role in the ways that we explore, accept, enact or reject our musical possible selves across the life-course. Parents or carers who provide a balance of guidance and support alongside opportunities for agency and autonomy may therefore play a significant role in the musical narratives of their children. In this vein, parents may provide their children with the tools to become musical culture-bearers (passing on established musical traditions) or culture-brokers and builders who weave their musical experiences in creative and innovative ways. We conclude this chapter with the story of music teacher Kaanha, whose reflections bring coherence to his past, present and future musical possible selves (Box 9.4). Kaanha illustrates the significance of music Box 9.4 The Home as a Foundation for Musical Possible Selves Kaanha: reflections on music in the home I’m an instructor and I teach Indian folk music … I was encouraged because it ran in my family, even in India, so you know my mother’s brother etc. they’re all musicians, songwriters, singers … parents encouraging [participation] … those are the kind of key areas … [as a child] I was surrounded by music and instruments. And I kind of tampered with the instruments when they [my siblings] weren’t around and stuff like that, and then they kind of lost interest and moved on to different things and I’m the one who kind of took the role as musician, that’s where it started … that’s what inspired me. You know you’ve got to see and hear something; you’ve got to experience it. And you’ve got to kind of do a lot more of it … The things that inspired me [were] to watch and see and be moved by a base line or a chord or a melody, you know. Some melodies, base lines and chords or riffs that kind of moved me then, they still move me now …it takes you somewhere else, it’s another world, isn’t it? … I think maybe it starts at home… (From Creech, Saunders, & Welch, 2016)

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learning in his home, his musical interactions with siblings and parental support. He speaks of becoming embedded in a musical home environment, where the role of ‘musician’ is conferred upon him. In particular, he emphasises experiential learning, learning through observing and persistence, stating the “you’ve got to experience it”, but also following up with “and you’ve got to do a lot more of it”. Kaanha’s story encapsulates the coherence that narrative can bring to the idea of musical possible selves; music ‘started in the home’, is a core part of his present identity (‘I teach Indian folk music’) and continues to offer new possibilities (‘it’s another world’).

References Abad, V. (2017). Music early learning programs: Parental beliefs, aspirations and participation. PhD, University of Queensland, Australia. Creech, A. (2006). Dynamics, harmony, and discord: A systems analysis of teacher-­ pupil-­ parent interaction in instrumental learning. PhD, Institute of Education, London. Creech, A. (2016). The role of the family in supporting learning. In S. Hallam, I.  Cross, & M.  Thaut (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of music psychology (a2643061; Chap. 31, 2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. Creech, A., Saunders, J., & Welch, G. (2016 (April)). Musical pride: Music education in plural communities. London: UCL Institute of Education for ‘The Mix’ Luton, Leicester and Slough Music Hubs. Available at: http://leicestershiremusichub.org/uploads/musical-pride-music-education-in-plural-communities.pdf Custodero, L. (2006). Singing practices in 10 families with young children. Journal of Research in Music Education, 54(1), 37–56. Custodero, L., & Johnson-Green, E.  A. (2003). Passing the cultural torch: Musical experience and musical parenting of infants. Journal of Research in Music Education, 51(2), 102–114. De Vries, P. (2007). Using poetry as data representation to explore music opportunities parents provide for their children at home. Music Education Research, 9(1), 17–34. DeNora, T. (2000). Music in everyday life. Cambridge University Press. Green, L. (2002). How popular musicians learn. Ashgate.

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Hall, K., Curtin, A., & Rutherford, V. (2014). Networks of mind: Learning, culture, neuroscience (Kindle). Routledge. Koops, L. H. (2014). Songs from the car seat: Exploring the early childhood music-making place of the family vehicle. Journal of Research in Music Education, 62(1), 52–65. Lincoln, S. (2004). Feeling the noise: Teenagers, bedrooms and music. Leisure Studies, 24(4), 399–414. Marone, V., & Rodriguez, R. (2019). “What’s so awesome with YouTube”: Learning music with social media celebrities. Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, 9(4), e201928. https://doi.org/10.29333/ojcmt/5955 McPherson, G., & Davidson, J. (2002). Musical practice: Mother and child interactions during the first year of learning an instrument. Music Education Research, 4(1), 141–156. Mehr, S. (2014). Music in the home: New evidence for an intergenerational link. Journal of Research in Music Education, 62(1), 78–88. Nichols, J. (2005). Music education in homeschooling: A preliminary inquiry. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 166, 27–42. Niland, A. (2017). Singing and playing together: A community music group in an early intervention setting. International Journal of Community Music, 10(3), 273–288. Pate, J., & Kumm, B. (2017). Contemplating compilations—An invitation to…. In R.  Mantie & G.  D. Smith (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of music making and leisure (pp. 99–113). Oxford University Press. Pitt, J. (2014). An exploratory study of the role of music with participants in children’s centres. PhD, University of Roehampton, London, UK. Youth Music. (2019). The Sound of the Next Generation. Youth Music and Ipsos MORI. Zepke, N., & Leach, L. (2002). Contextualised meaning making: One way of rethinking experiential learning and self-directed learning? Studies in Continuing Education, 24(2), 205–217.

10 Peer Learning and the Construction of Musical Possible Selves

This chapter considers the characteristics and potential benefits or challenges associated with peer learning across multiple music education contexts. The emergence of informal peer learning as a central element of music education is considered, with a particular focus on relational dynamics in peer learning in secondary, further and higher education contexts. We consider the ways in which, in music learning and participation, peer learning can be structured as hierarchical, cooperative or collaborative and autonomous. The implications of peer learning for emergent musical possible selves are discussed.

The Power of Peer Learning The idea of peer learning has come to encompass many perspectives concerned with students learning from and with each other. Peer learners, referring to those from the same cohort or concurrently experiencing a similar learning situation, interact and co-construct knowledge; this happens across a range of contexts and may be framed by informal, non-­formal or formal approaches (Boud, Cohen, & Sampson, 2001). © The Author(s) 2020 A. Creech et al., Contexts for Music Learning and Participation, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48262-6_10

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For example, peer learning may be found when students work cooperatively or collaboratively on joint projects, engage in peer-to-peer assessment practices, mentor or coach one another, or interact in informal ways outside of guided learning tasks. Peer learning may be symmetrical, “where interaction assumes relative egalitarian social and cognitive ability”, or alternatively asymmetrical with “defined roles for novice and expert”, or “helped” and “helper” (Johnson, 2017, p.  164). Informal learning among peers has been defined as “peer to peer learning” (Reid & Duke, 2015), contrasting with more formal, guided “peer assisted learning” (Topping, 2005). Symmetrical or asymmetrical peer learning, be it intentional and formally guided or alternatively emergent, organic and spontaneous, can enrich learning outcomes by providing a framework for cognitive challenge, the exploration of new ideas and the co-construction of knowledge (Biggs, 2003; Topping, 2005). Peer learning as an instructional intervention has been shown to be associated with positive learning outcomes that include enhanced attainment levels, social skills, motivation and psychological wellbeing (Falchikov & Goldfinch, 2000; Hattie, 2009; Johnson, Johnson, & Smith, 2007; Rohrbeck, Ginsburg-Block, Fantuzzo, & Miller, 2003). Similarly, in music education, peer learning has been associated with positive achievement (Dakon & Cloete, 2018; Darrow, Gibbs, & Wedel, 2005; Goodrich, 2007; Johnson, 2017; Lebler, 2007), reflection and dialogue about musical development (Nielsen, Johansen, & Jørgensen, 2018) as well as a range of wider benefits related to personal identity and motivation (Kokotsaki & Hallam, 2007). At its best, peer learning, defined as “the acquisition of knowledge and skill through active helping and supporting among status equals or matched companions” (Topping, 2005, p.  631), provides a framework where together learners may achieve elaborate and deep understanding of the activities that they undertake. Box 10.1 demonstrates peer-to-peer learning in a music project with primary school-aged children, where the objective was “to enable all participants to play an equal part in the creation and performance of work, and to play a role that matches their interests and skills” (Hering, 2016, np).

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Box 10.1  Asymmetrical Peer-to-Peer Learning with Assistive Music Technologies Case Study: Peer-to-peer inclusive learning and teaching with Assistive Music Technology (from: Hering, 2016 https://www.drakemusic.org/blog/ jon/film-amt-ambassadors/) Drake Music used Assistive Music Technology (AMT), including music- and sound-making equipment, to support inclusive musical creation and performance activities with young people. Creative music sessions were participant-­led, with the aim of fostering a sense of ownership and pride amongst participants. Participants chose their project theme, the sounds they wanted to create, the instruments they would use and the structure of the musical work [autonomous orientation to meaning-making]. These decisions and subsequent musical interactions were guided by ‘AMT Ambassadors’—peers (children in Years 5 and 6) who had been trained in using the AMT and to lead sessions with younger children. Drake Music facilitators supported the participants, offering options and suggestions when appropriate [cooperative planning, structuring, valuing]. Drake music reported positive and powerful outcomes associated with the ‘asymmetrical’ peer-to-peer learning and teaching framework: • Pride, confidence, maturity and self-esteem in the Ambassadors, derived from their new skills and the position of responsibility; • An understanding of self-reflection and evaluation to inform future work; • Excellent role-modelling presented to the younger children, and inspiration for when they are higher up the school; • Confidence in the learning and application of new technology by the young people; • Contribution to a culture of skill-sharing and peer-to-peer learning within the school; • A legacy which can continued beyond this project, and with future Ambassadors. These outcomes demonstrated experiential learning (feelings of pride and confidence emerging from their leadership experience), imaginal learning (providing inspiration for future work), conceptual learning (new understandings through reflection and evaluation) and practical learning (developing a culture of skill-sharing). The opportunities for role modelling, for exploration of new ways of making music and for experience of leadership may have shaped the musical possible selves amongst AMTs as well as the younger members of their groups.

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Explanations for the power of peer learning are grounded in sociocultural theory, emphasising the role of social interaction and the use of cultural tools in the co-creation of shared understandings (Gauvain, 2005). Topping (2005) proposes that knowledge construction amongst peers is shaped by (1) organisational structure (e.g. time on task), (2) cognitive challenge (e.g. disrupting existing beliefs), (3) scaffolding and monitoring (e.g. support from a more competent other), (4) communication skills (e.g. listening, explaining, questioning) and (5) affective context (e.g. a trusting relationship). Each of these five areas has implications for the iterative and shared process of acquiring and reconstructing knowledge. Whether or not the peers are positioned as ‘helper’ and ‘helped’ or as more proximal partners, through repeated cycles of implicit and explicit feedback, the peer learners become “more consciously aware of what is happening in their learning interaction, and more able to monitor and regulate the effectiveness of their own learning strategies in different contexts” (Topping, 2005, p. 638). A complementary theoretical model (Johnson & Johnson, 2009) frames the power of peer learning with social interdependence theory. From this perspective, learners perceive that they will reach their goals if others with whom they are working similarly achieve their goals. Through interdependent peer learning, new insights, increased effort and mutually facilitative actions in learning may emerge. Positive interdependence in peer learning has also been associated with developing social skills, positive relationships and even enhanced psychological wellbeing (Hanson, Trolian, Paulsen, & Pascarella, 2016). In accordance with social interdependence theory, it has been argued that the promised advantages of peer learning are contingent upon learning tasks being structured in such a way as to promote interdependence alongside individual accountability in working towards group goals (Tomcho & Foels, 2012). In this vein, collaborative peer learning may be most effective when students are supported with guidance on strategies and approaches to listening, encouraging and explaining, as well as building trust and respecting boundaries. Kutnick, Ota, and Berdondini (2008, p. 86), for example, state that “if pupil groups are to be an effective social pedagogic support … teachers must provide opportunities for the development and support of

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these relational group-working skills”. In the context of music, Johansen and Nielsen (2019, p. 2) reinforce this view, reminding us that a social peer context does not in itself guarantee that collaborative learning is happening. The development of a shared understanding and mutual engagement necessary for collaborative learning may be inhibited when the social environment is experienced as hostile or competitive, or when participants lack identification with each other.

Box 10.2 sets out the example of Sistema-inspired ensemble-based music education, where peer learning and teaching typically plays a central role and has been highlighted as a positive feature of these programmes. Notwithstanding this focus on peer learning, a general lack of clarity about how effective, socially interdependent peer learning can be supported was noted by the team who undertook an international review of research and theoretical literature concerned with Sistema-inspired programmes (Creech, Fairbanks, et al., 2016). Box 10.2  The Challenges and Affordances of Peer Learning in Ensemble-based Music Education Case Study: Peer learning within Sistema-inspired ensembles (Creech, Fairbanks, et al., 2016) The idea of peer learning and teaching has been a cornerstone of El Sistema and Sistema-inspired programmes; this concept appears in several mission statements and programme descriptions, internationally. Consistently, it has been noted that peer learning plays a primary role within the núcleos, taking place outside of the classroom, in informal and impromptu ways. The El Sistema approach capitalises on peer teaching and blurs the distinction between student and teacher. Bestowing students with teaching responsibilities provides opportunities for fostering a sense of ownership and deep engagement. Peer learning provides a space where students may potentially act as resources for one another, co-constructing musical possible selves and developing the capacity to reflect, grow and perform together. However, while Sistema programme instructors generally support the idea that peer learning is valuable, they are sometimes less clear about how this practice may be fostered and supported amongst students. This lack of clarity was reinforced by Baker (2014), who cautions against a ‘teach as you were taught’ approach to peer learning where inexperienced ‘peer teachers’ have responsibility for guiding young musicians in their personal and musical development.

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Relational Dynamics in Peer Learning The complexity of interpersonal dynamics in peer learning needs to be recognised. In this regard, whether peer learning is framed explicitly as an instructional intervention or as a more organic emergent property of informal learning, the idea of an “enacted practice” is relevant (Riese, Samara, & Lillejord, 2012, p. 602). In this vein, Riese et al. describe peer learning as a communicative process that is distinctive in its reliance on a safe and trusting social climate where disagreement is welcomed and where learning is mediated through available means. Exploring the enacted practice of peer learning, Riese et  al. (2012) synthesised seven qualitative studies (representing a range of contexts, including music) concerned with facilitated peer learning over a significant period of time. Their analysis modelled peer learning as “a guided interaction, where actors make use of available cultural means” (ibid, p. 616). Interactional elements included negotiation of the task, patterns of talk, and the role of disagreement and trust. According to this model, negotiation of task is non-linear, reappearing throughout the learning, and focuses on what is to be learnt as well as how it is to be learnt. Cyclical patterns of talk categorised as suggestions, elaborations, critique and agreements underpinned the establishment of social relations and construction of knowledge. Space for disagreement was found to be fundamental and generative, with disagreement typically initiating the cycles of patterns of talk. This might reflect the Piagetian idea of cognitive disequilibrium, whereby cognitive development is thought to be promoted when children encounter knowledge that does not accord with what is already known and resolve this cognitive conflict at least in part through peer interactions (Gauvain, 2005). However, Riese et al. (2012, p. 614) highlight that the process of resolving disagreement or cognitive conflict in an inclusive fashion is dependent on a “safe social atmosphere or trust within the social relations”. This point is reinforced by Nielsen et al. (2018, p. 7), who explored peer learning in the context of music conservatoires and pointed out that “not all collective learning forums may necessarily be experienced as constructive for all students, such as master- classes with a hostile or competitive atmosphere”.

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In addition to the facets of peer learning noted above (negotiation, patterns of talk, disagreement and trust), Riese et al. (2012) identified a number of ‘mediational means’ that framed peer learning and structured communication. Amongst these were language, the nature of the task, roles and rules of engagement and concrete materials. In particular, the researchers highlighted the category of ‘relational knowledge’—interpersonal knowledge about shared history, background, personality and attitudes—and its use as a mediational means. According to their analysis, these forms of relational knowledge played a powerful role in shaping interactions and the ways that peers approached the task. Peer relationships beyond the boundaries of the structured peer learning context or task may have unintended consequences, particularly with regard to establishing interdependency within a climate of trust. As Riese et  al. state, “relational knowledge can originate both inside and outside of the classroom. It may consist of conventionalised patterns of interaction, concrete shared history, as well as conceptions of peers’ characteristics, and their relations to self and others; in short: social patterns” (p. 618). The notion of relational knowledge reinforces the idea that friendship groups can play an important role in the conditions for peer learning. This may be a particularly salient issue in adolescence when young people turn to friendship groups for a sense of belonging and relatedness. For example, adolescents’ intrinsic motivation to participate in extra-­ curricular activities that they enjoy has been found to be influenced strongly by a sense of connection and support among peers (Beiswenger & Grolnick, 2009). In the context of music education, friendship groups used as a mediational means to support engagement and motivation in peer learning has been explored through the Musical Futures approach in secondary school classrooms (Box 10.3), where students engage in informal learning practices (Green, 2008; Hallam, Creech, & McQueen, 2018). As Green (2008, p. 10) reports, “friendship was important, not only for the psychological comfort of group members, but it is also of course crucial to being able to agree upon a choice of music in the first place. For as we know, musical taste is integral to teenagers’ identities and social group allegiances”.

Box 10.3  Musical Peer Learning in Friendship Groups, Mapped to Dimensions of Learning and Phases of the Development of Possible Selves Friendship Groups in Musical Futures Champion Schools (Hallam et al., 2018) Secondary students in eight case study Musical Futures Champion Schools took part in a longitudinal study, over three years, exploring their experiences of learning music through informal approaches. Learning took place in autonomous, pupil-led small groups, focusing on learning popular music. Students (particularly girls) believed that they worked better in music lessons when they worked with their friends. I liked that I could work with my friends because we work well together because we knew each other’s strengths and weaknesses. (Year 8 and 9, girl) [‘Discovering’] However, the students also reported some disadvantages: I think the best thing is you get to work with your friends but the worst thing is you’re probably going to have a bit of a laugh and waste your time and you don’t practise much. [‘structuring dimension’] You get there in the end. (Year 8, boy) [‘Growing’] Working with friends was not always dispute free: I think the good thing is you can be with your mates and if you mess up you can just carry on and get it right next time. [‘Imagining’] The bad thing is you can argue. (Year 8, boy) [‘confronting dimension’] In some cases, students indicated that their friends would know better than teachers what would sound best [‘valuing dimension’]. Several students reported that they asked their friends for help with instrumental skills, while those with more developed instrumental skills gained some status in class, as being able to provide help: Working in a group, because if we do something that ain’t that good we can improve on it [‘Growing’]. We’ll probably ask somebody else in the class what needs improving and they’ll tell us. [‘Reflecting’] The [other pupils] know what sounds best. (Year 9, boy) [‘Imagining’] There were people who didn’t really know anything and a few of us who knew quite a lot so we told them what chords and stuff. (Year 10, boy) [‘Growing’] Overall, the students recognised the complex issues relating to working in friendship groups: (continued)

Box 10.3  (continued) I think it’s good because you get to choose who you work with so you’re working with your friends and you get to know them better, it’s fun to sit with your friends, and the bad thing is when people don’t listen to you it takes forever and it could be really boring because you’re just doing nothing, and we had a member of our group that came like half way through the year so we let him in our group because apparently he’s a good singer and then he just left without telling us and we were just like, it could go wrong like that. (Year 9, boy) [‘Reflecting’] There were sometimes clashes over group leadership: The best thing is being able to work with a group and know that you can work with a group well [‘Performing’], but the worst thing is that most of them think that they’re the boss or they’re really good so they should be the best, leader, or something like that. (Year 8, boy) [‘feeling dimension’] Students had to learn how to resolve arguments through compromise: I think you learn how to deal with a group situation, like if someone isn’t necessarily participating as much as someone else, you learn how to deal with that and how to engage them in what you’re doing [‘feeling dimension’]. Like last music lesson we tried to work out the ending of our piece and we had four different ideas and none of us could decide which one, then we worked on it altogether to try and find a way that worked that suited all of us and then we did it in the end because we actually work together well as a group [‘valuing dimension’ [Performing]. (Year 9, girl) However, there were occasions when teachers had to mediate: You mainly sort it out between you but if it gets out of hand someone goes and gets the teacher to sort it out. (Year 8, boy) [confronting dimension] There were times when a breakdown in group work led to a complete lack of a musical output: We’ve been in groups with these other girls and we ain’t friends with them now but we were. We had like a massive fall out and at the end of the project they took the song and all the music so we were stuck with nothing [confronting and feeling dimensions]. We were like told off so didn’t get our work or level. (Year 8, girl) [‘Reflecting’] Overall, the students learnt about the benefits and difficulties of working in friendship groups and developed team-working skills to overcome some of the challenges. Friendship groups provided a safe and trusting environment where disagreement could initiate patterns of communication, ultimately leading to resolution of cognitive conflicts and the co-construction of new declarative and procedural knowledge.

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 ierarchy, Cooperation and Autonomy H in Peer Learning Peer learning is strongly associated with democratic rather than authority-­ based education, characterised by dialogue, mutuality, joint responsibility, and contextualised, applied learning (Allsup, 2003). In music education, there has been much critical questioning of the predominant individualised master-apprentice model of learning and a corresponding interest in collaborative peer learning (Gaunt & Westerlund, 2013). As Johansen and Nielsen (2019, p. 2) highlight, “the view is commonly held that peer learning may be particularly suitable to provide a context for collaborative learning … [whereby] the subjects in a group have a shared understanding of goals and a mutual engagement in problem solving”. However, historically, peer learning has been conceptualised as a hierarchical relationship, focusing on a ‘helper’ and a ‘helped, with the helper functioning as somewhat of a surrogate teacher in the directive transmission of knowledge (Topping, 2005). An example of hierarchical peer learning in music education is the practice of graduate students working with undergraduate students, where the structure and content of sessions emulate those of a traditional hierarchical teaching environment. Research focused on just such an initiative (Russell, 2009) has suggested that this arrangement missed the potential benefits of proximal peer-to-peer learning, and at the same time risked a credibility crisis, whereby undergraduate students did not always perceive the graduates as being sufficiently qualified. Within a similar paradigm of ‘peer tutoring’, Darrow et  al. (2005) structured a music theory activity with primary school students aged 9–11. The stated aim was to “make the student the teacher” (p.  21). Students role-played tutor or tutee in a music theory exercise where the tutor–tutee relationship simulated a hierarchical/cooperative teacher– student relationship. ‘Tutors’ were designated as the gatekeepers of knowledge tasked with helping their tutees to learn; accordingly, they were given scripts with an answer sheet along with prompts for problem-­ solving and error correction. Students undertook two activities (the first focused on learning flat key signatures and the second on sharp key signatures) and traded roles so that every student experienced being tutor as

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well as tutee. Pre- and post-tests revealed overall increases in understanding, suggesting that they did learn within a highly structured peer learning activity. The researchers highlighted the importance of reciprocal tutoring; this avoided the danger of establishing subordinate roles and allowed all students to experience being the ‘helper’ as well as the ‘helped’. However, this model of peer learning positioned mixed ability levels as a ‘problem’ rather than a resource that could potentially be exploited in more cooperative and differentiated models of peer learning. As the exercise was not compared to traditional teacher-led activities, and as the only outcome explored was increase in specific task-related knowledge, it was not possible to say whether peer tutoring, structured this way, offered any particular wider advantages for the students. Notwithstanding the hierarchical approaches described above, peer learning has come to be almost synonymous with the idea of cooperative or collaborative approaches, with the two terms at times being used interchangeably or alternatively conceptualised on a continuum from highly structured to autonomous (Hanson et al., 2016). With reference to peer learning in music education, Green (2008, p. 10) proposed that at one end of the continuum one may find “unconscious, implicit learning via group interaction”. At the other end of the continuum is, according to Green, “a more conscious approach, in which knowledge and skills are explicitly and intentionally communicated by one or more group members to one or more others”. Much of the research concerned with peer learning has focused on formal classroom contexts, where cooperative or collaborative learning activities are initiated by teachers, often with the aim of increasing autonomous and agentic learning (Reid & Duke, 2015). In accordance with Heron’s model of cooperative facilitation, the shared characteristics of cooperative and collaborative peer learning include the ideas of active learning, social interaction embedded in learning processes and shared responsibility. Adams and Hamm (1996) used the term “cooperative learning” to describe learning situations where individuals take personal responsibility for reaching group goals within a context of positive interdependence, requiring attention to the interpersonal process, time for reflection and a focus on developing interpersonal skills. Peer learning, from this perspective, involves mutuality in working towards a shared

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goal and requires that individuals articulate their own views but also take on the perspectives of other group members, leading to new understandings and reframing of ideas. As noted above, the distinction between collaborative and cooperative learning is thought by some (e.g. Springer, Stanne, & Donovan, 1999) to be related to structure, with the key difference residing in the autonomy afforded to students and the role of the teacher. From this perspective, cooperative learning is structured with goals set by teachers; the peer learning is intentional and framed by outcomes set by teachers or curricula. In contrast, collaborative learning may align with Heron’s (1999) autonomous mode, being relatively informal, unstructured and emergent, characterised by peer-to-peer dialogue and negotiation around goals and processes (Reid & Duke, 2015). In the context of musical ensemble work, while cooperation has been described in terms of the organisational dimension (i.e. according to Topping’s (2005) model this includes discussion, planning and time management), collaboration may be implicated in the ongoing evaluation of performance to develop interpretation, the latter sometimes resulting in new and creative musical variation (Seddon & Biasutti, 2009). Similarly, Sawyer (2006) highlighted collaborative group work as being characteristic of emergent creative phenomena. Allsup (2003, p. 33) expresses this idea powerfully in his reflection on collaborative peer learning in a secondary school music context. As he explains, I observed that peer learning had less to do with the transmission of skills (say, Colin teaching Luke a guitar fingering, or vice versa) and more to do with the process of discovery (Colin and Luke creating a chord progression together). Simply put, participants discovered more thanks to the input of their peers … creating music with new people “opened up” possibilities-­ possibilities for ‘cool ideas’.

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Is Peer Learning Inclusive? Peer learning in music may contribute to a climate of inclusion, whereby all learners are able to participate, achieve and experience a sense of belonging “despite challenges stemming from poverty, class, race, religion, linguistic and cultural heritage or gender” (Burnard, Dillon, Rusinek, & Sæther, 2008, p.  10; Jellison, Brown, & Draper, 2015). Collaborative music education activities have been found to encourage tolerance and acceptance of others perceived as different (Humpal & Wolf, 2007; Jellison, Brooks, & Huck, 1984). Furthermore, community ethics, conceptualised as the competencies for forging strong friendships, helping fellow community members and being proactive in combating social inequities, have been found to be characteristic of student learning and participation in musical ensembles (Miksza, 2010). As Hallam (2015, p. 84) summarises, peer learning in music “has the potential to promote social cohesion and support inclusion”, creating “bonds which are not easily created in other ways”. The pedagogies of inclusion within music education contexts were investigated by Burnard et al. (2008), who interrogated four music education case studies representing four different countries. Across the four contexts, some clear intersections between inclusion and peer learning were found, in particular focused around activities that provided scope for the development of personal agency and self-regulated learning alongside teamwork. Pedagogies associated with inclusive music-making were further discussed by O’Neill (2015, p.  608) who similarly highlighted learner-centred and expansive music learning activities that were “goal-­ oriented, contextual, interesting, challenging, relevant (or related to real-­ world experiences), and social or interactive”. In a similar vein, Green (2008) describes how the Musical Futures approach provided a framework for inclusive, differentiated peer learning. Students who had previously been disaffected and disengaged from learning were provided the space, within autonomous peer learning groups, to explore, discover, construct and apply knowledge in activities that linked closely with their out-of-school musical lives.

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According to Laes and Westerlund (2017), inclusive pedagogy demands that we rethink hierarchical and authoritative pedagogical orientations that reinforce the idea of “a one-way process of normalization”. They explored the learning that emerged when music teacher trainees attended pedagogical music workshops led by musicians living with learning disabilities. A key finding was the potential for an “expanded professionalism” (p.  41), informed by blended and interactive, reciprocal learning among the trainees and musicians. This “third space”, they argued, allowed for “diverse, non-hierarchical expert positionings” (p.  42). Inclusive music education was here achieved “with, and by, people and practices that form a counter-narrative to dominant and normative discourses in music education”.

 he Implications of Peer Learning for Musical T Possible Selves Across the Life-course In this chapter, we have argued in favour of democratic, dialogic and active forms of peer learning. Here, we propose that these forms of collaborative peer learning may support personal growth and enhanced motivation, in turn shaping musical possible selves with lifelong implications. In particular, cooperative or collaborative peer learning that offers opportunities to observe others similar to oneself performing in experiential learning activities may provide material for personally meaningful elaboration of narratives around musical possible selves. Likewise, experimenting with and evaluating provisional selves may provide fertile ground for nurturing personalised future self-stories (see Chap. 1). In this vein, Hogle (2018) explored peer scaffolding and the development of personal agency in the context of choral education, reporting that “peer scaffolding … fostered and supported learners’ construction of musical understanding, musical agency, and the personhood of individuals within the group (p. vi) … in a learning community of musical practice, meaning-­ making and music-making then becomes self-making …”. An extra-curricular youth string orchestra programme (serving participants aged 8–26) with social aims, described by Dakon and Cloete (2018,

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p. 57), provides a further example of the ways in which possible selves may be shaped within musical peer learning: Anybody using Violet’s Sunday rehearsals is immediately confronted by music. It fills every available space, seeps through the hallways and gracefully infiltrates the sacred silences of an early Sunday morning. Music made by the older Violet members filters through the sliding doors and surrounds the younger orchestras’ rehearsal spaces. Unconsciously, the young ones hear where they are going to as Violet members, the music they will soon be able to play, and the orchestra they will soon join. Unknowingly, they are surrounded by sounds that inspire.

As the authors explain, the programme cultivates a culture of collaborative peer learning within teaching sessions. Asymmetrical peer learning (learners of different ages and musical accomplishment levels) extends into the informal spaces during breaks, where older participants teach younger newcomers. The programme is described as a “socio-music space that cultivates peer learning”, where “older students believe they should mentor the younger generations” (p.  69). In this context, peer-to-peer role modelling and mentoring may provide a structure for the development of well-understood musical self-stories. Within a conservatoire context, where the learning was heavily embedded in an individualistic and competitive master-apprentice model, Reid and Duke (2015) explored how collective peer knowledge could be captured and passed on to subsequent student cohorts. The first objective was to provide a space where peer-to-peer relational knowledge could be explored and made explicit, with a focus on learning and performance styles, artistry and the development of friendship groups. The second objective was to create an artefact that could be used to transfer this knowledge. Accordingly, two instrumental groups (pianists and saxophonists) each produced a video intended to convey knowledge that could be accessed by incoming students. As such, the videos were perceived by the students as a contribution to the institutional culture and knowledge, conceptualised as relational knowledge within an institutional “community of practice” (Reid & Duke, 2015). In making the videos, “the peer-learning discussions enabled the students to focus on

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how they learned rather than what they were learning” (p 231), in particular highlighting some tensions between the perceived value attached to hierarchical as opposed to cooperative or autonomous frameworks for learning. Although not stated explicitly, this initiative could be understood through the lens of possible selves in two ways. First, peer discussion groups provided an opportunity for collaborative critical exploration of the development of professional musical selves within a conservatoire culture. Secondly, this collective knowledge, as an artefact, provided an opportunity for vicarious learning on the part of incoming cohorts, in turn shaping their possible selves as conservatoire students. Similarly, Nielsen et al. (2018) explored learning from peers in a conservatoire context, focusing on student attitudes and behaviours concerned with peer learning as a means for supporting instrumental practice. This study was premised on the idea that valuable opportunities for vicarious learning could reside in practising with peers, whereby through visualising peers similar to oneself perform successfully, students could visualise and enhance their capabilities to master comparable tasks. Nielsen et al. (2018, p. 7) demonstrates how peer practising could support motivation in the form of salient possible musical selves, proposing that “in line with the theory of vicarious learning, it is fair to assume that identification with each other’s learning processes through sharing experiences and reflections, can contribute to inner motivation … as well as enhance their transfer of learning to different contexts”. Possible selves, nurtured through musical participation, continue to be fluid and dynamic across the life-course. As Creech et al. (2014) reported in their study of the social, emotional and cognitive benefits of music-­ making among older adults, opportunities for music learning and participation functioned as a vehicle for redefining one’s identity as a musician or rediscovering a lost possible musical self. Participants reminisced about the role of music in their family life as children and their early education. In some instances, childhood experiences had shaped their musical possible selves, with direct implications for their lifelong engagement or disengagement in active music-making. Through peer learning that was at times hierarchical, cooperative or autonomous in structure, older adults developed, reframed or, in some cases, rekindled strong musical identities. Musical possible selves were shaped within a community of

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musicians, through performing with their professional musician facilitators and through many hours making music and practising. ‘Being a musician’ was a new role, bringing with it strong social affirmation, purpose and a sense of belonging.

Concluding Thoughts We have demonstrated the ubiquity of peer learning in music, across a number of contexts. In brief, where learners gather and participate together in music-making, the possibilities for peer learning abound. As we have suggested, the extent to which peer learning is inclusive and fosters positive and interdependent learning outcomes may be contingent upon facilitation of the task as well as the group dynamic. However, although music education (and particularly instrumental learning) remains wedded to individualistic ways of learning, peer learning offers much under-explored potential to enrich and deepen music learning. The observation of peers, interdependent learning in peer groups, as well as mutual dialogue and reflection on learning goals and outcomes are all relevant and vital facets of music learning, and, indeed, may number among the most powerful influences that shape our musical possible selves.

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Boud, D., Cohen, R., & Sampson, J. (2001). Peer learning in higher education: Learning from & with each other. Kogan Page. Burnard, P., Dillon, S., Rusinek, G., & Sæther, E. (2008). Inclusive pedagogies in music education: A comparative study of music teachers’ perspectives from four countries. International Journal of Music Education, 26(2), 109–126. https://doi.org/10.1177/0255761407088489 Creech, A., Fairbanks, S., Gonzalez-Moreno, P., Lorenzino, L., Sandoval, E., & Waitman, G. (2016). El Sistema and Sistema-inspired programmes: A literature review of research, evaluation, and critical debates. Sistema Global. Retrieved from http://www.artshealthresources.org.uk/docs/el-sistema-and-sistemainspired-programmes-a-literature-review-of-research-evaluation-and-critical-debates/ Creech, A., Hallam, S., Varvarigou, M., Gaunt, H., McQueen, H., & Pincas, A. (2014). The role of musical possible selves in supporting subjective well-­ being in later life. Music Education Research, 16(1), 32–49. Dakon, J. M., & Cloete, E. (2018). The Violet experience: Social interaction through eclectic music learning practices. British Journal of Music Education, 35(1), 57–72. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0265051717000122 Darrow, A.-A., Gibbs, P., & Wedel, S. (2005). Use of classwide peer tutoring in the general music classroom. Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, 24(1), 15–26. https://doi.org/10.1177/87551233050240010103 Falchikov, N., & Goldfinch, J. (2000). Student peer assessment in higher education: A meta-analysis comparing peer and teacher marks. Review of Educational Research, 70(3), 287–320. Gaunt, H., & Westerlund, H. (2013). Collaborative learning in higher music education. Ashgate. Gauvain, M. (2005). Sociocultural contexts of learning. In A.  Maynard & M.  I. Martini (Eds.), Learning in cultural context family, peers, and school (pp.  12–40). Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers. https://doi. org/10.1007/0-387-27550-9 Goodrich, A. (2007). Peer mentoring in a high school jazz ensemble. Journal of Research in Music Education, 55(2), 94–114. https://doi.org/ 10.1177/002242940705500202 Green, L. (2008). Music, informal learning and the school: A new classroom pedagogy. Ashgate. Hallam, S. (2015). The power of music. London: UCL Institute of Education for the Music Education Council.

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11 Musical Possible Selves and Self-­ directed Music Learning Across the Lifespan

In this chapter we address questions concerning the principles and practices of self-directed learning (SDL). Our overarching argument is that SDL is necessarily learner-centred, whether the learning is in pursuit of new knowledge or alternatively with the intention of consolidating prior knowledge. We consider the idea of contextualised meaning-making, positioning self-directed musical learning in relation to the cycle of experiential learning as proposed by Heron (1999, 2009). Drawing upon examples of music learning that include young people as well as adults, we suggest that while SDL is aligned strongly with informal contexts, it may likewise be nurtured within non-formal and formal music learning. Irrespective of context, we highlight that learners interact with resources such as tutorials, tutor books, web-based materials, peers, family members or teachers, each of which may be structured with cooperative or autonomous orientations to teaching, learning and assessment. Furthermore, we raise some critical questions concerning the potential for SDL to be integrated into a wider, holistic concept of music learning and participation. Finally, we highlight the intertwined nature of SDL, musical experience, environmental and social factors, and emergent musical possible selves.

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What Is Self-directed Learning? Self-directed learning is individual, purposeful and developmental (Morris, 2019), and arguably a fundamental competence that equips and empowers learners in the face of complex and rapidly changing demands of twenty-first-century society. This intentional and highly differentiated approach to learning (Schugurensky, 2000) necessitates that responsibility lies with the learner for setting learning goals and for making decisions about how to achieve those goals (Morris, 2019). The concept of SDL has roots in humanistic theories of learning, whereby learning plays an integral role in the process of self-actualisation. An underpinning assumption, from this perspective, is that learners have “unlimited potential for growth determined by the learner’s self-concept and individual understanding of the world” (Morris, 2019, p. 637). SDL may also be understood within a constructivist paradigm, whereby learning is conceptualised as meaning-making emerging from interactions between individuals and their environments. From this perspective, “it is assumed that the learner him- or herself actively builds up or construes his/her learning as mental structures” (Illeris, 2009, p. 12). Accordingly, critical reflection on the interplay between personal and social experience leads to growth and transformations in learners’ perspectives (Zepke & Leach, 2002). The potential for SDL to be supported within formal educational contexts was emphasised by Carl Rogers, a leading thinker in humanistic psychology. Rogers (1969) proposed that SDL was premised upon collaboration with learners in setting objectives, providing access to resources that learners could engage with independently, creating a climate of respect for divergence in opinions and attitudes towards the content, providing scope for learners to construct meaning in differentiated ways and crucially, encouraging learners to take ownership and responsibility for learning. Understood this way, while the overarching paradigm is SDL, the process is collaborative, whereby self-directedness emerges within a supportive and empowering context. In other words, the concept of SDL does not deny the importance of collaborative and interdependent learning (see Chap. 10). Indeed, within informal, formal or non-formal

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contexts, SDL may be seen as being shaped by the learner’s intrapersonal characteristics (including orientations to learning and beliefs about how knowledge is constructed) intersecting with environmental and societal factors (e.g. peer group dynamics, institutional demands, facilitator approaches, assessment of learning outcomes, beliefs and values in education) (Morris, 2019). For example, support for SDL within formal educational contexts may be constrained by teachers, as evidenced by Nasri (2017) who reported a reluctance amongst Malaysian higher education teachers to depart from hierarchical orientations to teaching and learning. Equally, learners themselves may resist, preferring others to direct their learning (Costa & Creech, 2019). SDL is perhaps most clearly aligned with informal contexts, where it has been differentiated from incidental or tacit learning that can occur in everyday life (Schugurensky, 2000; also, see Chap. 1). Early research in this domain was carried out by Tough (1971), who explored informal SDL among adults, outside of formal or non-formal contexts. Among the 66 research participants, individuals engaged with an average of eight SDL projects per year, most often with the intention of solving real-world problems within their everyday lives. This research demonstrated the prevalence of SDL in everyday life and highlighted its pragmatic and purposeful nature. Another key figure in research concerned with SDL among adults was Knowles (1975), who advocated that adults have a deep psychological need for self-direction and learn best through personally meaningful real-world experience (see Chap. 7). More recently, SDL has been investigated in the context of massive open online courses (MOOCs). In accordance with humanistic tenets, adults engaging with MOOCs have reported being motivated by curiosity, intrinsic interest and an internal quest for self-improvement (Bonk, Lee, Kou, Xu, & Sheu, 2015). Participants in MOOCs have described SDL as purposeful and transformational, with valued characteristics being “the freedom to learn, an abundance of resources, as well as choice, control and fun” (Morris, 2019, p. 644). In sum, theoretical frameworks and research concerned with SDL have emerged in the context of adult learning. With roots in humanistic ideas concerned with personal growth, transformations in perspective and self-­ actualisation, SDL is thought to be intentional, purposeful and

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developmental. As noted above, SDL may be found within informal, non-formal or formal contexts. In the following sections, we will explore the conditions that may support or alternatively constrain SDL within a range of contexts for learning and participation.

The Conditions for Self-directed Learning In this section, we frame our discussion with the six dimensions of learning identified by Heron (1999) and explore the ways in which SDL may be influenced by a dynamic interplay between learners, facilitators and resources. SDL is premised upon the assertion that “no-one can teach another person directly, but can only facilitate the learning” (Coffman, 2018, p. 699). As discussed in Chap. 1, Heron proposed three modes of facilitation, namely hierarchical, cooperative and autonomous, intersecting with six dimensions of learning, the first three of which are concerned with the ways in which learning is planned, structured and made meaningful for learners. With regard to the planning dimension, we suggest that a necessary condition of SDL is that learners themselves make autonomous decisions about what they will attend to in their learning. As Beach (2012, p. 599) explains, SDL “is not planned in a teacher’s mind, but rather it grows according to [the learner’s] needs and aspirations”. Autonomous self-directed planning is supported within a learning environment where there is scope for learners to refine their self-­ assessment and self-regulation skills. Self-regulation has been discussed extensively elsewhere (e.g. Varela, Abrami, & Upitis, 2016; Zimmerman, 1986, 2000), but in brief refers to the process by which individuals are “metacognitively, motivationally and behaviorally active participants in their own learning process”, including self-assessments (Zimmerman, 1986, p. 308). Be it within formal music education contexts, non-formal community music learning and participation, or even informal learning, self-assessment practices (involving reflection on performance and evaluation against internal or external standards) are linked with self-regulated learning and are key in supporting SDL focused around personally meaningful learning goals.

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A fundamental principle of SDL is the idea that learners engage with learning that they themselves perceive as having personal value and meaning. Therefore, the corollary to SDL may be autonomous facilitation, with regard to the meaning dimension of learning. This process of self-­ directed engagement with meaningful learning resonates with theoretical explanations for the relationship between motivation and self-­ determination. According to Self-determination Theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000), individuals are inherently disposed to integrate experiences into their sense of self. Similarly, the personal meaningfulness of learning tasks may become increasingly internalised, with consequences for motivation. For example, a piano student may practise in order to gain approval (internalised motivation). Further on, he or she may understand practising as being important in order to achieve a personal learning goal (identified motivation). Eventually, practising may become strongly embedded as part of the pianist’s identity (integrated motivation). The latter two motivational states (identified or integrated motivation) involve closely linked motivational beliefs about identity and behaviours and are characteristics of the ways in which the meaning dimension is experienced amongst self-directed learners. The structuring dimension of SDL may be less clearly associated with one or another facilitation mode. For example, self-directed learners may seek resources to support their learning. These may include physical resources such as books, websites, materials, and so on, or they may be interpersonal resources, including peer groups or facilitators. The way that learning tasks, activities and communities are structured may therefore be somewhat outside of the control of the learner, although self-­ directed learners would still exercise autonomous choices with regard to how to learn, engaging with the resources, activities or tasks that are perceived as being closely related to the learning goals. A further principle underpinning SDL, according to Coffman (2018, p. 699), is that “learners function best in flexible environments that are non-threatening”. The ways in which learners, either on their own or in collaboration with facilitators, can establish non-threatening learning environments are represented by the further three dimensions of learning proposed by Heron, namely the confronting, feeling and valuing dimensions. In this vein, self-directed learners are supported in identifying and

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transcending resistance to learning. Indeed, this ‘confronting dimension’ of learning may be a crucial and defining feature of transformational SDL (Varvarigou & Creech, in press), in the sense that the learning opens the door to profound change in the learner’s understanding, skills and knowledge. As Hase and Kenyon (2007, p. 112) have stated, Learning is an integrative experience where a change in behaviour, knowledge, or understanding is incorporated into the person’s existing repertoire of behaviour and schema … if learning has taken place, competencies can … [be] adapted in unfamiliar, unanticipated situations.

Finally, the feeling and valuing dimensions of learning are concerned with a positive interpersonal climate characterised by mutual respect. Here, it is through the autonomous or cooperative orientations to teaching and learning (e.g. found within interpersonal encounters or alternatively represented by inclusive and accessible learning resources) that diverse learner voices are privileged and celebrated, creating the scope for learners to be confident in taking ownership of their learning. In this section, we have considered some characteristics of learning environments and the learners themselves that may be propitious for SDL, framing our discussion with Heron’s six dimensions of learning. In the following section, we explore how meaning-making might be achieved through SDL within Heron’s model of manifold learning, comprising a cycle of experiential, conceptual, practical and imaginal learning. We then go on to discuss some examples of contexts for self-directed musical learning, extending the principles of SDL to young people as well as adults.

 elf-directed Learning and the Experiential S Learning Cycle In SDL, experience is the source of learning; “learning is a process of making meaning from all experiences—cognitive, emotional, physical, social and spiritual” (Zepke & Leach, 2002, p. 206). The link between experience and SDL has been conceptualised as “contextualised meaning-making”, whereby knowledge is constructed within distinctive

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settings (Zepke & Leach, 2002, p. 209). Contextualised meaning-making accounts for the relationships that learners have with peers, interactions with ‘teachers’ and critical reflection. Peers may be found in “family and their past, through the media, through reading, through conversations on the bus”, while a teacher, or ‘more knowledgeable other’, could be “another learner, a serendipitous contact or an author” (p.  210). Finally, critical reflection involves examination and critique of “how our normal understandings of life are a constructed reality” (ibid). As Heron (1999) proposes, the cycle of manifold learning involves a personal and collaborative process of making sense of experience (experiential learning), imagining new possibilities (imaginal learning), developing cognitive understandings (conceptual learning) and solving practical challenges (practical learning). In the following examples (Box 11.1), we demonstrate this cycle of experiential, contextual meaning-making in the context of informal music learning.

Box 11.1  Contextualised Musical Meaning-Making Contextualised meaning-making as self-taught musicians (from Thornton, 2010) The full experiential cycle of self-directed and contextualised meaning-­ making was captured in Thornton’s (2010) interview with John, a self-­taught guitar player, whose musical influences had included his father, who had taken him to live concerts, as well as “listening explorations with a group of high school peers [that] lead him to the sound of bluegrass” (p. 107) [experiential learning]. John describes a seminal experiential “critical incident” (Cunningham, 2008), from which emerges a lifetime of SDL. In this example, John describes the influences in his learning, including his peers (‘a friend’, his brother), serendipitous encounters (happening upon a seminal album) and ‘teachers’ in the form of other musicians and recorded artists. I discovered bluegrass because Jerry Garcia was a banjo player before he was a guitar player and there’s this band, Old and In the Way that he played with on the side in the early 70s. He played banjo and this guy, David Grisman, who is one of the great mandolin players, played with him. So, there is this seminal album, they only put out one album … So a friend of mine turned me on to that and I just sort of like, it just, you know, it was one of those musical epiphanies and from that, I got really into bluegrass. (Thornton, 2010, pp. 80–81) (continued)

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Box 11.1  (continued) John proceeded to learn the banjo on his own, eventually switching to guitar, with some informal practical support from his brother [practical learning]. As Thornton (p. 81) describes, “once John became hooked on bluegrass, he began listening to older styles of bluegrass to learn all that he could about the genre through its historical background and evolution”, as well as the song form and harmonic structure [conceptual learning]. John also alluded to imaginal learning through observing, capturing what may have been possible, unexpected or novel: “Seeing people play it [music] … it’s like three dimensional then because you can see them playing off of each other. You see what connects to what” (Thornton, 2010, p. 82). A second interviewee in Thornton’s study is Max, a self-directed music learner. Again, Max’s learning is contextualised within relationships with others and significant encounters. As Thornton (p. 107) explains, Max had access to many recordings inside his parents’ home and radio broadcasts were a major part of his day-to-day existence both as a child and throughout his life … he would often go into the community to hear live music of various kinds. In the following extract, Max conveys the interplay between experiential, imaginal conceptual learning. As Thornton (p. 53) describes, “Max experienced musical learning through his own discovery, in ‘hearing the way music is done’”. The process of musical meaning-making, for Max, involved appreciation of the beauty in the moment of engaging with the music, alongside the cognitive, analytical processes involved in listening and sense-making. I just really enjoy noticing what’s going on in the music. You know, I know the instruments pretty well, so I can often, not always, obviously, but often identify what’s going on and some of that’s just about the sound … There is a real cognitive part sometimes, where I’m really analyzing, you know, where I’m really thinking … But there’s an in between where you’re just sort of really into the beauty of it and at the same time sort of noticing what it is that makes it so beautiful … I enjoy knowing what I know about music. You know, that adds some pleasure in that sort of cognitive thing, you know. (from Thornton, 2010, p. 53)

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Contexts for Self-directed Learning SDL may take the form of intentional, enquiry-based learning that is framed by the learner’s present problems and interests. Here, learning may lie outside of the parameters of a formal curriculum or institutional ground rules. Such intentional, informal music learning is an important context for developing understandings of musical SDL, as a significant amount of music learning takes place outside of formal settings and increasingly is supported by web-based resources (Folkestad, 2006). For example, in England, Youth Music (2019) surveyed a representative sample of 1001 young people aged 7–17 about their engagement in music, reporting that 39% were self-taught (a rise from 16% three years earlier). As one young person, cited in Bell (2016, loc 5894), stated, I quit school music, not music. Every day after school I went home and played drums and guitar, teaching myself how to play these instruments … I did not take lessons and I did not have friends that played music, so most of what I know I learned by myself.

Likewise, in a study carried out in UK secondary schools, where the aim was to explore the relevance of school music curricula, Creech et  al. encountered many such self-taught young musicians: “I teach myself. I do like music production. I have like an iPad at home, do you know how you get all these rappers like singing to songs. Yeah, like I make beats. That’s what I do” (Y9 pupil, from Creech, Saunders, & Welch, 2016, np). Alternatively, SDL may be conceptualised as a competency that can be fostered within formal or non-formal contexts that privilege opportunities for developing autonomous, self-regulated orientations to learning. The facilitation of SDL focuses around three goals: (1) to develop in learners the sense of responsibility for their own learning; (2) to facilitate transformational learning, involving the capacity for critical reflection leading to change (Varvarigou & Creech, in press) and (3) the promotion of emancipatory learning and social action, and how that learner (and what is learnt) contributes to the larger whole (Thornton, 2010). From either perspective, when considering contexts for SDL, the learner is the central point; SDL is learner-centred, or as Hase and

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Kenyon (2007, p. 112) put it, “the learner [is] the major agent in their own learning, which occurs as a result of their personal experiences”. We will now turn to examples from music education and community music contexts, highlighting the characteristics, strategies and actions of self-­ directed learners.

Self-directed Adult Music Learners Naturally, as theoretical frameworks for SDL emerged in the context of adult learning, it is within musical contexts characterised by adult learners that these principles and practices may be the most closely aligned. This topic is explored more fully in Chap. 7. Therefore, in this section we focus on some brief examples of self-directed adult musical learning contexts that seem to encapsulate the contextualised meaning-making that we have discussed earlier in this chapter. The idea of SDL is particularly apposite for adult music learners, many of whom pursue music learning as a vehicle for “self-cultivation, self-­ fulfilment and to explore the meaning of life through joining a community of music practice” (Matsunobu, 2012, p. 181). Matsunobu discussed adult learners of the shakuhachi (Japanese flute) and the role that the shakuhachi played in deepening the participant learners’ understandings of themselves in the world. The participants in Matsunobu’s ethnographic study practised music for self-cultivation, adopting a ‘less is more’ approach whereby the focus was on achieving a spiritually satisfying state rather than being oriented towards a product. Similarly, Sussman & Kossak (2011, p.  59) draw a parallel between music and meditation, explaining their use of improvisational music-making as a means of “quieting the mind and generating a sense of inner calm”. The authors explain that it is through self-directed, improvised exploration of repetitive melodies and rhythm that they seek transcendent moments where boundaries become blurred between “self as subject and the world as object”. Of course, adults pursue music learning and participation for a whole range of reasons (personal development, a second chance at music education, for reasons connected with health and wellbeing, for social connection, as a creative outlet, etc.), and arguably some learners are more

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self-directed than others (Creech et  al., 2014). Nevertheless, as highlighted by Coffman (2018), there are some key characteristics of many adult learners that accord with the idea of SDL.  First, participation is voluntary and learners arrive with a ‘need to know’ that aligns with personal goals. Second, many adults exercise a high level of autonomy with regard to planning and structuring their learning, for example, planning a practice schedule, organising small groups and performances, and choosing repertoire. Third, in accordance with the idea of contextualised meaning-making, adults draw on their personal and collective life experience in making sense of their music learning. Fourth, many contexts for adult music learning and participation are premised upon the idea of differentiated learning, where the contribution of each group member is valued and respected. Fifth, adults are problem-solvers who find creative solutions to compensate for constraints to their learning. Finally, the motivation of adult music learners is internalised, being related to personal identity goals and, for older adults, empowering creative opportunities that counteract prominent narratives of decline in discourses around ageing (Creech et al., 2014).

 elf-directed Music Learning S in Online Environments In an online context, intentional, independent, self-directed approaches to learning the guitar were explored by Ayala (2018). The research explored learning experiences within a mobile device-based learning environment, where participants engaged with a series of individual and collaborative web-based activities focused around learning the guitar. Ten adults aged 28–61 took part, representing a range of experience with mobile technologies. Generally, the participants indicated a strong inclination towards SDL, for example, preferring to control their own pace of learning without interference from a teacher. At the same time, learners also were motivated by opportunities for collaborative peer learning, working towards learning goals.

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With a similar focus on online learning, Schmidt-Jones (2012) collected survey data from visitors to an online repository of music education resources, over the course of one year. Data were collected from 488 participants, aged 11–87 and representing 41 countries. Amongst these, 39% described themselves as self-directed learners, entirely independent of any kind of formal music education, while 32% were ‘students’ or ensemble participants who used the materials in a self-directed fashion in order to supplement their formal music learning and participation. A further 14% were teachers or ensemble directors who searched the materials for ideas that they could use in customising their formal or non-­ formal curricula, while 15% indicated that they were ‘just curious’. The ‘self-directed’ independent group ranged in age from 12 to 87 years (with a mean of 38). These independent self-directed learners typically revisited the materials multiple times over one year, motivated by learning goals focused around improving their performance and composition skills, and deepening their general musical knowledge. Some indicated that they preferred learning in a self-directed, independent way, seeking information in a sort of ‘just in time’ approach (Beach, 2012): as one participant (p.  7) noted, “If I have weird questions, I just ask somebody (age 21, Colombia)”. Over half of the self-directed learners indicated that they had missed out on formal music education; for these participants, the online materials represented a ‘second chance’ access point. Overall, across all of the categories of participants (independent, students, ensemble participants, etc.) the learning was self-initiated and differentiated, with most indicating that they were “seeking specific knowledge to resolve an immediate question, problem, or curiosity” (p. 13). Some research concerned with self-directed music learning has investigated the ways that music learners use YouTube, “a space for SDL, on their own time, at their own pace, and according to their own learning styles and cultures” (Marone & Rodriguez, 2019, p. 1). The characteristics of YouTube videos intended to support music learning were explored by Marone and Rodriguez (2019). Focusing on affordances, modes and techniques associated with learning and teaching, the researchers analysed a total of 40 videos, comprising 10 videos created by each of 4 guitar experts with over 100,000 subscribers. Their analysis revealed that the videos were structured in such a way as to create an intimate and personalised dynamic.

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While highly polished, these resources were characterised by a “refined informality” (p.  5) whereby the musicians positioned themselves as “friendly expert” (p. 7), using colloquial language, a humorous and ‘chatty’ style that included references to family and personal life, and the inclusion of ‘mistakes’ to convey an informal atmosphere. The analysis also highlighted the social interdependence amongst video creators and their viewers, who together constituted an online community. The use of YouTube videos, as described in this section, forms part of a phenomenon that has become relatively widespread owing to the rapid increase in accessible music technology—a ‘do-it-yourself ’ (DIY) culture of music learning and music production (we explore this phenomenon more deeply in Chap. 9, focusing on the idea of the ‘bedroom musician’, and Chap. 12, where we look more closely at learning within online contexts). According to a survey carried out by Youth Music (2019, p. 12), a culture of self-directed DIY music learning was thriving, alongside a decline in interest in curriculum-based music opportunities. While significant drop-off in instrumental learning had been found (Youth Music, 2019), there had been a corresponding increase in making music digitally, particularly among boys. Almost one-fifth of the young men surveyed by Youth Music indicated that they made music videos, produced beats and bars on a computer, and engaged with DJing, rapping and karaoke. Furthermore, among those who said they played the guitar or drums, nearly half were self-taught, with many using resources such as YouTube.

 elf-directed Instrumental Teaching S and Learning Arguably, in the context of instrumental learning and teaching, “the most important set of skills that need to be developed are those that enable learners to become independent and autonomous” (Hallam & Bautista, 2012, p.  667). This view is reinforced and extended by Beach (2012, p. 599), who argues that it is paramount that instrumental teachers “put the child or young person’s views, opinions, and preferences at the heart of what [they] do … supporting them on their own musical journeys rather than the one we set out for them”. Yet, curiously, it is within this

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context of formal instrumental learning and teaching that the idea of SDL is still relatively novel. As many researchers have noted, a hierarchical mode of facilitation prevails, characterised by teachers as gatekeepers of knowledge, dependency upon teacher diagnosis and feedback, and striving towards externally defined learning objectives (Carey & Grant, 2014; Creech & Gaunt, 2012; Hallam & Bautista, 2012). Notwithstanding this, transformative pedagogies in instrumental learning and teaching have emerged that challenge traditional paradigms and seek to foster the capacity for SDL, principally through establishing a ‘mentor’ rather than ‘master’ role in the teacher–student relationship. As Carey and Grant (2014) explain, transformative pedagogies are learner-centred in the sense that they are founded upon flexible, responsive and expansive conceptualisations of expertise. The focus is on guiding students towards taking ownership of their music learning, using imagination, exploration and critical reflection (Carey & Grant, 2016). Likewise, Beach (2012) outlines a vision of instrumental teaching that departs from the well-worn linear, hierarchical model. Instead, instrumental teaching and learning is conceptualised as a map that shows learners the possible terrain and destinations, where learners make their own choices with regard to which destinations they will pursue and the routes they will take to get there. Beach (2012, p. 599) proposes that in practice this would involve teachers facilitating ‘on demand’ support for learners and moving from a “sequential understanding of learning … toward one that permits students to follow their current aspirations and enthusiasms and to develop new ones”. Teachers, within this model, are but one of many multimodal resources for supporting learning, with a role characterised as a “social artefact who helps learners to overcome limitations” (Zepke & Leach, 2002, p. 209).

 he Implications of Self-directed Learning T for Musical Possible Selves Musical possible selves, as we have argued throughout this book, begin to develop at an early age and are shaped through multiple interactions within diverse contexts. On a meta-level, the idea of contextualised

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meaning-making—the process of making meaning from all experiences (Zepke & Leach, 2002)—is helpful in explaining how musical possible selves emerge over our lifetimes. In the previous sections of this chapter, we have discussed the relationship between SDL, musical experience and conceptualisations of oneself as a musician, in a number of contexts. For example, Box 11.1 highlighted the musical stories of John and Max (Thornton, 2010), whose musical possible selves were shaped by critical incidents, influential musical role models, interactions with family and friends, as well as by sheer joy and absorption ‘in the moment’ of music listening. Other examples include adults who seek self-knowledge through music learning, ‘bedroom musicians’ who engage with online resources as they develop their creative musical personae, and young people who self-teach instrumental skills, engaging with resources that help to solve immediate problems and seeking support from more knowledgeable others when needed. In each of these cases, possible selves emerge at the point where personal interest and motivation intersects with available material and interpersonal resources, within a specific social and cultural context. Smith and Secoy (2019) explored the past and future musical possible selves among a group of undergraduate elementary (primary) education majors at an American university. As has been documented extensively, many generalist (non-music specialist) teacher trainees have expressed negative musical possible selves, including anxiety about creating or performing music and limited confidence in teaching music (Hennessy, 2017; Joseph, 2019). Indeed, Woodward (2013) reported that non-music majors in music classes frequently could recall a pivotal moment when their negative musical possible self had been crystallised. Accordingly, Smith and Secoy recruited 17 student teachers to take part in a self-­ directed Ukulele YouTube Tutorial project, exploring the development of musical possible selves over the course of the project. Each participant created a YouTube playlist that included tutorials for songs they had learnt and wanted to learn as well as a video of themselves singing and playing a self-chosen song. Box 11.2 demonstrates some ways in which participants developed positive musical possible selves.

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Box 11.2  Shaping and Changing Musical Possible Selves Through a Self-directed Learning Opportunity Shifting musical possible selves: A Ukulele YouTube project (Smith & Secoy, 2019) In accordance with the idea of contextualised meaning-making, Smith and Secoy (2019) found that past possible musical selves had been shaped by a range of experience and contextual factors. Those who recalled positive reinforcement of a musical identity came to the project with strong musical self-concept. As one participant said, “I am music, music is me” (pp. 77–78). Others were more negative: “I used to get made fun of because I am tone deaf. This made me think that I wasn’t going to ever be musical” (p. 72). One participant, Tammy, described a disconnect between her past ‘in-­ school’ and ‘out-of-school’ musical possible selves. It is notable that the in-­ school music learning was described as being outside of her control or choice; she was ‘forced’ to participate and ‘dreaded it’. Conversely, outside of the formal music education context she loved to ‘jam’ with the music she listened to. However, the power of the experience within the formal context was such that she ‘knew’ she could not sing. In middle school, I was required to take a chorus class. Since I am not a good singer, I absolutely dreaded it. Don’t get me wrong, I love music and jamming out in the car, it’s just that I was forced to take that chorus class I didn’t enjoy … I know I am not a good singer; it’s just embarrassing that I’ll have to show others that I cannot sing. (p. 77) [‘Discovering’; ‘Thinking’] After the project had been completed, Tammy explained that her negative musical possible selves had posed attitudinal barriers to engaging with the project. However, she made it clear that the experience of learning to play the ukulele, a non-threatening and fun instrument, as well as the involvement in creating playlists and recordings, had contributed to opening up musical possibilities as a creator, improviser and group collaborator [‘Imagining’; ‘Growing’]. I had a hard time not judging myself when I was recording the YouTube video. I’ve never been able to play an instrument before, and only considered myself musical as a listener. After taking this course I am starting to think I can be musical as a creator as well [‘Imagining’]. Learning to play the ukulele and getting to improvise with my group has strengthened my musical identity (p. 79). [‘Performing’]

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Concluding Thoughts To conclude, we emphasise again the multiple influences that may contribute to the narratives woven by individuals around their musical possible selves. Contextualised meaning-making achieved through self-directed, experiential learning may be the key to understanding how those musical possible selves flourish in fluid, dynamic ways across our lives.

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Coffman, D. D. (2018). Community music practice with adults. In B.-L. Bartleet & L. Higgins (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of community music (pp. 693–710). Oxford University Press. Costa, J., & Creech, A. (2019). Teaching and learning in unfamiliar territory. In G.  G. Johansen, K.  M. Holdhus, C.  Larsson, & U.  MacGlone (Eds.), Expanding the space for improvisation pedagogy (pp.  147–163). Taylor & Francis. Creech, A., & Gaunt, H. (2012). The changing face of individual instrumental tuition: Value, purpose and potential. In G. McPherson & G. Welch (Eds.), Oxford handbook of music education (pp. 694–711). Oxford University Press. Creech, A., Hallam, S., Varvarigou, M., Gaunt, H., McQueen, H., & Pincas, A. (2014). The role of musical possible selves in supporting subjective well-­ being in later life. Music Education Research, 16(1), 32–49. Creech, A., Saunders, J., & Welch, G. (2016 (April)). Musical pride: Music education in plural communities. London: UCL Institute of Education for ‘The Mix’ Luton, Leicester and Slough Music Hubs. Available at: http://leicestershiremusichub.org/uploads/musical-pride-music-education-in-plural-communities.pdf Cunningham, B. (2008). Critical incidents in professional life and learning. In B.  Cunningham (Ed.), Exploring professionalism. Institute of Education, University of London. Folkestad, G. (2006). Formal and informal learning situations or practices vs formal and informal ways of learning. British Journal of Music Education, 23(2), 135–145. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0265051706006887 Hase, S., & Kenyon, C. (2007). Heutagogy: A child of complexity theory. Complicity: An International Journal of Complexity and Education, 4(1), 111–118. https://doi.org/10.29173/cmplct8766 Hallam, S., & Bautista, A. (2012). Processes of instrumental learning: The development of musical expertise. In G. E. McPherson & G. F. Welch (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of music education (Vol. 1, pp. 658–676). Oxford University Press. Hennessy, S. (2017). Approaches to increasing the competence and confidence of student teachers to teach music in primary schools. Education 3–13, 45(6), 689–700. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004279.2017.1347130 Heron, J. (1999). The complete facilitator’s handbook. Kogan Page Ltd. Heron, J. (2009). Life cycles and learning cycles. In K. Illeris (Ed.), Contemporary theories of learning: Learning theorists … In their own words (pp. 129–146). Routledge.

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Sussman, A., & Kossak, M. (2011). The wisdom of the inner life: Meeting oneself through meditation and music. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 131, 55–64. Thornton, D. H. (2010). Adult music engagement: Perspectives from three musically engaged cases. ProQuest LLC. Retrieved from http://www.proquest.com/ en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml; https://acces.bibl.ulaval.ca/ login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&A N=ED525875&lang=fr&site=ehost-live Tough, A. (1971). The adult’s learning projects: A fresh approach to theory and practice in adult education. Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. Varela, W., Abrami, P. C., & Upitis, R. (2016). Self-regulation and music learning: A systematic review. Psychology of Music, 44(1), 55–74. Varvarigou, M., & Creech, A. (in press). Models of transformational learning. In A. Creech, D. Hodges, & S. Hallam (Eds.), Routledge international handbook of music psychology in education and the community (Chap. 11). Routledge. Woodward, R. S. (2013). Shaping perceptions of musical identity: An ethnography of non-music majors’ experiences in an undergraduate music course focused on cultivating creativity. Doctoral dissertation. Retrieved from https://libres. uncg.edu/ir/uncg/f/Woodward_uncg_0154D_11287.pdf Youth Music. (2019). The Sound of the Next Generation. Youth Music and Ipsos MORI. Zepke, N., & Leach, L. (2002). Contextualised meaning making: One way of rethinking experiential learning and self-directed learning? Studies in Continuing Education, 24(2), 205–217. Zimmerman, B. J. (1986). Becoming a self-regulated learner: Which are the key subprocesses? Contemporary Educational Psychology, 11, 307–313. Zimmerman, B. J. (2000). Attaining self-regulation: A social cognitive perspective. In M. Boekaerts, P. R. Pintrich, & M. Zeidner (Eds.), Handbook of self-­ regulation (pp. 13–39). Academic Press.

12 Developing Musical Possible Selves Through Learning with Technology and Social Media

In recent years, advances in technology and social media have enabled traditional groups of music learners to do things differently while also enabling previously excluded or under-served groups of music learners to ‘do’ music. Technology has therefore disrupted and expanded well-­established parameters for what it means to be a musician and shaped new narratives of possible musical selves. Aspiring musicians learn to play music by ear from YouTube, engage with online demonstration lessons, record their efforts and publicise them through social media. Individuals can come together to make music in virtual spaces, either in real time or asynchronously. The instruments we use to make music may include an array of digital instruments, including readily accessible devices such as mobile telephones and iPads. From these examples, it is clear that technology may function as a context for music learning and participation that transcends physical boundaries, within which hierarchical, cooperative or autonomous learning plans, structures and communities may be found. Alternatively, technologies may be used as inclusive interfaces for music-making, mitigating many social, economic or physical limitations that may hinder engagement with music learning and participation in traditional contexts. We approach this chapter as ‘digital immigrants’ whose interest in music technology focuses around its potential to promote innovative ways of learning and participation in music, and its role in meaningful © The Author(s) 2020 A. Creech et al., Contexts for Music Learning and Participation, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48262-6_12

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music-making among potentially under-served groups, thereby shaping previously un-explored narratives of musical possible selves. In this chapter, we frame our discussion around specific case study examples where music technology functions as a tool for music-making or alternatively as a context for learning, participation and exploration of musical identities. We highlight some ways that music technology may be experienced within an experiential learning cycle and focus on how some specific music technologies may provide opportunities for imagining and articulating musical possible selves.

 isruptive Music Technologies: Tools D for Music-Making Randles (2017, p. 409) discusses the delicate balance, in music education, between adaptive practices, referring to doing things better, and innovative practices, referring to doing things differently. In both instances, he argues, technology may play a role; while sustaining technologies—those that are “tried and true”—may support ‘doing things better’, disruptive technologies are aligned with the idea of ‘doing things differently’. Randles (2017, p. 411) uses the example of the iPad, defining it as “a very non-traditional mechanism, disruptive technology, to produce sound for the purposes of making music alone and with others”. The iPad is conceptualised as a new tool that provides an alternative pathway to navigating the landscape of music learning and participation. From Randles’ perspective, long-term success in music education requires educators and researchers to embrace both disruptive and sustained technologies in an integrated manner. Box 12.1 describes two ‘sister’ iPad bands in Québec, Canada, made up of adult learners in the community (one francophone, the other anglophone). In these groups, the iPad has been introduced as a ‘disruptive technology’—a musical instrument that allows members to do things differently, but integrated alongside ‘sustained technologies’ in the form of well-known musical instruments. At the outset of these groups, there was undoubtedly some resistance to the iPad—it was not readily accepted as a ‘real’ musical instrument. However, as weeks passed, there had been a noticeable shift. The iPad was one of a selection of instruments, and

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Box 12.1  Experiential Musical Learning and Participation with iPads Case study—adult iPad bands: iRock It is a Tuesday afternoon in the dead of winter. The snow is falling heavily and we are wondering if we should have cancelled the iRock session today. One by one, though, members stagger in from the cold, excited to be here for an afternoon of music-making. For some, this is their second session, others (the ‘old-timers’) have been meeting together for about 12 weeks. We gather around a table set out with our instruments—iPads, each one connected to a small speaker. The Thumbjam App is opened, and we are ready to go. Members choose their sounds—some preferring ’cello, others the flute, and others exploring ‘dirty organ’, ‘Rhodes’, harp, saxophone and harmonica. We choose a key and explore chord progressions, moving from I to IV to V to vi, discussing the ‘feel’ of the chord changes. The group chooses to focus on a particular progression, and individuals take turns soloing— improvising against the progressions. Initially, members use the chord tones in their improvisations but quickly begin experimenting with passing tones and leading tones. After 45  minutes, all members of the 10-piece band, made up of adult ‘novices’ to music learning and participation, have explored timbre and key, learnt chord progressions, developed their listening and ensemble skills, and collaborated in improvisation. The iPad ‘station’ is positioned at the centre of a larger set-up that includes rock band instruments, ‘Merlin’ guitars hooked in to the amps, MIDI keyboards and xylophones. Members are invited to move to instruments of their choice (including the iPads), and we move on to work on the song of the week, ‘Autumn Leaves’. The iPad players quickly work out how to play the melody, accompanied by the bigger band on harmony. Across town, a ‘sister’ group meets. This group has focused on creating their own song. They break off in to small groups, using their iPads for composing and playing the melodies for their own song sections. After some time, the small groups come back together for a group performance, moving from verse to chorus to verse. Again, in a sort of ‘just in time’ learning, members explore the ways that they can use the iPads to extend their musical ideas, changing sounds, changing scales and adding effects. There is talk about creating a recorded ‘tutorial’ to support home practice, using a recording function on the iPad.

using it, members participated in music-making without some of the challenges and barriers posed by the more traditional instruments. With the iPads, these group members accessed musical experience, for example, exploring musical expression in the moment through

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improvisation or developing musical ideas through the song-writing activities. In both of these instances, there ceased to be any focus on the ‘iPad’ per se—rather, the focus was on making personal and collective sense of the music-making—the ‘experiential’ or ‘affective’ foundation of the experiential learning cycle. Members extended their learning to the ‘imaginal’, experimentation with the different timbres that could be found on the App, and exploring the atmosphere that could be created with different kinds of chord progressions and approaches to melody. Conceptual learning was evidenced through ‘just in time’ learning about the structure of chords, the relationship of one chord with another, and the rhythm and pulse elements of collective music-making. A host of practical learning was evidenced with the iPads, including the logistics of finding one’s way around the iPad, the different ways that ‘touch’ could influence the sound produced, how to control volume, and the practical skills involved in playing chord sequences and melodic lines. In this sense, the iPad band provided one of potentially many “other ways to be musical” and “a great shortcut to meaningful musicmaking that might otherwise take years to achieve” (Randles, 2017, p. 412). Our second example focuses on the use of digital musical instruments as a vehicle for including older adults living with disability in music learning and participation. Music-making, in this group, functions as a communicative encounter, within which “health and disability statuses can be challenged and understood differently” (Samuels, 2019, p.  153). Collaborative participatory musical activities, in particular, provided a space where participants built a sense of community and fellowship through connections made in intentional and inclusive music-making. The musical learning and participation in this group was organised around the goal of including people who did not find traditional acoustic instruments comfortable or effective for making music. Our approach involved using pre-constructed musical material that was “broken down in to parts and redistributed between several performers” (Samuels, 2019, p. 154). Three different interfaces, differentiated for individual needs, were used: the Soundbeam, an assistive digital music technology that uses motion sensors to translate body movements into music and sound (Swingler, 1998), was played by four group participants, while two others played the Thumbjam App on iPads and one used a MIDI keyboard connected to GarageBand. Box 12.2 describes the tenth in a series of workshops with the group, highlighting the facilitation modes that framed the

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experiential (in-the-moment experience of musical interactions), imaginal (imagining the sounds of a Jazz band), conceptual (responding musically to cues and following a sequence) and practical learning (developing physical skills in the intentional manipulation of the instruments). Box 12.2 Exploring Music with the Soundbeam Case study: Soundbeam Band for older adults Friday morning is Soundbeam morning at the long-term care residence. Facilitators arrive and set up four beams, some iPads, a MIDI keyboard and some assorted percussion. Residents begin to arrive, teaming up with their ‘buddies’ around the instruments they have become familiar with over the past 10 weeks. Music plays in the background and there is general chit chat and some ‘messing around’ with the instruments, before the session begins. Participants work in pairs: on the Soundbeam, a ‘saxophone-flute’ pair and a ‘trombone-trumpet’ pair. Two other pairs are using the Thumbjam App on iPads and MIDI keyboards to play sounds of their choice. Today the group is exploring the song ‘So What’ (Miles Davis). A backing track plays softly. Individuals begin to explore their own instruments, developing personal approaches to manipulating the sounds. This is followed by collaborative pair-work, where the partners watch and listen to each other intently, passing from one pair to another in a sequence. The facilitator provides an overall structure, bringing in duos and solo players and then indicating when the ‘solo’ should move to another instrument. Soon, a jam session is underway. When not playing, the participants are moving in time to the music, smiling and nodding to one another. Later, the facilitator recounts her observations of one participant (Al), who had participated over a number of weeks in the Soundbeam group. The facilitator describes guiding Al in making sense of the ‘in the moment’ experience, helping him to focus on the sound of his instrument and to play that instrument in an intentional way, in interaction with the group. First day Al hung back, he watched and listened and sometimes seemed confused with what was happening. He did not initiate conversation with me or sing. He did not interact with others except to be polite and smile occasionally. Today he was lively right from when I met him in his room, he initiated conversation, humorous remarks, complements about other group members, and singing. Today, at one point Al seemed uncertain, but he relaxed when I asked him to just listen for the sound of the trumpet from his beam and I guided him with my hand movements, not touching him but letting his hand follow mine slowly so he could better focus on the notes of the trumpet sound. Al was able to keep the beat with the whole group, showing he was attentive and aware of the group dynamic. He was confident in his comments about wanting to continue with musical activities and his love for music.

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 nline Communities: New Contexts for Music O Learning and Participation Social media can function as a context for music learning and participation, going beyond the physical boundaries of face-to-face settings (Albert, 2015). Web-based platforms, characterised by an “online participatory culture, user-generated content and spreadability” (Waldron, 2017, p.  236), provide a framework for collaborative communities of practice, where the learning emerges through a process of “sharing, dialogue, [and] interaction within the domain” (Albert, 2015, p.  32). Waldron (2013) describes learning and sharing within online communities as ‘participatory culture’, where online platforms are populated by user-generated content (UGC), generating sharing, collaboration and interactive dialogue among online “affinity groups” (p. 258). Typically, these affinity groups are united by a shared interest or common endeavour and include an interdependent group of active producers of content as well as their ‘followers’ who view, distribute and possibly transform content and knowledge (Tobias, 2018). Arguably, the most extensively developed category of user-generated content (UGC) is video, and YouTube is currently the favoured platform. As of May 2019, 500 hours of video were uploaded to YouTube every minute, while one billion of video hours were watched on YouTube every day, 20% of which were in the category ‘music’ (Clement, 2019). Nearly 50% of online streaming of music is via YouTube (IFPI, 2018) and at least 50% of US residents aged 12 and above access music on YouTube, on a weekly basis (Clement, 2019). Increasingly, music researchers and educators have turned their attention towards developing understandings of how online contexts such as YouTube support and shape flourishing communities of music learners and participants. In this vein, Waldron (2013) reported her cyber-­ ethnographic study of Banjo Hangout, an online community where UGC in the form of YouTube videos comprises one part of a more extensive array of resources related to learning and performing on the banjo. Banjo Hangout is characterised by a rich, ‘messy’ and diverse user-led culture of “gifting and sharing”, where leadership is flexible and changing

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(Tobias, 2018). Waldron contrasts Banjo Hangout with the more structured and sequenced example of the Online Academy of Irish Music (OAIM), an online expert-led platform where adult learners from anywhere can purchase pedagogical resources prepared by Irish traditional musicians physically located in Ireland. As Waldron (2013, p.  263) explains, while Banjo Hangout is “a completely nonlinear and organic site … [OAIM] is based on a more content controlled linear model of music teaching and learning”. Notwithstanding the differences between the two online communities, there were some shared characteristics. In both, instructional YouTube videos offered access to learning that was planned and structured in a hierarchical manner (in the sense that the video producers had taken decisions with regard to content and the format of activities). Typically, these resources were framed by learning through observation and learning by ear—approaches associated with autonomous, informal learning in offline contexts—blended with other modalities such as notation or TAB sources, lyrics and mp3 files. Therefore, while self-directed learners clearly make autonomous decisions with regard to when, whether and how to learn, their processes of sense-making, as they engaged with the materials, may have been guided in a manner akin to the cooperative mode proposed by Heron (1999). Furthermore, both communities could, to a greater or lesser extent, be described as examples of participatory culture where, within an autonomous and self-directed framework, learners interacted with experts, peer groups shared and constructed knowledge, and cultural artefacts were preserved, debated, exchanged and possibly even transformed. In this vein, Box 12.3 outlines the case study example of Rane, a self-­ directed adult learner whose ‘school’ is the internet, while the principal ‘classrooms’ are YouTube and iTunes (from Ruismäki, Juvonen, & Lehtonen, 2012). Rane’s focus is on conceptual and practical learning, supported through access to internet-based video resources and tutorials. This learning is applied in the context of his regular face-to-face meet-ups with his band (experiential learning), who have identified musical role models and the type of sound they are seeking to emulate (imaginal learning). The interplay between Rane’s online and offline learning illustrates that “music learning in online participatory culture did not

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Box 12.3  Learning the Guitar Online Case study: Learning a musical instrument in the online environment (from Ruismäki et al., 2012) Rane is a 50-year-old guitar enthusiast and self-directed learner. Rane could be described as being in a process of rediscovering and articulating a ‘lost possible self’ after reconnecting with the guitar, an instrument that he had played as a young adolescent but had dropped at age 16. Rane’s music learning and participation takes place in online and offline environments. Online, he accesses learning resources via YouTube and iTunes, as well as a range of other sites found through Google searches. Offline, he is a member of the Brunstones, a band that models itself after the music of Bruce Springstein and the Rolling Stones. Apart from band practices, Rane practises independently, for several hours a week during his leisure time. He is described as an “information and skills searcher” (p. 384), always seeking support for expanding his musical skills. A major focus in Rane’s internet searches is the quest for an appropriate ‘teacher’—the term he uses to refer to the creators of the online user-­ generated resources that he interacts with. When describing a teacher that has been particularly influential, Rane refers to this person on a first-name basis, conveying the idea of teacher–student affinity and an almost informal relationship. This may be explained by some evidence that creators of user generated content (UGC) use a range of techniques in order to create an intimate and personalised dynamic (Marone & Rodriguez, 2019). Rane’s learning can be described as ‘just in time’ self-directed learning (Beach, 2012), in that he searches for teachers who can help him to solve immediate problems. Therefore, the most “suitable” teacher might vary, from one day to the next. As Rane states, “it all depends on what I want to learn” (p. 384). In this sense, as his musical goals have become increasingly focused, his approaches to information seeking have likewise become “more precise and his searches have more direction” (p. 384). Rane articulates some of the characteristics that have been described as “ubiquitous learning” in an online environment (Thibeault, 2018): (1) flexibility in terms of where and when he learns; (2) quick access and set up; and (3) the ability to stop, repeat and focus on particular facets of the lesson. Crucially, although “the teaching mostly takes place using the master-­ journeyman pattern where a skilful master shows his or her pupils how to play the sound similar to a recording or a concert situation”, the learner “may choose the teacher and the skill level of teaching” (p. 387). Therefore, while the learning resources may be structured in a hierarchical manner, learners make autonomous choices in terms of about how, when and what to learn (Ruismäki et al., 2012).

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supersede playing and learning in real time with others in a physical location: rather, internet learning was seen as an important addition to playing music with friends and/or a teacher” (Waldron, 2013, p. 257). YouTube is, of course, available to anyone as “an outlet to create, compose and then share one’s work” (Waldron, 2017, p. 241). Through this platform, traditional notions of learner, composer, performer, venue and audience have been challenged, with boundaries between those roles increasingly blurred. Cayari (2018, 2019) explored the phenomenon of UGC in the form of ‘virtual ensembles’ created by one person using multi-tracking techniques, focusing on the “social and educational implications of how YouTube musicians create and produce virtual vocal ensembles” (Cayari, 2018, p. 362). This approach to music learning and participation requires multiple skills: instrumental or vocal competencies, recording and editing, musical interpretation, and expression. As such, the multi-track one-person virtual ensemble can function as a medium through which sole individuals can explore and refine numerous musical roles. A key feature of this way of using technology to make music is that it is experiential from several perspectives, including arranger, performer of each individual part (sometimes involving different instruments on each part), critical listener during the creation process and producer. In this sense, this approach to making a performance provides a multi-layered experience of the meaning-making process of music-­ making. As Cayari (2018, p. 373) explains, Virtual ensembles can also provide opportunities to reinforce skills important to synchronic music making. When producing a one-person virtual ensemble, the creator must conceive of their own musical interpretation. As a musician performs multiple parts of an arrangement, they see how musical lines fit together. As students record themselves, they should be encouraged to self-reflect on their performances and decide if they should rerecord, edit, or adjust their tracks. Analyzing one’s own performance, discerning what is acceptable quality, and identifying what could be improved are skills many educators desire for their students.

Box 12.4 sets out the case study example, drawn from Cayari (2018), of the creator of the David Wesley YouTube channel.

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Box 12.4  A YouTube Creator Case study: Multiple influences, multi-tracking and multiple perspectives in a one-­person virtual ensemble (from Cayari, 2018) David François, a YouTube creator, has developed and shared his work within a distinctive performance genre, the one-person ‘virtual choir’. François draws upon “a rich musical and technological background from his educational, recreational, and religious activities” (p. 364). As a child he had been influenced musically by parents and grandparents, learning by ear as well as some formal piano tuition before the age of 10. As an adolescent his music learning focused around serendipitous encounters with instruments such as the guitar and subsequent informal learning, as well as choral singing and orchestral playing opportunities in his church. During that time, François had become interested in music technology, using the family computer “on which he spent hours playing as he listened to, arranged, and created classical music” (p. 364). Formal instrumental and ensemble learning opportunities presented themselves during high school years, during which time he learnt the violin and euphonium and continued to refine his skills in arranging music and using technology to create videos and backing tracks. As a young adult, François continued his musical activities, composing, arranging and playing for his church. Eventually, a project with his church choir that involved the creation of a rehearsal CD for the choir led him to explore the idea of multi-tracking as a performance medium. From these experiences emerged a detailed process of creating and producing one-person, multi-track virtual ensembles. His work has been shared widely via YouTube, within an online community of followers who comment on and learn from his creations. François’ work continues to evolve, for example, using virtual backing tracks in performances where virtual and face-to-face music-making converge. As cited in Cayari (2018, p.  372), François states, “all these are things I’ve done in real life that have come together magically …” Drawing his skills together, his experience as creator, performer and producer of the virtual ensemble captures multiple perspectives and provides multiple opportunities for self-reflection and assessment at each step in the process.

Music Technology and Musical Possible Selves There can be no doubt that music technology and online communities offer rich possibilities for the exploration and elaboration of musical possible selves. Indeed, it seems easy to be seduced, or possibly even overwhelmed, by the rapidly evolving and increasingly accessible array of

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technological tools and contexts that open our imaginations to expansive musical worlds that depart from our well-established paradigms for musical possible selves. For example, Savage (2018, p. 190) tells the story of Alex, a composer and sound producer: “technology had facilitated an approach to the development of musical knowledge, skills, and understanding but in ways that did not depend on traditional musical assumptions, language, or pedagogies”. In this vein, O’Neill (2015, p. 607) has noted that “the digital age has created an unprecedented amount of autonomy in young people’s lives; more young people than ever before are shaping their music and their musical selves”. We would contend that this statement applies to individuals and groups across the life-course (see Chaps. 7 and 11). For example, as discussed earlier in this chapter, online or offline digital musical instruments offer new ways in to music-making; these, along with online musical communities, can mitigate barriers to participation and contribute towards a democratisation of music education. The boundaries between online and offline music learning and participation are increasingly blurred, providing further opportunities for exploring and elaborating understandings of our musical possible selves. Accordingly, it is now possible to “collaborate in live music-making, teaching, and learning with musicians in distant parts of the world, working in entirely different musical traditions within different cultural understandings of musicianship” (Ruthmann & Hebert, 2018, p. 259). This was demonstrated with the opening of the Online Academy of Irish Music, when an online community comprising guests from around the world was welcomed into an authentic Irish music session, live-streamed from a bar on the west coast of Ireland (Waldron, 2013). Indeed, as Ruthmann and Hebert (p. 259) state, “the unique capability of modern websites to embed rich media with social collaboration technologies helps facilitate an online experience that is perceived to be as ‘real’ in some cases as in-person musical interactions”. Musical possible selves may furthermore be shaped within the interdependent and interactive relationships between YouTube creators and their followers. Using a case study methodology, Rosen and Laihanen (2017) explored these relationships, reporting that YouTube creators were seen as

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role models for their followers. Five of their six case study participants utilised the YouTube ‘stars’ “as a source of inspiration and as a platform to better themselves” (p. 44). YouTubers could be seen as a form of role model, or someone that consumers can aspire to be. These aspirations could, in our opinion, play an important role in the identity advancement processes of YouTube consumers when viewing videos of YouTube stars (Rosen & Laihanen, 2017, p. 17).

As Ruismäki et al. (2012, p. 382) highlight, role models within online environments can offer a “motivational base for [musical] learning and playing”. Learners can also enter virtual worlds replete with opportunities for vicarious and imaginative experiential learning or concrete manifestations of insider perspectives on possible selves (Erikson, 2007). In this vein, Guitar Hero players were found to be “envisioning themselves playing along with or seeing visual representations of music to which they listened” (Tobias, 2018, p.  225). Virtual world video games provide opportunities for performative instantiations of possible selves, in the sense that players enact a particular role within the game as well as in reality, for example, “imitating their avatar’s characteristics and physically embodying this persona through theatrics and gestures” (Tobias, 2018, p. 222). Upon entering virtual worlds, learners can ‘try on’ and ‘act out’ their chosen musical roles, deepening personal knowledge structures and emotional investment in specific musical possible selves. In this way, musical possible selves are articulated in experiential moments of learning and participation (Box 12.5). Tobias (2018, p. 225) highlighted the rich potential for music educators to extend the experiential learning that can be accessed within the virtual worlds of video games, contextualising that learning “with guided questions drawing on their situated experience”. In this way, narratives of musical possible selves may be constructed through “video games [that] can thus act as an entry point into musical learning with students’ gameplay as a safe, familiar, and enjoyable space” (p. 225).

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Box 12.5  Experiments with Musical Possible Selves Case study: Friday night is Rock Band night: trying on musical possible selves (from Tobias, 2018) It is Friday evening, which means Rock Band night at the Jimenez household. Gina asks her mother, Sasha, for permission to purchase two songs by Lady Gaga as downloadable content … Sasha says yes, adding, “but I’m playing the drums”. Sasha sits behind the drum controllers and starts hitting the rubber pads and cymbals with drumsticks. Gripping the microphone controller, Gina reminds her mother to use the plastic kick pedal to play the parts accurately. Alex grabs a guitar controller and begins pressing the color-coded buttons that simulate frets on the guitar neck while flicking the small plastic bar with his thumb, which simulates strumming a guitar’s strings. He plans to demonstrate his new skill of shifting his left hand down the neck and using his pinky, having practiced on expert mode for hours on end. Javier glances at the keyboard controller before picking another guitar controller up from the floor. He selects the bass part and tweaks his avatar’s appearance. Gina selects Poker Face, using the mode allowing for any song to be played rather than requiring advancement through music of increasing complexity. After each player chooses one of the five available difficulty levels, the music begins … After completing Poker Face Sasha exclaims, “I rocked!” (Tobias, 2018, p. 218)

Concluding Thoughts The idea of a close intersection of technology, orientations to learning and teaching, and musical possible selves is supported by Savage (2018, p. 181) who reminds us that “technology leaves its mark on our work and in our minds; its imprint becomes firmly embedded on our pedagogies, implicating our thinking in implicit and explicit ways. Once there, it is hard to remove …” We return here to the notion of musical possible selves as narratives (Erikson, 2007) that emerge and evolve within past and present experience, shaped by imagination and dreams invested in future experience. In this sense, the lifetime ‘project’ of musical possible selves may be seen as a fluid and dynamic transformative journey that involves “braiding, blending, and blurring learning spaces, modes, structures, and practices” (O’Neill, 2015, p.  615). Technology and social media, on their own, cannot transform our musical possible selves.

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However, conceptualised as spaces and modes for music learning and participation that intersect with collective and self-directed practices, new technologies and online communities may make space for “teaching, learning, or musicking that would otherwise not be possible” (Ruthmann & Hebert, 2018, p. 259).

References Albert, D. J. (2015). Social media in music education: Extending learning to where students “live”. Music Educators Journal (National Association for Music Education), December, 31–38. https://doi.org/10.1177/0027432115606976 Beach, N. (2012). Instrumental teachers and their students: Who’s in the driving seat? In G. E. McPherson & G. F. Welch (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of music education (Vol. 2, pp. 597–600). Oxford University Press. Cayari, C. (2018). Connecting music education and virtual performance practices from YouTube. Music Education Research, 20(3), 360–376. Cayari, C. (2019). Facilitating music video projects in the classroom: From YouTube to musical playground. In Z. Moir, B. Powell, & G. Dylan-Smith (Eds.), The Bloomsbury Handbook of Popular Music Education: Perspectives and practices (pp. 219–226). Bloomsbury Academic. Clement, J. (2019). Hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute as of May 2019. Statista. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/259477/ hours-of-video-uploaded-to-youtube-every-minute/ Erikson, M. G. (2007). The meaning of the future: Toward a more specific definition of possible selves. Review of General Psychology, 11(4), 348. Heron, J. (1999). The complete facilitator’s handbook. Kogan Page Ltd. IFPI. (2018). Music Consumer Insight Report. International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved from https://www.ifpi.org/downloads/ Music-Consumer-Insight-Report-2018.pdf Marone, V., & Rodriguez, R. (2019). “What’s so awesome with YouTube”: Learning music with social media celebrities. Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, 9(4), e201928. https://doi.org/10.29333/ojcmt/5955 O’Neill, S. A. (2015). Transformative music engagement and musical flourishing. In G.  McPherson (Ed.), The child as musician: A handbook of musical development (2nd ed., pp. 606–625). Oxford University Press.

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Randles, C. (2017). Disruptive performance technologies. In A.  King, E. Himonides, & A. S. Ruthmann (Eds.), The Routledge companion to music, technology, and education (pp. 407–416). Routledge. Rosen, A., & Laihanen, A. (2017). Advancing identities with YouTube. An investigation of the symbolic consumption of YouTube in advancing consumer identity projects (MSc in International Marketing & Brand ­ Management, Lund University School of Economics and Management). Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/44c1/612041ca786799463 4d09b3291931648f996.pdf Ruismäki, H., Juvonen, A., & Lehtonen, K. (2012). The Internet as a learning environment in guitar playing: Rane’s search for information and expertise. The 5th International Conference of Intercultural Arts Education 2012: Design Learning, University of Helsinki, Finland, 45, 381–390. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.06.574 Ruthmann, A. S., & Hebert, D. (2018). Music learning and new media in virtual and online environments. In G. E. McPherson & G. F. Welch (Eds.), Creativities, technologies, and media in music learning and teaching (Kindle, Vol. 5, pp. 254–271). Oxford University Press. Samuels, K. (2019). The Drake music project Northern Ireland: Providing access to music technology for individuals with unique abilities. Social Inclusion, 7(11), 152–163. https://doi.org/10.17645/si.v7i1.1706 Savage, J. (2018). Driving forward technology’s imprint on music education. In G. E. McPherson & G. F. Welch (Eds.), Creativities, technologies, and media in music learning and teaching (Kindle, Vol. 5, pp.  179–198). Oxford University Press. Swingler, T. (1998, March). “That was me!”: Applications of the Soundbeam MIDI controller as a key to creative communication, learning, independence and joy. Paper presented at the CSUN conference Technology and Persons with Disabilities’, Los Angeles. Retrieved from https://www.dinf.ne.jp/doc/english/Us_Eu/conf/csun_98/csun98_163.html Thibeault, M. D. (2018). Music education in the postperformance world. In G. E. McPherson & G. F. Welch (Eds.), Creativities, Technologies and Media in Music Learning and Teaching: An Oxford Handbook of Music Education, Vol. 5 (Kindle, pp. 203–216). Oxford University Press. Tobias, E. S. (2018). Let’s play! Learning music through video games and virtual worlds. In G. E. McPherson & G. F. Welch (eds.), Creativities, technologies, and media in music learning and teaching (Kindle, Vol. 5, pp.  217–235). Oxford University Press.

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Waldron, J. (2013). User-generated content, YouTube and participatory culture on the Web: Music learning and teaching in two contrasting online communities. Music Education Research, 15(3), 257–274. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 14613808.2013.772131 Waldron, J. (2017). Social networks as agency in music learning. In A. King, E. Himonides, & A. S. Ruthmann (Eds.), The Routledge companion to music, technology, and education (pp. 235–248). Routledge.

Postscript

In this book, we have discussed points of intersection between context, facets of learning and approaches to facilitation in music learning and participation. Our key message is that musical possible selves have their foundation in these intersections. Our theory of manifold musical possible selves is founded upon the idea of possible selves as narratives that are woven from one’s past and present experiences and encounters within a continuum of formal, non-formal and informal contexts, as well as representations of the future. Personally meaningful, imagined possible selves, we suggest, emerge through a process of reflection on past experience and exploration of present learning which in turn shape our pathways towards imagined future possibilities. Therefore, the ‘possibilities’ of possible selves may be interpreted as what ‘could be done’ in the past, ‘what is done’ in the present and ‘what can be done’ in the future. In this sense, musical possible selves organise our musical lives into meaningful and coherent stories. As Eraut (2004, p. 250) has explained, First, there are past experiential episodes in our lives, that are linked to the present, either implicitly or more explicitly through reflection and ­deliberation. A selection from our current experience enters in to our episodic memory, depending on what we notice, the questions we ask, the © The Author(s) 2020 A. Creech et al., Contexts for Music Learning and Participation, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48262-6

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interactions we engage in, the impressions we form. This leads to decision making, problem solving, planning. Future possibilities emerge; some may remain un-articulated, while others are recognised as possible future learning opportunities, shaping the actions we take in the present (rehearsing for future events).

This is not to suggest that our musical possible selves are determined by past and present experience. While narratives may be ordered and have a valued end point, the idea of possible selves as narratives also allows for modified, shifting and fluid stories (Goodson & Gill, 2014). As persons are also agents who can make choices (to a certain extent) in life, so as to follow their own pathways and not merely react to what life has thrown in front of them, we are particularly interested in people’s narratives, which illustrate their individual journeys and lived experiences, and the choices they made in life’s transitions and crossroads. Within this narrative view, there are memories, stories, myths, ‘life-dreams’ and other accounts. (Goodson & Gill, 2014, loc.209)

Therefore, our musical possible selves may be shaped or even transformed, as we discover, imagine, think and reflect on own musical learning and musical aspirations (the conceptualisation phase of the development of musical possible selves). We have furthermore argued that the musical practices in which we find meaning are those that become invested as musical possible selves. Therefore, the idea of ‘meaning’ provides a clue to the relationship that ‘learning’ has with ‘possible selves’. Borrowing Heron’s (1999, 2009) idea of “manifold” learning, we have suggested that ‘meaning’ is constructed through several different levels of learning. ‘Manifold’ represents the idea of a whole that unites different elements. In just this way, manifold learning is holistic and represents the multifaceted way that deep, personal meaning-making can be achieved through experiential, imaginal, conceptual and practical learning. Music learners engage with ‘in-the-­ moment’ experiential learning, framed by affective responses and personal meaning invested in the music itself. This experiential learning is intricately linked with a subsequent process of imaginal learning, where

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perceptions of musical patterns, forms, roles and relationships are explored. Conceptual learning follows, involving further analysis and the development of cognitive understandings of musical structure and process. Finally, practical learning is achieved through ‘hands on’ activities, which of course take the learner back to experiential learning. Throughout all of these levels of learning, we grow and perform our musical possible selves, leading to further reframing or reshaping. This cyclical process, we argue, supports the construction of elaborate detail and deep personal salience that are interwoven into our flexible narratives of musical possible selves. Our final key message is that facilitators (interpreted very broadly here as encompassing parents, peers, teachers and resources) play a central role in bridging learning with the development of musical possible selves. Within each of the levels of manifold learning (experiential, imaginal, conceptual, practical), multifaceted facilitation can in turn influence our musical narratives in profound ways. We have again borrowed from Heron (1999, 2009), incorporating his three facilitation modes and six dimensions of learning-teaching encounters to illustrate the complexity and nuance in the ways that musical learning and participation can be framed. Overall, we have argued in favour of the use of a continuum of differentiated approaches to facilitating music learning and participation. A multitude of choices are available to facilitators and learners, with regard to how musicking can be supported. The aim, we believe, should always be to support music learners of all ages in exploring and constructing rich, personally fulfilling, lifelong musical journeys.

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Index

A

B

Achievement, 150 Action songs, 29 Active music-making, 54 Adult learning, 2 Affective, 9 Affinity groups, 228 Affordance, 115 Agency, 6, 12 Andragogy, 123, 126 Apprenticeship, 4 Artists, 32 Assessment, 5, 73–75 Assistive Music Technology (AMT), 183 Authenticity, 65 Authority, 7 Autonomous mode, 8 Autonomy, 4, 27

Bam Bam drumming circle, 48 Band, 67 Banjo Hangout, 229 Barriers, 63 Bedroom musicians, 172 C

Charismatic authority, 7 Child-led, 27 Choirs, 145 Classroom, 50 Co-curricular, 104 Cognition, 14 Cognitive, 9 Cognitive disequilibrium, 186 Coherence, 14 Collaborative, 8

© The Author(s) 2020 A. Creech et al., Contexts for Music Learning and Participation, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48262-6

275

276 Index

Communication, 7 Communicative musicality, 24 Communities of practice, 228 Community, 5 Community music, 33 Compensation, 127 Competencies, 7 Composing, 49 Composition, 49 Conceptual, 9 Conceptual learning, 9 Conceptualisation, 14 Confidence, 25, 31, 44 Confronting, 8 Conservatoires, 81 Constructivist, 204 Context, 5 Contextualised meaning-­ making, 208 Continuum, 5 Cooperation, 7 Cooperative, 8 Cooperative mode, 8 Creative, 24 Creative youth development, 116 Creativity, 25 Critical artistry, 92 Criticality, 63 Critical pedagogy, 92 Critical thinking, 85 Cultural, 70 Cultural capital, 83 Cultural practices, 86 Culture-bearers, 86 Culture-brokers, 86 Culture-builders, 86 Cultures, 32 Curriculum, 5 Cyclical process, 14

D

Dancing, 29 Developmental, 34 Differentiated, 226 Digital immigrants, 223 Digital technologies, 54 Disaffection, 65 Disagreement, 186 Discovering, 15 Discovery, 54 Disengagement, 65 Disruptive technology, 224 Diversity, 61 Drake Music, 183 E

Early childhood, 24 Early Years, 19 Elaboration, 12 El-Sistema, 146 Embodied, 29 Encounter, 74 Enculturation, 5 Enhancement, 70 Enquiry, 94 Environment, 29 Ethical issues, 147 Expanded professionalism, 194 Expansive, 90 Experiential, 9 Experiential learning, 4, 9 Experimentation, 24 Expert, 9 Expertise, 14, 85 Exploration, 27, 54 Explore, 24 Extra-curricular, 19, 104

 Index  F

Facilitate, 6 Facilitation, 7 Facilitation modes, 7 Facilitator style, 7 Families, 32 Feedback, 74 Feeling, 8 Flexibility, 7 Formal learning, 2 Formative assessment, 74 Free play, 24, 25 Friendship, 125 Friendship groups, 187 Further education, 81 G

Games, 28 Geragogy, 123, 126 Global classroom, 71 Globalisation, 61 Glyndebourne, 137 Goals, 12 Gobsmacked project, 151 Good Vibrations, 152 Growing, 16 Guided interaction, 186 Guitar Hero, 234 H

Haringey Nursery Schools Consortium Lullaby project, 32 Hierarchical, 4 Hierarchical mode, 8 Higher education, 19 Himalayan Notes, 157 Holistic, 29

Home, 19, 29 Home-schooling, 169 Humanistic, 204 I

ICT, 69 Identity, 39 Imaginal, 9 Imaginal learning, 9 Imaginative, 27 Imagining, 16 IMAGO, 137 Imitation, 24 Improvisation, 49 Improvisatory, 27 Incidental learning, 3 Inclusion, 63 Inclusive, 27 Inclusiveness, 82 Informal learning, 2 In Harmony Liverpool, 149 Innovation, 27 Insider perspective, 12 Instrumental-playing, 25 Intentionality, 5 Intentions, 64 Interdisciplinary learning, 94 Intergenerational, 97 Interpersonal, 7 Invention, 24 Inventive, 25 iPad, 26 iPad bands, 225 J

Journey, 49

277

278 Index K

Keys of Change, 155 L

Leadership, 7 Learner needs, 7 Learning and participation, 6 Learning environment, 55 Learning paradigm, 52 Learning style, 5 Leisure, 3, 123 Leisure learning, 19 Life goals, 57 Lifelong, 95 Listening, 28–29 Lost possible selves, 13 LSO Discovery, 55 M

Master-apprentice, 87 Master-apprentice model, 190 Mavericks, 95 Meaning, 8 Meaning-making, 203 Mentoring, 89 Modelling, 63 Mood, 34 Motivation, 12, 126 Movement, 29 Multicultural, 63 Musical compilations, 174–176 Musical engagement, 38 Musical Futures, 66 Musical identities, 6 Musical instruments, 29 Musicality, 24

Musical knowledge, 45 Musical learning, 28 Musical parenting, 164 Musical partnerships, 165 Musical play, 165 Musical possible selves, 11 Musical skills, 16 Musical training, 31 Music and movement, 29 Music Early Learning Programme (MELP), 34 Music for Life Project, 133 Musicianship, 5 Music industry, 84 Musicking, 6, 14 Music-makers, 27 Music practice, 69 Music repertoire, 55 Music technology, 51 Mutuality, 191 N

Narratives, 13–14 the National Orchestra for All (NOFA), 117 National Youth Music Ensemble, 115 Negotiated curriculum, 94 Negotiation, 186 Non-formal learning, 3 Non-formal teaching, 63 Non-traditional instruments, 54 O

Objectives, 8 OECD, 2

 Index 

Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted), 84 One-to-one instrumental, 114 Online, 229 Online Academy of Irish Music (OAIM), 229 Online learning, 214 Optimisation, 128 Orchestras, 145 Orientation to learning, 126 Out-of-school, 106 Ownership, 5 P

Paradigm reflection, 92 Parental involvement, 163 Parents, 32 Participate, 24 Participatory culture, 228 Partnerships, 55, 104 Partnership working, 104 Patterns of talk, 186, 187 Pedagogically engaged, 131 Pedagogical roles, 64 Pedagogies, 5, 44 Peer assisted learning, 182 Peer learning, 19, 181 Peer to peer learning, 182 Peer tutoring, 190 Performance, 14 Performing, 16 Personal development, 97 Physical responses, 28 Planning, 8 Playful, 24 Playing by ear, 66 Playing instruments, 29–30

279

Policy-makers, 63 Political authority, 7 Popular music, 31 Portfolio careers, 83 Possible selves, 1 Post-secondary, 82 Power relationships, 8 Practical, 9 Practical learning, 9 Practices, 7 Practising, 124 Primary music, 44 Primary school, 19 Process-oriented, 9 Professional, 83 Professional musicians, 36–37 Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties (PMLD), 151 Progression, 69 Purposeful listening, 150 Purposive listening, 28 Q

Quality of life, 144 R

Readiness to learn, 126 Realisation, 14 Real-world contexts, 6 Reflecting, 16 Reflective cycle, 70 Refugees, 145 Relational dynamics, 181, 186–187 Relational knowledge, 187 Relevancy, 65 Resistance, 7, 86

280 Index

Resources, 8, 26, 61, 158 Responsibilities, 64 Responsive, 27 Responsive leadership, 129–130, 148 Roadmaps, 18 Role model, 12 S

Salience, 12 Scaffolding, 5 Schema, 27 Secondary school, 19, 63 Selection, 128 Self-actualisation, 204 Self-assessment, 8 Self-concept, 12 Self-directed learning (SDL), 3, 19, 203 Self-esteem, 7 Self-reflection, 8 Self-regulate, 12 Self-regulated learning, 193 Self-stories, 11 Sense of belonging, 187 Serious leisure, 124 Sibling interaction, 166 Singing, 25, 30–31 Sistema-inspired, 146–149 Social aims, 19 Social change, 143 Social connection, 29 Social environment, 55 Social interaction, 39 Social interdependence theory, 184 Social media, 19, 228 Social regulation, 31 Sociocultural theory, 184 Song crafting, 50

Songs, 30 Soundbeam, 227 Soundscapes, 30 Sounds of Intent in the Early Years, 38 Structure, 27 Structured, 24 Structuring, 8 Student-centered, 68 Studio pedagogy, 88 Subject knowledge, 44 Suzuki method, 170 T

Task-oriented, 9 Teacher training, 96 Technology, 19 Teen Living Programs (TLP), 109 Tertiary music education, 81 Thinking, 16 Traditional music, 145 Transformation, 143 Transformative pedagogies, 90, 216 Transition, 83 Trust, 186, 187 Tutelary authority, 7 U

Universities, 81 Unstructured, 24 User-generated content, 228 V

Values, 7 Valuing, 8 Vicarious experience, 12

 Index 

Video games, 234 Virtual ensembles, 231 Virtual world, 234 Vocal teaching, 114 Vocational, 84 W

Wellbeing, 29 Western classical, 82 Widening participation, 82

Wider benefits, 63 Wider Opportunities, 53 Y

Youth Music, 116, 172 Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA), 148 YouTube, 229

281