Structure and agency in university-level recreational music making

Abstract

The purposes of this study were to investigate the musical backgrounds, self-expressed reasons for participation and possible implications for music education of collegiate recreational music makers (N=19) and their practices as they exist in two contrasting modes of musical engagement on the campus of a large urban research university: authority-led and student-led. Utilising the work of Pierre Bourdieu together with theories of leisure and participation I examine (1) relations of class as they exist in on-campus recreational ensembles and (2) reflexivity related to self-expressed reasons for participation. Analysis suggests that authority-led and student-led distinctions do not adequately account for recreational practices, and that recreational music makers are largely unaware that they share similar privileged backgrounds. Implications for music education are discussed.

Keywords:

• lifelong participation
• leisure
• Bourdieu
• habitus
• recreation
• music making

Notes

1. For the purposes of this article I use college and university synonymously.

2. Formally the Marching Band and Pep Band were/are two different entities, but in practice almost all members were/are the same. They were treated as one ensemble for the purposes of this study.

3. Based on figures found on the university's website and www.stateuniversity.com. A representative breakdown matching campus demographics would be closer to 12–13 white, 2–3 Asian, 1–2 Hispanic, 1–2 black or brown. I did not directly ask participants to self-describe race/ethnicity. One participant's responses revealed herself/himself to be Hispanic. I use the designation brown as a category that includes any non-black, non-white race/ethnicity, such as south Asian or Middle Eastern.

4. Charter schools, which typically operate outside of many unionised labour constraints, have become popular in the USA in recent years. Due to the variability of such schools, I am not implying that charter schools are the ‘elite’ equivalent of private schools. The salient point is that parents in these instances have made the deliberate choice to enrol their children in such schools, indicating a particular stance towards education.

5. Compare the similarity of this response to that of one of Palmer's (2008) adult participants in New Zealand: ‘You turn up for practice and you've had a really tiring day or a trying week and everything's wrong and you don't want to be there. The last thing you want to do is go out at night. But you go and at the end of two hours you're feeling wonderful’ (210).