Positive emotions and passionate leisure involvement

Abstract

Music is commonly linked to moments of remembrance, joy, celebration and bonding. This paper explores how middle-aged participants in a music scene use the various aspects of their involvement to create and store positive emotions cultivated through music appreciation, friendship building and maintenance, and shared moments of ecstasy and catharsis. Due to the prevalence of significant life events and transitions in this age cohort (relationship, career and health changes), isolating how people use their involvement in leisure activities can be integral to learning how people build and maintain a high quality of life, as well as how they draw on those positive associations to cope with potential hardships that may arise.

Keywords:

• positive psychology
• music
• fan culture
• ethnography
• leisure

Acknowledgements

The first author would like to thank Donnalee Dox, Rudy Dunlap and Kyle Woosnam for comments and edits on earlier drafts of this manuscript.

Notes on contributors

Justin Harmon is a recent Ph.D. graduate from Texas A&M. His research includes the investigation of group behaviour and personal identity in popular music scenes. Additional research focuses on the use of leisure for identity and coping maintenance for people with serious or terminal diseases.

Gerard T. Kyle's research interests lie in the area of the human dimensions of natural resources. Specifically, he has been studying the meanings various groups ascribe to wild land environments throughout the USA.

Notes

1 The festival centres on the Jackmormons and is named after one of their songs, Dixie Mattress.

2 The pronouns ‘I’ and ‘me’ refer to the first author throughout.