Autonomy and the instrumental music teacher: negotiating culture in professional practice

ABSTRACT

This study provides valuable insights concerning the nature of professional practice in instrumental teachers working in a range of professional contexts in the UK. Using Bourdieu’s conceptual tools of habitus, field and capital, the analysis explores the way in which individuals negotiate the field of instrumental music education, revealing high levels of professional autonomy and specific understandings of the role of the contemporary professional musician. The findings demonstrate the extent to which musicians’ understandings and practices are culturally determined and perpetuated, highlighting the relationship between specific aspects of the field of instrumental teaching and learning and understandings of professional identity. The perception and experience of professional identity revealed in this study suggest a need to revise understandings of the role and identity of the professional musician in the context of contemporary portfolio careers in music. Using an explanatory sequential research design to combine data from a national survey of instrumental teachers with findings from eighteen individual case study interviews and one focus group, the research prioritises the lived experience of participants in generating understanding of professional lives and identities in this context.

Data availability statement

The data described in this article are openly available in the Open Science Framework at DOI:10.17605/OSF.IO/TPA6U.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kerry Boyle

Kerry Boyle is a singing teacher and lecturer at Canterbury Christ Church University. Having studied music and English literature at the University of Keele she specialised in performance as a postgraduate singing student at Trinity College of Music. Kerry spent several years singing professionally before specialising in education and has worked as a teacher, lecturer and manager in a range of teaching contexts including schools, colleges and a local authority music service. Kerry's research interests include professional identity for musicians, careers in music and the nature of communication in instrumental teaching and learning. As a singing teacher, Kerry has worked with individuals and groups in a wide range of formal and informal contexts and she currently directs several choirs and coordinates international arts projects and partnerships.