Mezcla

Many music education researchers have noted the fact that children often

become passionately interested in music that they themselves have chosen, while remaining a good deal less interested in what formal music education has to offer (see, for example, Stålhammer, 2003; Lamont et al., 2003; Campbell, 1998). This enthusiasm may be limited to singing in the playground, listening to music or going to concerts, but may also extend to instrumental learning. Young people frequently choose to engage in musical learning of their own volition, and often dedicate enormous amounts of energy and enthusiasm to it. It is perhaps not surprising that researchers such as Sheri Jaffurs (2004) are

interested in informal learning; the musicians she sees rehearsing demonstrate just the kind of engagement and commitment to music learning that she is trying to generate in her classroom.

The voluntary nature of this interest is a defining feature of the literature on popular music learning; the desire to take up an instrument is self-initiated, rather than at the suggestion of parents or teachers. Green (2002: 26-28) gives several examples of this kind of ʻself-recruitmentʼ, combined with very high levels of motivation, among the popular musicians she studies. It is common in

the literature to find reports of high levels of motivation among popular music learners, resulting in long hours of dedicated practice, occasionally bordering on the obsessive and anti-social (Walser, 1993: 99).

Similarly, the group I interviewed recruited themselves to the world of popular music learning, most feeling compelled to learn, regardless of the consequences. Some of them recalled a situation, even a certain moment when, due to a chance, informal encounter, they were spontaneously ʻseizedʼ by the sound of an instrument, even though at the time there was no apparent explanation for this interest:

I saw some people busking in Bath, and it just - looking back on it I can't

imagine what must have been going through my head at the time but it

grabbed me...; it drove me to go and buy a banjo immediately. [Carl]

The desire to play and to learn was frequently attributed to a certain sound, a word which kept appearing in the interviews. Carl described himself ʻlistening to music, getting fired up about the sound I was hearing and just becoming fanatical about achieving thatʼ. Bill was already learning the electric bass when he heard the distinctive sound of the band Level 42:

I just put this on, and I thought - how on earth is he doing that on the bass, I want to do that, I've got to to find out how to do that; it took ages, every

day I used to come home from school and get my bass out and try and do

it, you know, and before I went to school I'd like get 20 minutes in, you

know, ah, man! [laughter] [Bill]

At ʻ16 or 17ʼ, Carl had left it relatively late to start learning in comparison with most musicians, while Ed was 20 before he started singing in bands; he didnʼt take up the guitar in earnest until even after that (see table 1 for biographical details).

The youngest was Andy whose attempts to copy his favourite record were

My little treble voice at the age of two or three or four by this time could copy it and I just thought this was wonderful, that I could sound like

something that I looked up to and adored. [Andy]

The sounds they reported hearing which made them so ʻfired upʼ seemed

to engage them in some cases on a profound, even sensual level: ʻooh, I want to be able to do that, ah, that's such a nice sound, gorgeousʼ [Bill]. The appeal could also be partly visual; Graham moved on from flute to saxophone partly ʻbecause it was noisierʼ, but also recalled going to a concert: ʻI just remember seeing the saxophone glowing on stageʼ.

Levels of application clearly varied among the group and thus learning

outcomes, and perhaps intentions, varied. For example, Edʼs decision to

commit to music in a serious way seemed conscious and deliberate rather than compulsive and inevitable, as it had been for the rest of the group. He avoided using words like ʻfascinatedʼ and ʻwonderfulʼ, and made it clear that he never became obsessive about practising the guitar:

I think I learned pretty quickly, and easily as well, I didn't particularly - I

wouldn't say I slogged for hours and stuff, I haven't done that you know.

[Ed]

He also didnʼt claim to be a technically brilliant guitarist; his commitment to making music was as a singer and songwriter, and playing the guitar was about performing songs rather than being a dazzling instrumentalist. On the other hand Carl was perhaps more typical in his determination to master the technical aspects of his instrument, and he was prepared - in fact, ʻdrivenʼ - to put the time in to achieve this: ʻI was spending most of my waking moments questioning every aspect of my playing and everyone elseʼs playingʼ. This intensive practice continued for several years and he is now widely regarded as an outstanding player in the world of traditional acoustic music. Even though their levels of commitment to instrumental practice clearly differed, the passion for music expressed by all the group proved strong enough to fuel years of engagement and, ultimately, a career.

Except for Ed, they all reported a period of concentrated practising which seemed to take over their lives, and in several accounts there was a degree of ambivalence towards this obsessive behaviour. Words like ʻdrivenʼ, ʻfanaticalʼ or ʻaddictʼ suggested they were in the grip of something too powerful to resist, and which was not necessarily healthy. For example, Dave said, perhaps only half- joking:

I was determined if I heard something I wanted to play it, I wouldn't sleep

until it was done you know [laughter], with my arms were aching and my

fingers were bleeding, you know, Iʼd get there in the end. [Dave]

On the whole, the group I interviewed spoke with some pride of their

determination and commitment to practising and learning, feelings so strong they could only submit and accept the consequences. Yet they were not entirely positive about their careers as musicians and teachers. The only ʻpart-timerʼ was Helen, who professed to want a career as a musician but couldnʼt understand how one could make a living. Indeed, there were frequent

references in the interviews to how insecure and badly paid their working lives were (ʻI wouldnʼt recommend it to anybodyʼ [Dave]), as well as how the desire to just play was so often compromised by the need to earn money doing other things (especially teaching); this is discussed further in section 5.3.1. However, the misgivings or reservations they expressed were much more to do with the results of their obsession - in other words the careers they had subsequently ended up with - rather than with the initial desire to become musicians, and the process of doing so. The reservations and regrets they expressed could be seen as validating the strength of their motivation to learn.

As I have suggested, the high levels of motivation often shown by

musicians who have themselves chosen to learn is obviously of interest to music education and music psychology researchers. Much research in the world of classical music learning also seeks to discover what influences might be at work among persistent and successful learners. For example, a study of five distinct groups of young learners by Davidson et al. (1997) suggests a number of key influences which might affect musical learning. For instance, starting with a warm, supportive instrumental teacher can encourage children to

progress to a more able and challenging teacher. Their study also indicates that parents have a ʻcrucial influenceʼ on progress in musical learning: ʻthe most successful children had parents who were most involved in their

lessonsʼ (Davidson et al., 1997: 198). Howe and Sloboda (1991) report that, out of 42 highly talented youngsters at a specialist music school:

only 14% of the children appeared to be entirely self-motivated, requiring

no parental pressure to practise, and over half the children required

considerable parental encouragement to maintain a regular practice

schedule. (Howe and Sloboda, 1991: 57)

Green also gives examples of the positive influence that teachers

(instrumental teachers in particular) can have on informal learners, and repeats the idea that ʻthe likelihood is that parents play a prominent role in the formation of popular musiciansʼ (Green, 2002: 24). Similarly, David Baker studies young instrumental teachers whose own interest in music seemed typically to have ʻresulted naturally from conditions at home. Music-making was an ingredient of family life. It was a matter of being born into a family setting of musical

pastimesʼ (Baker, 2006: 40). They believed that parents played a role ʻof cardinal importanceʼ (ibid: 41) in encouraging consistent practice. OʼNeill and McPherson (2002) do accept that, while environmental factors are relevant, a child must be interested in learning in order to persevere:

There is little doubt that motivation to continue instrumental training is inextricably linked to the social and cultural environment, and so it is also

important to consider how motivation for playing an instrument might be

influenced by external factors such as parents and teachers. Important as

these factors may be, no amount of parental support is likely to make a

child without some intrinsic interest engage in the long-term effort required

to succeed at even modest levels of musical competence. (OʼNeill and

McPherson, 2002: 43)

None of the musicians in the present study mentioned being inspired or

encouraged by teachers at school, and where instrumental teachers were discussed it was generally in negative terms (as we shall see in section 3.3.1). Several members of the group speculated about what might have led them to the kind of instant attraction to a certain sound or instrument which they almost all reported, and how this could translate into years of commitment and hard

work. Bill spoke at some length about different kinds of musicians, some of whom were evidently devotees who would be ʻdoing it anywayʼ regardless of rewards since it fulfilled a ʻbasic needʼ in themselves, whereas others had:

no imagination about music, they don't, it doesn't fulfil any kind of

fundamental need in them I don't think, playing...; I've met people who are like that who are brilliant players, technically speaking but, you know, ain't

got the blues, man! You know what I mean? [Laughter] [Bill]

He denied that this was genetic in origin, but was rather to do with oneʼs ʻpsychological makeup, to do with your development, you know, the way you grew up, things like that reallyʼ [Bill]. However, he gives no account of the way his own background might have generated this ʻfundamental needʼ in himself, nor even how he became interested in music at all:

Q: Were there other people in your family who were playing or singing?

Bill: No.

Q: Was there music around you in any way?

Bill: Not really, no, we used to listen to the radio, had a radio in our house, didn't have a record player, until later, didn't have a telly either, so.

Q: Looking back, do you know where that interest came from, do you

know why you stuck your hand up? [to volunteer for cello]

Bill: [5 second pause] Not really, no. Just curiosity I think.

As with Carl, his initial motivation to become involved in music learning is a mystery. Andy and Frank reported very similar backgrounds, without either parents or siblings actively involved in music, and with no particular emphasis on music in their home lives.

All the others had either parents or siblings or both who played or sang (if only round the house). For example, Ed had parents who both played and listened to music at home, and encouraged him to go for lessons on the cello, though he subsequently gave this up. Daveʼs entire family (mother, father and two brothers) all played the piano; this was the source of a limited amount of advice and help and presumably inspiration, though the musical path he took was very much his own. Helen grew up listening to music, and had a supportive musical father:

Q: Could you say something about how you first started getting interested

in music?

Helen: I was very young, I think it was a mixture of being offered a

recorder at infantsʼ school and just listening to music around the house,

my dad played the clarinet and sax.

Helenʼs father offered her his old clarinet and practised with her

occasionally. Yet even from her earliest memories as an instrumental learner, her enthusiasm and energy is tangibly her own. She ʻbadgeredʼ her mother even to get a recorder, which she ʻgot really intoʼ, and by the time she wanted a saxophone, she remembered ʻbadgering and badgering and badgeringʼ her parents to get one, and ʻbeing a right pain in the arseʼ in her insistence. This does not sound like someone relying directly on their parents for support and motivation. Obviously, these musicians have mostly gone on to a full-time career in music, and thus one might expect to find unusually high levels of motivation in their early years.

In contrast to Bill, Carl suggested that there might indeed be a genetic basis to becoming a musician; his parents were both jazz players but he was adamant that this did not mean there was music round him as he was growing up, merely that ʻI had lots of baby sitters cos my parents were going out doing lots of gigsʼ. In general any attempts to explain their levels of motivation were half-hearted at best. More typical was Graham, at a loss to account for his solitary devotion:

Q: So how come you sorted all this stuff out? I mean, huge amounts of

learning?

Graham: I donʼt know, I mean I really seriously donʼt know.

There is then some evidence here to support the idea that parental

influence may have played a part in fostering musical learning, if only passively. In the event, not one of them sought to give credit to their parents for actively promoting their instrumental learning, although of course this does not

necessarily mean that family background was irrelevant. Teachers, parents and students all have vested interests in the ways parental involvement in childrenʼs education is reported, and the attribution of responsibility may depend upon

outcomes; for example, children who drop out of school may well blame their behaviour on a lack of involvement from their parents (Baker and Soden 1997: 14). Instruments and lessons were presumably paid for by parents, although in several cases these musicians only took up their chosen instruments in earnest in their late teens and even early twenties, when they were more independent of their parents than a school-age learner would have been. Equally, there may have been a tendency here to underplay the influence of others and to claim the responsibility for successful learning themselves. This claim of sole ownership also reflects beliefs, widely held by and about musicians, concerning the

ʻauthenticityʼ of talent and motivation which appears to spring, perfectly formed, from nowhere (see, for example, Lilliestam 1996: 201).

It is perhaps remarkable that hardly any of these musicians attributed any

significant part of their achievements to encouragement by their parents or to any obvious influence in their backgrounds. However, the role of ʻfamily backgroundʼ is complex. Baker and Soden (1997) review a wide range of research concerning parental involvement in childrenʼs education, and highlight the difficulty of separating the effects of parental action from that of other adults. They also show that parents can influence their childrenʼs education in many different ways. For example, parent aspirations or expectations for success, help with homework or attending parent-teacher meetings, parenting style or patterns of family interaction have all been studied as possible factors in the educational outcomes of children.

Henry Kingsbury argues that:

The nature-nurture question with regard to talent and musicality is poorly dealt with when the “nurture” side of the issue is conceived in terms of

such issues as the presence or absence of stereo equipment or musical

instruments in the home, or the performance skills and musical tastes of

the parents. (Kingsbury, 1988: 72)

Kingsbury goes on to suggest that instrumental learners, and children in particular, are largely at the mercy of others when it comes to creating and sustaining ideas about how ʻmusicalʼ they are: ʻboth the manifesting and the

assessing of musical talent are to a great extent matters of social power and authority (ibid: 77).

In such matters children are at an ʻinsuperable disadvantageʼ. Most

pertinent to the development of talent is the ʻemotional vulnerabilityʼ of the potential learner, and the level of support and encouragement they receive, since:

when musical performances result in rejection or ridicule, one response

will be a strategic avoidance of comparable performances in the future.

(ibid: 74)

Thus ʻparental involvementʼ takes various forms, and may include ʻparental pressure to practiseʼ (Howe and Sloboda, 1991: 57), paying for lessons, or simply not criticising a childʼs attempts to make music. If the development of musicality is indeed dependent on a complex brew of social power relations and sensitive parenting skills then any serious attempt to account for musical ʻtalentʼ or motivation would require a considerably more intimate and prolonged

research project than this.

By contrast, there were suggestions from some of the group that

disapproval from parents (and teachers) may have been a motivating factor in learning, at least at certain stages of their interest in music. At school, Bill appeared to be a ʻsuccessful learnerʼ, playing in the orchestra and taking grade exams. However he subsequently abandoned the cello and took up the electric bass instead in order to play punk rock, music he was ʻexcitedʼ by:

When I started playing bass guitar, one of the things that I secretly liked about it was the fact that none of the older people that I knew liked the

kind of music that I was listening to. My mother was dead against it, my

music teacher...was really crusty, and he described it as a “racket”, and it “wasn't music”, you know...I didn't care, you know it was like - great!

[laughter] It sounded good to me! [Bill]

Many popular cultural forms seem associated with the pleasures of the taboo...the songs ʻyour mother wouldn't likeʼ are exciting because she wouldn't like them. (Horrocks, 1995: 23)

Most of these teachers belonged to a certain generation that was growing up in the late 1970s when punk rock was in its heyday, and several (in particular Bill, Carl and Dave) identified to varying degrees with its ʻDIYʼ ethic and ʻresistiveʼ stance, as well as having been (and continuing to be) fans of the music.

There were several references from the group to the appeal of exciting

adult disapproval through music; Andy referred with some glee to the ʻhellish noisesʼ he used to make in his first band, while Frank remembered:

All the musicians in the school used to get together in a room and all play our instruments very loudly all at the same time, that was really cool, I liked that a lot...maybe just making a noise is cool, making a loud noise is