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I Did That Wrong and It Sounded Good: an Ethnographic Study Of University of South Florida Scholar Commons Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 4-8-2014 I Did That Wrong and It Sounded Good: An Ethnographic Study of Vernacular Music Making in Higher Education Victor Ezquerra University of South Florida, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd Part of the Other Education Commons Scholar Commons Citation Ezquerra, Victor, "I Did That Wrong and It Sounded Good: An Ethnographic Study of Vernacular Music Making in Higher Education" (2014). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/5012 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. I Did That Wrong and It Sounded Good: An Ethnographic Study of Vernacular Music Making in Higher Education by Victor N. Ezquerra A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Music Education College of the Arts University of South Florida Major Professor: David A. Williams, Ph.D. C. Victor Fung, Ph.D. Antoinette Jackson, Ph.D. Clint Randles, Ph.D. Date of Approval: April 8, 2014 Keywords: Music Education, Vernacular Music, Constructivism, Ethnography, Higher Education, Culture Copyright © 2014. Victor N. Ezquerra DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to the infinite beauty of sounds and noises, particularly those that we call music. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS A gigantic “thank you” must be given to my dissertation committee: Dr. Victor Fung, Dr. Antoinette Jackson, Dr. Clint Randles, and the chair of my committee Dr. David Williams, for giving me so much help throughout the entire process. Your advice, criticism, support, and presence have truly been priceless. I cannot express enough how grateful I am to have had the opportunity to work with all of you. I would also like to acknowledge the faculty, staff, and students at the School of Music, in particular those students that participated in the study. The experiences during this study provided amazing and life-changing times that I will never forget. Thank you so much for making the teaching, music making, and research valuable and extraordinary. Big thanks to all the friends who supported me; without your physical and emotional presence I could not have maintained my sanity during the research. I have no real brothers or sisters, but y’all know you are my family. Adam, Amir, Andrew, Andy, Birge, Cade, Carlos, Chip, Josh, K Dot C Dot, Laura, Lauren, Lindsay, Mauricio, Monica, Nick, Patrick, Rabby, Stu, Trent—I love y’all and thanks for listening to my musical ramblings. Finally, I would like to acknowledge my family: my German Shepherd Dog Panzer for his immeasurable perfection, my aunt Isa for her help with formatting, my mother Aline for her unbridled optimism, and my father, the original Dr. Ezquerra, for a lifetime of academic guidance. I love you. i TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................... iv CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ....................................................................... 1 Background ................................................................................................ 1 Statement of the Problem ........................................................................... 7 Conceptual Underpinnings/Theoretical Base ........................................... 12 Purpose .................................................................................................... 14 Limitations ................................................................................................. 15 Operational Definitions ............................................................................. 16 Summary .................................................................................................. 20 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................... 22 Introduction ............................................................................................... 22 Constructivist Theory ................................................................................ 23 Introduction .................................................................................... 23 Constructivist Theory ..................................................................... 24 The Breadth of Constructivism ...................................................... 26 Constructivist Research in General Education .............................. 31 Constructivism in Music Education ................................................ 33 Constructivist Practice ................................................................... 35 Conclusion ..................................................................................... 37 Ethnographic Research ............................................................................ 40 Introduction .................................................................................... 40 Ethnography in General Education ................................................ 40 Ethnography in Music Research .................................................... 45 Ethnography in Music Education Research ................................... 50 Major Figures in Ethnography ........................................................ 54 Themes .......................................................................................... 57 Conclusion ..................................................................................... 59 Vernacular Music ...................................................................................... 60 Introduction .................................................................................... 60 The Vernacular Phenomenon ........................................................ 61 Vernacular Experiences in Music Education ................................. 69 Rock Music as Vernacular Culture: A Closer Look ........................ 77 Conclusion ..................................................................................... 83 Summary .................................................................................................. 84 CHAPTER THREE: METHODS .......................................................................... 86 Pilot Study................................................................................................. 86 ii Philosophical Framework ......................................................................... 87 Participants ............................................................................................... 89 Environment ............................................................................................. 92 The Role of the Researcher ..................................................................... 93 Data Collection ......................................................................................... 95 Audiovisual and Multimedia Methods ..................................................... 104 Physical Artifacts .................................................................................... 109 Ethical Concerns..................................................................................... 110 Data Analysis .......................................................................................... 111 Conclusion .............................................................................................. 115 CHAPTER FOUR: ANALYSIS OF DATA .......................................................... 116 Introduction ............................................................................................. 116 Organization of Data Analysis ................................................................ 117 The Story ................................................................................................ 118 The Courses ................................................................................ 118 Humble Beginnings ...................................................................... 121 A Dynamic Process ...................................................................... 124 Closing the First Semester ........................................................... 129 Looking Forwards and Backwards: Comparison Between the Two Semesters ................................................................. 133 A Fresh Start ................................................................................ 135 Highs and Lows ........................................................................... 137 Nearing the End ........................................................................... 140 The End of a Journey .................................................................. 142 Looking Back in the Students’ Words .......................................... 144 Analysis of Data ...................................................................................... 148 Research Questions .................................................................... 148 Research Hypotheses ................................................................. 157 Summary ...................................................................................... 167 CHAPTER FIVE: FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS ......................................... 169 Introduction
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