Music Lessons

MUSIC LESSONS: A CULTURAL STUDIES ANALYSIS OF MUSIC’S CAPACITY FOR CRITICAL PEDAGOGY AND METHODOLOGY by L. A. Pearl Hunt M.A., Simon Fraser University, 2002 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF Doctor of Philosophy in The Faculty of Graduate Studies (Cross-Faculty Inquiry in Education) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) October 2010 © L.A. Pearl Hunt, 2010 ABSTRACT When expressing the phrase music lessons, one often visualizes students with their musical instruments practicing scales or compositions with the intent of memorizing the music. Although music can actualize as mnemonic practice, this dissertation focuses on other lessons that music teaches us by examining how musical knowledge is produced. Building on the ideologies articulated within a framework of cultural studies, the dissertation attempts a pedagogical praxis that establishes a fluid and dynamic conversation to express both my theoretical and empirical findings. The findings then are not definitive answers to the questions I pose about music’s effect, but operate as a process of opening up these questions to further reflection. The dissertation, by invoking a praxis-based structure, communicates both the theoretical “how” of music as praxis involved work and my practice of realizing music as culture-in-action. The dissertation aims to redress music – not only in terms of music making as transformative praxis but also to assert that music, as a means of producing knowledge within critical discourse, can be situated as the subject versus the object of effect. Because a core component of music is its ability to be inclusive of all cultures/peoples, the dissertation examines how the performative aspects of music intersects sites and people of differing class, gender, race and culture to articulate music’s capacity for negotiating difference. Pitched in this way, music can no longer be regarded by critical educators as being on the sidelines of critical discourse but rather will be seen as integral to transforming consciousness and realizing praxis. By informing and expanding upon the theory and practice of critical pedagogy, this music discourse not only seeks to influence a broader idea of social justice praxis but can also operate as a predominant cultural component in promoting peace education. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT.……………………………………………………………………………………………ii TABLE OF CONTENTS.……………………………………………………………………………. iii LIST OF FIGURES…………………………………………………………………………………… iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………………………………………………………….v DEDICATION…………………………………………………………………………………………. vi 1 INTRODUCTION: AN OVERTURE……………………………………………………………..1 Formative Themes...........................................................................................................1 Structure of Research……………………………………………………………………….. 10 References……………………………………………………………………………………. 15 2 MAKING MUSIC TO PROMOTE PEDAGOGY OF HOPE: A CONVERSATION……………………………………………………………………………. 17 What is Music, Anyway? .............................................................................................. 22 A Critical Theory of Peace………………………………………………………………….. 34 References……………………………………………………………………………………. 40 3 LOSING AND FINDING MY WESTERN BAGGAGE: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL CASE FOR RELOCATING HUMAN RIGHTS WITHIN CULTURAL STUDIES……………….… 43 A Few Theoretical Observations…………………………………………………………… 46 Collective Identities………………………………………………………………………….. 57 Music and Social Change…………………………………………………………………... 63 References…………………………………………………………………………………… 71 4 WORKING THROUGH DIFFERENCE: MUSIC’S CAPACITY FOR CULTURAL STUDIES PRAXIS………………………..……………………………….. 74 Theorizing Music and Identity………………………………………………………………. 85 Border Crossings…………………………………………………………………………….. 91 References……………………………………………………………………………….…..100 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS…cont…. 5 STRIKING A CHORD FOR WOMEN: THE FEMINIST INTERSECTION AT THE CROSSROADS OF MUSIC, RACE AND CULTURE…………………………….. 103 At the Crossroads of Music, Race and Culture………………………………………….. 104 The Feminist Intersection…………………………………………………………………… 108 References…………………………………………………………………………………… 124 6 SOUNDING OFF: MUSIC AS METHOD…………………………………………………….. 127 Participatory Research……………………………………………………………………… 128 Critical Ethnography………………………………………………………………………… 130 Music as Method…………………………………………………………………………….. 132 References…………………………………………………………………………………… 151 7 USING MUSIC TO REPRESENT VOICE: DEVELOPING A METHODOLOGICAL PROCESS FOR MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION……………….. 155 Recall………………………………………………………………………………………… 161 Rebuild……………………………………………………………………………………….. 168 Reclaim………………………………………………………………………………………. 172 References…………………………………………………………………………………... 179 8 CONCLUDING REMARKS: MUSIC AS KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION IN THE PROJECT OF CULTURAL STUDIES AND DISCOURSE FOR PEACE…………………. 182 Cultural Studies as a Framework for Social Justice …………………………………… 185 Future Research…………………………………………………………………………… 191 References………………………………………………………………………………….. 196 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1 Structural components………………………………………………………... 10 Figure 3.1 On the road……………………………………………………………………. 60 Figure 3.2 The participants……………………………………………………………….. 66 Figure 7.1 Directions to Mobile…………………………………………………………… 158 Figure 7.2 A postcard……………………………………………………………………… 171 v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My deepest gratitude for all the collaborative support I have received towards the development of this dissertation. In particular, I thank my supervisor, Professor Handel Wright, my committee members Professor Mary Bryson and Professor Budd Hall, my fellow colleagues at Simon Fraser University, and my family. All of you have made this work possible. I thank the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Graduate Studies for providing a Four Year Fellowship and University Graduate Fellowship to assist with completing this doctoral work. I also acknowledge Simon Fraser University’s Graduate Liberal Studies Program and the Association of Graduate Liberal Studies Programs for their financial support of my research and conference travel. vi DEDICATION FOR PEACE vii 1. INTRODUCTION: AN OVERTURE Somewhat like a twentieth century musical, my opening remarks resemble an overture in that I want to lay the foundation for various themes which are developed throughout this dissertation. In beginning this discourse, I want to reiterate the purpose and goal of my dissertation which, in advancing the production of knowledge, specifically aims to examine how music produces knowledge within its own right. As a musician, cultural worker, and educator, music’s capacity to produce knowledge can be useful to furthering my understanding of critical pedagogy, which not only seeks to influence a broader idea of social justice praxis but also can be applied as a dominate cultural component in the theorizing of peace education. The formative themes then, revolve around knowledge production, praxis, pedagogy, and cultural work. Formative Themes Music is not about or caused by the social: it is part of whatever we take to be social writ large. Music is a constitutive ingredient of social life. – Tia DeNora (2003, p. 151) The theme of knowledge production The idea of music as a means of producing and transferring knowledge and as a means of promoting and securing peace is not at all a new concept. Indeed, Confucius in the 1 Book of Rites (200 BCE) suggests that, “to act without effort or violence is music.” 1 Many cultures and people know intuitively that music is its own knowledge - especially those cultures which until the twentieth century were largely orally based - as much of their cultural knowledge was transferred through song, music and dance (Levitin, 2008). For many people it is a matter of common sense that music affects us deeply. We know this because we experience these effects. As cultural sociologist Tia De Nora (2003) remarks: “We know, in short, that music matters” (p. 2). Music has power, or so many people believe. Across culture and time, it has been linked with persuasion, healing, corruption and many other transformational matters. The idea behind these linkages is that music “acts” on consciousness, the body, and the emotions, (De Nora, 2003, p. 1). Again, the realization that music acts upon the body is not new. In fact, music making has been controlled, manipulated and censored for centuries within religious, public, corporate and media practices. As a young girl of the 1960s, I remember the scandal of “Elvis’ pelvis” because his television performance was broadcasted below the belt! More recently, Heavy Metal music has been the focus of blame for inciting riots and massacres such as Columbine. French economist Jacques Attali (1985) in Noise: the Political Economy of Music, suggests that music is fundamentally a political practice: Listening to music is listening to all noise, realizing that its appropriation and control is a reflection of power, that it is essentially political” (1985, p. 6). 1 From: Attali (1985). Noise: The political economy of music. (Brian Massumi, Trans.) Minneapolis MN: University of Minnesota Press. Quote appears on page 29. 2 With the rise of mechanical and digital reproduction and mass media within the twenty- first century, music is perhaps more prolific and more accessible than at any time in history. What appears to be remarkable is that within this virtual explosion of music, western cultures, and in particular their academies, seldom see a need for thinking and writing critically about music in terms of constructing knowledge. Instead, as McClary (1991) asserts, music has been posed more

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