Enjoyment of Music by Non-Participants in School Music Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Aaron K. Yackley Graduate Program in Music The Ohio State University 2019 Dissertation Committee Robert A. Gillespie, Advisor Julia T. Shaw Daryl W. Kinney 1 Copyrighted by Aaron K. Yackley 2019 2 Abstract The purpose of this study was to explore musical enjoyment of adolescents who had decided not to join middle school elective beginning music classes. Through a series of phenomenological interviews, participants described their experience with enjoyment of music, including what activities and conditions led to musical enjoyment, as well as how they felt during an enjoyable musical experience. The interviews were analyzed through a descriptive phenomenological framework that included developing textural (what) and structural (how) descriptions of the experience of musical enjoyment. Findings indicated that non-music students enjoyed a variety of musical activities, including listening to music, singing along to music, dancing to music, creating music, sharing music with friends, attending live concerts, and musical games or informal music learning. Their enjoyment was also predicated on the conditions that music matched their pre-established preferences, that music elicited situationally-preferred emotions, that music evoked fond memories, and that music focused their attention on the task or object they intended. During musical enjoyment, participants experienced their situationally-preferred emotions, a sense of focus, a feeling of ownership or relatedness toward the music, and a desire to continue participation in the musical activity that resulted in enjoyment. Implications for music education are discussed, including curricular changes to address the way that students not enrolled in music classes engage with and enjoy music. iii Acknowledgments I would first like to thank my advisor, Dr. Robert Gillespie, who kept me grounded in the practical rationale for my study, and who faithfully played devil’s advocate throughout this process. His guidance was critical to keeping me grounded. He helped me to always keep the practical implications of the study in mind, and to focus on how the findings could improve the profession and impact students in a meaningful way. His thorough editing of my writing helped me tremendously during the dissertation process and throughout my entire time at Ohio State. I would also like to thank Dr. Daryl Kinney, who always seemed to know the right question to ask to get at the heart of any matter. Dr. Kinney’s keen ability to cut directly to the holes in my logic or ideas I had overlooked helped to keep this project on track. I appreciate his encouragement and support throughout the process. I would like to thank all of my classmates and professors who read my writing throughout the years at Ohio State, whose valuable feedback helped me to grow as a writer and as a thinker. Dr. Tim Gerber encouraged me to seek out a variety of perspectives and to place value on every individual’s insight. Dr. Eugenia Costa-Giomi taught me to read and write the fastest I ever have. Professor Alan Green taught me patience and exhaustive thoroughness, each of which I needed at every stage of the dissertation. iv And finally, I would like to extend deep gratitude to Dr. Julia Shaw. Her encyclopedic knowledge of qualitative methods and careful attention to detail helped get this study off the ground and keep it going. Knowing that I had her support gave me the confidence to pursue this topic. Without her dedication to seeing the project through to fruition, this study would not have been possible. I deeply appreciate her willingness to share her writing expertise, her methodological expertise, and her insights in all facets of the research. v Vita 2008 ........................................................................ Alpharetta High School, Alpharetta GA 2012 ........................................................................ B.M.E., Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 2012-2016 ............................................................... Orchestra Director, Northwestern Middle School, Alpharetta, GA 2015 ........................................................................ M.M.E., University of Georgia, Athens, GA 2016-2019 ............................................................... Graduate Teaching Associate, Music Education, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH Fields of Study Major Field: Music vi Table of Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................... iv Vita ................................................................................................................................ vi List of Tables ................................................................................................................. xi Chapter 1. Introduction .................................................................................................... 1 Models and Measures of Musical Enjoyment ............................................................... 3 School Music Participants and Non-Participants .......................................................... 5 Need for the Study ....................................................................................................... 6 Purpose and Research Questions................................................................................ 11 Methodological Overview ......................................................................................... 12 Participants ............................................................................................................ 12 Data Generation ..................................................................................................... 15 Data Analysis ........................................................................................................ 16 Definition of Terms ................................................................................................... 18 Chapter Organization ................................................................................................. 19 Chapter 2. Review of Literature ..................................................................................... 21 Models of Enjoyment ................................................................................................ 21 Historical perspectives. .......................................................................................... 22 Flow. ..................................................................................................................... 23 Eudaimonic enjoyment. ......................................................................................... 26 Hedonic enjoyment. ............................................................................................... 27 Enjoyment in education. ........................................................................................ 28 Current perspectives. ............................................................................................. 30 Musical Enjoyment .................................................................................................... 31 Musical listening. .................................................................................................. 31 vii Musical participation. ............................................................................................ 36 Measures of Enjoyment ............................................................................................. 39 Measures of musical enjoyment. ............................................................................ 40 Experience Sampling Method (ESM). .................................................................... 41 Flow Indicators in Musical Activities (FIMA). ...................................................... 44 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 45 Chapter 3. Methodology ................................................................................................ 47 Purpose ..................................................................................................................... 47 Research Design ........................................................................................................ 48 Participant Selection .................................................................................................. 49 Site Selection & Context............................................................................................ 51 Managing Subjectivity ............................................................................................... 52 Aaron’s Epoché: Bracketing the Researcher’s Perspective ......................................... 55 Data Generation......................................................................................................... 60 Interview Planning ................................................................................................. 60 Data Collection Procedure ..................................................................................... 61 Managing Roles ....................................................................................................