Disrupting the Maestro: Tuneful Youth Insights for Engaged Music Education By Verne Lorway A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Studies in the Faculty of Education at the University of Prince Edward Island © 2014 Verne Lorway Disrupting the Maestro: Tuneful Youth Insights for Engaged Music Education A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Education in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Studies University of Prince Edward Island We accept this dissertation as conforming to the required standards Dr. Kate Tilleczek, Supervisor Verne Lorway Charlottetown, PE September 19, 2014 © 2014 Verne Lorway ii PERMISSION TO USE GRADUATE DISSERTATION Title of Dissertation: Disrupting the Maestro: Tuneful Youth Insights for Engaged Music Education Name of Author: Verne Lorway Faculty: Faculty of Education Degree: Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Studies Year: 2014 Name of Supervisor: Dr. Kate Tilleczek In presenting this dissertation in partial fulfilment of the requirements for a graduate degree from the University of Prince Edward Island, the author has agreed that the Robertson Library, University of Prince Edward Island, may make this dissertation freely available for inspection and gives permission to add an electronic version of the dissertation to the Digital Repository at the University of Prince Edward Island. Moreover the author further agrees that permission for extensive copying of this dissertation for scholarly purposes may be granted by the professor or professors who supervised the author’s dissertation work, or, in their absence, by the Chair of the Department or the Dean of the Faculty in which the author’s dissertation work was done. It is understood that any copying or publication or use of this dissertation or parts thereof for financial gain shall not be allowed without the author’s written permission. It is also understood that due recognition shall be given to the author and to the University of Prince Edward Island in any scholarly use which may be made of any material in the author’s dissertation. Signature: Address: 550 University Ave. Charlottetown, PE C1A 4P3 iii University of Prince Edward Island Faculty of Education Certification of Dissertation Work We, the undersigned, certify that Verne Lorway, candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Studies has presented her dissertation with the following title: Disrupting the Maestro: Tuneful Youth Insights for Engaged Music Education, that the dissertation is acceptable in form and content, and that a satisfactory knowledge of the field covered by the dissertation was demonstrated by the candidate through an oral examination held on September 19, 2014. Examiners’ Names Examiners’ Signatures Dr. Kate Tilleczek iv Supervisory Committee Dr. Kate Tilleczek - Professor & Canada Research Chair; Faculty of Education & Arts Sociology/Anthropology Supervisor Dr. June Countryman - Faculty of Music (Adjunct) Committee Member Dr. Jean Mitchell - Faculty of Arts; Sociology/Anthropology Committee Member Dr. Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández - Professor; Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning; Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at The University of Toronto External Examiner Dr. Andrew M. Zinck - Chair & Associate Professor; Faculty of Music Internal Examiner v Abstract This innovative dissertation research has been designed, implemented, and disseminated through this written thesis, public performances and a website (http://saswclub.wix.com/saswclub). The research was undertaken with, for, and by students in one secondary school in Atlantic Canada. The following research questions were addressed: (a) How do students articulate their perceptions and experiences of engagement in music-making, (b) How do these student perceptions and experiences figure into pedagogical practices for teaching music and further engaging in musicmaking and school, and (c) Are student ideas being heard? Why or why not? To answer these questions, 30 student participants collaborated with the researcher who is also a music teacher in situ. The research took place over 15 months through sustained and varied critical ethnographic methods. Interviews, documents, reflexive observations, music-making, and musical performances were collected and analyzed through a fugue-like process. From this process arose a Song Writer’s Club within the school. Teacher and student participants collaborated in the duties of recording, production, musical instruction, accompaniment, and equipment management. Student participants wrote, performed, and recorded songs. They also spoke about their musicking experiences during two interviews. The ethnographic processes were shared with student participants via video, songs, journals, and images. Students provided important insights about teaching and learning music, and about developing engaged education more generally. They recommended a resolution of current gaps between formal and informal musicmaking and teaching. They also suggested a need to collaborate across diverse musical styles and to interrogate maestro-driven educational processes. The dissertation contributes to the field of Educational Studies by challenging adult-centred education through a new lens of disrupted maestro and by inviting authentic inclusion of youth in educational research and practice. vi Preface Disrupting the “maestro”: Tuneful youth insights for engaged music education This dissertation is an original intellectual product of the author, Verne Lorway. The fieldwork introduced in Chapters 1-4 and fully explicated in Chapters 5-8 was approved by the University of Prince Edward Island Research Ethics Board: Reference Number 60054966. vii Table of Contents SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE....………...…………………………………………...…….......v ABSTRACT.………………..………………………………………………………….…....…...vi PREFACE………………....…………………………………………………………...…….......vii TABLE OF CONTENTS………..……………………………………………………………...viii LIST OF FIGURES………………………………………………………………………….......xii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………………………………………...………...xiii DEDICATION………………….…………………………………………………………….…xiv Chapter 1: The Quest of the Maestro .........................................................................................1 Disrupting the Maestro’s Nobility ...............................................................................................2 Analyzing the Disruption .................................................................................................5 Reinventing the Maestro ..................................................................................................9 Summary: Creating a Stir ..........................................................................................................14 Chapter 2: Youthful “Musicking”: Emergent Methods and Methodologies ........................17 Methods and Analysis .................................................................................................................17 Dialogue and Interviews .................................................................................................19 Texts .................................................................................................................................24 Research Ethics and Student Recruitment ...................................................................27 Meet the Participating Young Artists .......................................................................................33 Resonant Themes: Voice and Identity ......................................................................................36 Voice .................................................................................................................................36 Identity .............................................................................................................................40 Research Design and Methodology ...........................................................................................43 viii Who is the Maestro?: Researcher Reflexivity ..............................................................43 Critical Institutional Ethnography and Musical Ruling Relations ............................52 Critical Pedagogy and Playing Outside the Box ..........................................................59 Performance Ethnography .............................................................................................65 Approaches to Analysis ..................................................................................................67 Summary: Mixed, Musical, Youth-attuned Teaching and Learning Methodology .............69 Chapter 3: Youthful, Tuneful Analysis .....................................................................................72 Composing Research Processes .................................................................................................74 My Researcher Presence ................................................................................................81 Composing a Living Analysis .........................................................................................82 Performing Artful, Ethical Processes ........................................................................................87 Chapter 4: Sydney’s Past and Present Youthful, Musical Reconstructions: Resistance and Reproduction ...............................................................................................................................89