Contemporary British Conservatoires and their Practices - Experiences from Alumni Perspectives Jennie Joy Porton In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Music Royal Holloway, University of London January 2020 Declaration of Authorship I, Jennie Joy Porton, hereby declare that this thesis and the work presented in it is entirely my own. Where I have consulted the work of others, this is always clearly stated. Signed: Date: 23rd January 2020 Acknowledgements There are a number of special people to whom I owe my sincere and heartfelt thanks in the course of completing this research. Firstly, I must extend my overwhelming gratitude to my supervisor, Tina K. Ramnarine, who has been beside me and guiding me through this process for the past eight years, never faltering in her encouragement and patience. Secondly, I owe thanks to my advisor Mary Dullea, for her valuable support and comments. I also acknowledge the financial assistance I received from Royal Holloway University, courtesy of their College Research Scholarship. I would especially like to thank my parents for their never-ending love and faith in my working endeavours (and for that broken clarinet from the Camden Market antique shop, all those years ago!). Our beautiful Tessie, though you are gone, your quiet, unwavering strength remains and has become my foundation throughout these last eight years. Mike and Joy, you are and have always been my biggest inspirations, I count myself immeasurably lucky to be your sibling. And R.S.S., I am so grateful for the fun, laughter and love you have provided over the past three years as a welcome distraction from reading and writing! Finally, of course, my profound thanks go to all of the alumni who were involved in this study, I hope that I honour your voices in the pages that follow. Contemporary British Conservatoires and their Practices - Experiences from Alumni Perspectives Abstract This thesis discusses contemporary British music conservatoires and their practices, as experienced from alumni perspectives. Using the key themes of notions of ‘talent’, curriculum, and health and wellbeing to provide a contextual focus, qualitative data gathering is undertaken via interviews and informal discussions, making full use of my ‘insider’ status as I simultaneously work alongside fellow alumni as a professional musician in the field. An additional key theme of this thesis is that of social background, as I look at social dimensions of pedagogy and learning, social concerns in terms of social status and class, and how social position in wider society determines alumni experience of educational practices. I apply Stuart Hall’s theories of identity (1990) and his concepts of hegemony and articulation to discuss power dynamics in conservatoires using the method of discourse analysis. I also apply the theoretical ideas of Pierre Bourdieu, particularly his concepts of habitus, capital and field, and hierarchies within educational settings (1979, 1989), putting these in conversation with Hall and thus generating both a cultural and class-based analysis of the ethnographic data. In doing so, this thesis adds to a longitudinal study of conservatoire-based research through building on existing findings to show that these institutions are shaped by social concerns, and that there are social hierarchies which impact on students’ embodied experiences of learning and, critically, their notions of identity. Within an analytical autoethnographic framework as presented by Leon Anderson (2006), I also critically reflect on my own experiences as a conservatoire alumna and subsequent music professional, positioning my account in relation to those shared by my interview subjects. The overall aim of this thesis is to discuss alumni experiences of UK conservatoire practices spanning almost three decades, from 1990 to 2018. This is to ascertain how these institutions are responding to alumni concerns regarding changing pedagogic practices for the future, given their rich knowledge of the field as working professional musicians. Ultimately, this thesis critically reflects on these issues to address the gap between intent (in institutional delivery) and reality (in student experience) in conservatoire training and how institutional practices affect students' notions of identity, both within and beyond conservatoire walls. CONTENTS LIST OF DIAGRAMS…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..1 INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..2 0.1.1 Literature review…………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 3 0.1.2 Notions of ‘talent’…………………………………………………………………………………………………….5 0.1.3 Curriculum……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….7 0.1.4 Health and wellbeing: Social aspects of the conservatoire experience……………………. 12 0.2.1 Methods…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 15 0.2.2 Alumni attitudes……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 19 0.2.3 A methodological focus on the individual……………………………………………………………….. 19 0.2.4 The fieldwork process…………………………………………………………………………………………….. 21 0.2.5 Conducting the alumni interviews ………………………………………………………………………….. 24 0.2.6 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 27 CHAPTER 1: APPLYING A THEORETICAL LENS: A CONVERSATIONAL MODEL………………….. 30 1.1 Class………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 32 1.2 Identity………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 35 1.3 Discourse analysis/representation/power…………………………………………………………………..39 1.4 Reflexivity………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 42 1.5 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 44 CHAPTER 2: ALUMNI PERSPECTIVES: SOCIAL BACKGROUND…………………………………………..46 2.1 Introducing my alumni respondents…………………………………………………………………………...47 2.2 The primary and secondary habitus: ‘Them and us’ division………………………………………. 48 2.3 Socio-economic background and financial support during conservatoire studies………. 59 2.4 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 70 CHAPTER 3: ALUMNI PERSPECTIVES: NOTIONS OF ‘TALENT’………………………………………….. 73 3.1 Understanding and using the term ‘talent’ within conservatoires……………………………….73 3.2 The cultural capital students bring with them to the conservatoire…………………………… 76 3.3 Favouritism and pigeon-holing: Re-assessing/re-distributing ‘talent’ throughout studies………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..78 3.4 Figures of power………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 85 3.5 Dynamics of power and identity: A case study…………………………………………………………… 87 3.6 ‘Talent’ and hierarchies across the conservatoire network………………………………………… 91 3.7 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 93 CHAPTER 4: ALUMNI PERSPECTIVES: CURRICULUM……………………………………………………….. 95 4.1 Portfolio career………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 97 4.2 Musical hierarchy………………………………………………………………………………………………………103 4.3 Academic and performance module options…………………………………………………………….106 4.4 Staff: Content and delivery……………………………………………………………………………………….110 4.5 Transitions: The conservatoire ‘bubble’ pops……………………………………………………………113 4.6 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..119 CHAPTER 5: ALUMNI PERSPECTIVES: HEALTH AND WELLBEING …………………………………..122 5.1 Providing a context: The concept of wellbeing………………………………………………………….123 5.2 Within the profession: Recent studies………………………………………………………………………125 5.3 Health and wellbeing research within conservatoire settings……………………………………128 5.4 What were the health and wellbeing experiences of alumni?......................................129 5.5 Who effected the health and wellbeing of alumni?......................................................139 5.6 How can the taboo be broken?.....................................................................................142 5.7 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..146 CHAPTER 6: AUTOETHNOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………………………149 6.1 Parallels with Hall and Bourdieu……………………………………………………………………………….149 6.2 My personal connections to the conservatoire…………………………………………………………151 6.3 An autoethnography methodology………………………………………..…………………………………152 6.4 Evocative autoethnography versus analytic autoethnography………………………………….154 6.5 Methods: Analytic autoethnography………………………………………………………………………..155 6.6 Autoethnographic testimony: Social background……………………………………………………..158 6.7 Autoethnographic testimony: Notions of ‘talent’……………………………………………………..162 6.8 Autoethnographic testimony: Curriculum…………………………………………………………………164 6.9 Autoethnographic testimony: Health and wellbeing…………………………………………………166 6.10 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………………………………169 CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSIONS…………………………………………………………………………………………….173 7.1 Hall and Bourdieu: A conversational model……………………………………………………………….174 7.2 Personal motivations…………………………………………………………………………………………………176 7.3 Implications and recommendations…………………………………………………………………………. 176 7.3.1 Implications and recommendations: Social background…………………………………………177 7.3.2 Implications and recommendations: Notions of ‘talent’…………………………………………179 7.3.3 Implications and recommendations: Curriculum…………………………………………………….181 7.3.4 Implications and recommendations: Health and wellbeing…………………………………….184 7.4 Limitations and further study…………………………………………………………………………………….187 7.5 Closing reflections……………………………………………………………………………………………………..189 REFERENCES……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………193 LIST OF DIAGRAMS Diagram 1: Hall and Bourdieu: A conversational model………………………………………………… 31 Diagram 2: ‘Circuit of Culture’ (Hall, 1997b: 1)……………………………………………………………… 37 Diagram 3: Percentage of privately schooled students