A SPACE FOR CONNECTION: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL INQUIRY ON MUSIC LISTENING AS LEISURE by JOSEPH ALFRED PATE IV (Under the Direction of Corey W. Johnson) ABSTRACT This polyvocal text leveraged Post-Intentional Phenomenology (Vagle, 2010) to trouble, open up, and complexify understanding of the lived leisure experience (Parry & Johnson, 2006) of connection with and through music listening. Music listening was foregrounded as one horizon within the aural soundscape that affords deeply meaningful and significant experiences for many. Past scholarship within the Leisure Studies literature has primarily attended to the impact and relevancy of music in the lives of adolescents. This study focused on engagement with music of five adults, accessing phenomenology as both a philosophical and methodological lens to look along (Lewis, 1990) this lived-experience. Using multiple voices and styles of representation, this polyvocal work challenged traditional ways of knowing by inviting listening, music, and voice to serve as additional data embedded throughout its discursive representation. Accessing Bachelard‟s (1990) phenomenology of the resonation-reverberation doublet revealed five partial, fleeting, and tentative manifestations (Vagle, 2010) of this lived leisure experience, which included: Getting Lost: Felt Resonation and Embodiment; I‟m Open: Openness, Receptivity, and Enchantment; Serendipitous Moments; The Found Mirror: Oh There You Are; and Cairns and Echoes: The Lustering Potency of Song. Ultimately, music appeared to speak to so as to speak for participants, providing musical affirmation and sustenance throughout their lives. INDEX WORDS: Music, Listening, Leisure, Post-Intentional Phenomenology, Polyvocal Text A SPACE FOR CONNECTION: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL INQUIRY ON MUSIC LISTENING AS LEISURE by JOSEPH ALFRED PATE IV B. S., Presbyterian College, 1998 M. Ed., Georgia College & State University, 2002 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ATHENS, GEORGIA 2012 © 2012 Joseph Alfred Pate IV All Rights Reserved A SPACE FOR CONNECTION: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL INQUIRY ON MUSIC LISTENING AS LEISURE by JOSEPH ALFRED PATE IV Major Professor: Corey W. Johnson Committee: Mark D. Vagle Kathryn J. Roulston Douglas A. Kleiber Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia May 2012 iv DEDICATION I dedicate this work to the Muses, Musicians, and Music. For without their Inspiration, Creation, and Song, I would not know, feel, or understand most of my life. Thank you. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Although one name appears as the author of this text, there are countless additional names that should. These names are of those who have graced and gifted me support, encouragement, and the ability to behold the interconnectedness of all things. They have extended moments of their world to be a co-journeyer in mine. I am humbled by their presence and forever indebted for their love. What should appear are the names of those teachers throughout my life who opened my world, pushed me, challenged me, and afforded opportunities to learn and grow. The names of all my students who kept me focused on what is most important – their worlds, their lives, their gifts and talents. The names of all my friends, as they have blessed, fortified, laughed, and cried with me. Especially my brothers – you will never be able to comprehend how much you mean to me. The names of my family and my wife‟s family. My office mates. My writing circle. My committee. My chair. And finally, my participants – whose lives, words, and experiences gifted this glimpse of the power and magnitude of music and connection. Of all the names that should appear, there are three that are truly missing. These are the names of my co-authors: Jennifer “Bou,” Abigail Birch, and Westin Ash. You are my life. For your sacrifices, love, enduring support, dances, singing, hugs, notes, laughter, and unending faith. I may have put words on a page, but you nurtured the love and life of my soul. Thank you for bringing me roses when I didn‟t have none. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................. v LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................................ ix PRELUDE THERE‟S A SECRET INSIDE AND A WHIRLPOOL OF EMOTIONS: AN OPEN INVITATION TO THE READER-AS-LISTENER ........................................................................ 1 An Open Invitation ................................................................................................ 1 Chapters, Tracks, and Liner Notes Within ............................................................. 7 CHAPTER 1 THE INESCAPABILITY OF MUSIC ........................................................................ 9 The Aural Soundscape ........................................................................................... 9 The Inescapability of Music in My Lifeworld ..................................................... 13 Scholarly Leveraging of Music within the Lifeworld .......................................... 17 Leisure Studies and Partial Review of the Literature .......................................... 18 Purpose of the Study and the Guiding Research Question .................................. 21 2 PHILOSOPHY AS METHODOLOGY: TRACINGS OF ONE‟S TAKING UP OF PHENOMENOLOGY ................................................................................................ 23 A Researcher‟s Lived-Orientation and Subsequent Methodological Undertakings .............................................................................. 23 Phenomenology as Philosophy ............................................................................ 25 Lived-Disruption: From the “Natural” to the “Phenomenological” Attitude ...... 30 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 36 3 ON METHODS: AN IMPROVISATIONAL-INFUSED PHENOMENOLOGICAL METHODOLOGICAL JAM ............................................................................................ 37 vii What are Jam Bands? ........................................................................................... 38 An Improvisational Phenomenological Methodological Jam .............................. 41 Situating Phenomenological Methods ................................................................. 43 Post-Intentional Phenomenological Research Approach ..................................... 44 4 THE EXPERIENTIAL SOUNDSCAPE OF MUSIC LISTENING: AURAL HORIZONS AND THE FOREGROUNDING OF DEPTH AND SIGNIFICANCE OF CONNECTION .................................................................................................... 75 Horizons of Meaning and the Experiential Turn ................................................. 75 Lifeworld Existentials .......................................................................................... 79 Horizons and the Aural Soundscape .................................................................... 80 The Harmonious Dischordancy of Connection .................................................. 102 Conclusion as Looking At .................................................................................. 121 Conclusion as Looking Along ............................................................................ 123 5 FROM RESONATION TO REVERBERATION: MANIFESTATIONS OF MUSICAL CONNECTION SPEAKING TO SO AS TO SPEAK FOR ................... 124 From Resonation to Reverberation .................................................................... 125 Speaking To so as to Speak For ......................................................................... 127 Speaking To ....................................................................................................... 129 Speaking For ...................................................................................................... 142 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 164 CODA ON MUSICAL SUSTENANCE ..................................................................................... 166 How Do You Hold a Moonbeam in Your Hand? .............................................. 166 Structure of this Work ........................................................................................ 167 Implications ....................................................................................................... 170 On Musical Sustenance ...................................................................................... 175 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................ 176 viii APPENDICES A THIS IS A WHIRLPOOL OF FEELINGS (MIX) ......................................................... 187 B THE EXACTLY HOW YOU FEEL MIX ...................................................................... 188 C NAOMI‟S MIX TAPE TALK ........................................................................................ 189 D SECRET – JUST LOOK INSIDE (MIX) ....................................................................... 190 E MAKE LOVE NOT WAR (MIX) .................................................................................. 191 F AIMEÉ‟S MIX TAPE TALK ........................................................................................