music and identity essay

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The impact of music on identity

• Izze Siemann Author

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Music affects the human brain in endless ways. From experiencing pleasure and joy to sound, to remembering autobiographical events, to communicating through movement, music impacts humans constantly and significantly.

In a recent study published in February in Scientific Reports —led by Cognitive Psychologist and Professor Dr. Daniel Levitin—sex, drugs, and music were all shown to operate in the same reward pathway in the brain—showing how musical pleasure compares to the pleasure received from sex and drugs. According to PhD candidate and co-author of the paper, Adiel Mallik, this system is known as the dopamine-opioid pathway.

“The drug naltrexone blocks the mu-opioid receptor, which is responsible for experiencing euphoria and pain relief,” Mallik said.

In the study, the participants who were administered naltrexone reported a dulling of their overall emotions —even after they were asked to listen to their self-identified favourite songs.

“One [participant] said, ‘I know this is my favourite song, but it doesn’t feel  like it usually does,’” Levitin said of a report he received from a study subject. “Another [reported], ‘It sounds pretty, but it’s not doing anything for me.’”

But the effects don’t end there. The team also investigated the impact of naltrexone on zygomatic activity —also known as ‘smiling’ activity—and corrugator activity—a muscle activated while frowning. Subjects were connected to a facial electromyogram—used to measure emotional expression.

“What I found interesting was that we expected the zygomatic activity to go down, but the corrugator muscle activity also went down, so there was a positive and negative emotional response,” Mallik said.

The opioid blockage thus made people both frown and smile less, having an overall neutralizing impact on participants. The team was surprised to find that the feelings shown by the subjects towards their favourite songs was emptiness, as opposed to experiencing pure negativity. Imagine an all-time favourite song, one that previously evoked joy and emotional intensity, eliciting no feelings.

Opioids are, however, often associated with addictive behaviours, which can cause damage to an individual’s life and those around them. Thus, research toward understanding the complex interactions between neurochemical roots of pleasure may help neuroscientists address addiction as an issue.

Emotion inspired by music can also be visibly seen and comprehended. A study published last April in Emotion , conducted by Steven Livingstone, a former postdoctoral fellow in McGill’s Department of Psychology, and Dr. Caroline Palmer, McGill psychology professor and Canada Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience of Performance, showed that singers and performers can express their emotions when they move their bodies—their head signals carry information to the audience before any sound is even made.

“We know from how singers sing that they are very expressive when they move their bodies, and head movements of singers and of speakers carry a lot of information —even before they start making sound,” Palmer explained.

The study showed that subjects possessed the ability to judge emotion based on head movements alone, without the addition of sounds or expressions. This ability allows situations to be analyzed where no discernable music or sound persists, such as in a noisy club, or observing others in conversation.

Clearly, music contributes to human emotion and the display of emotion; however, it can reach further and influence one’s personal identity.

“Music is a powerful trigger to thinking about the past,” Dr. Signy Sheldon, assistant professor in the Department of Psychology, said.

In her February 2017 study, entitled “ More than a feeling: Emotional cues impact the access and experience of autobiographical memories ,” Sheldon explores what characteristics of music stimulate memory: Is the song itself what sparks an image from the past, or is it the characteristics of music as a whole?

As Levitin’s study shows, music influences current mood and feelings. Sheldon focuses on how music can turn on different aspects of emotion, allowing for memory conjuration.

To investigate this question, participants in Sheldon’s study listened to unfamiliar, classical, scientifically-developed music that evoked different emotions. The happier music had a major key and was more upbeat, while the sad music samples had minor keys and slower tempos.

Unexpected results arose from this study. Participants accessed memories faster when listening to happy music as opposed to sad, although they had never heard the classical tunes before. In addition, positive music promoted the recollection of positive memories, while the negative music, whether scary or sad, brought negative memories to the surface.

The ramifications of these findings reveal a lot about human nature.

“ Past memories help us build our self-identity, or our concept of self,” Sheldon said. “So being able to access memories from past autobiographical events, and access our past personal experiences, to happy music, could mean that we are constantly trying to uphold a happy depiction of our autobiographical selves. Happy music will make us think about ourselves more than any other type of music because of this function of autobiographical memory, to maintain a positive self-identity.”

The fact that the tone of music influences human emotion also highlights key elements of memory retrieval —that it is dynamic and flexible. Accessing our past is not based on personal choice. Rather, our surroundings and the emotions being experienced, control which memories we access.

“This study shows us that we won’t access memories based on what we need, but based on the situation we’re in while we’re remembering,” Sheldon said.

Scientists were able to make this observation after they discovered music’s impact on emotion.

In future studies, Sheldon will research how emotions experienced while listening to music affect learning or the uptake of information. Participants will be presented with complex images while listening to similar musical emotional queues. Eye tracking techniques will be applied to analyze how people digest this information. Sheldon also plans to use brain scanning in order to identify any differences in cortical —or brain—regions while subjects access memories in light of happy cues.

“[The] take-home message is that if you are trying to remind someone of a past event and you want them to remember it in a positive light, play happy music for them,” Sheldon said.

These two studies show the connections between music and emotional cues and how they promote access to memories. The best part of this newly discovered link: The relationship between music and the brain is practically universal. From six-month-old babies to adults with musical and non-musical careers, music recognition and its impact on people works in similar ways.

“Everyone is a skilled foot-tapper. Everyone is a skilled hummer. Everyone is a good clapper-to-the-beat at a concert. And how is that possible?” Palmer asked. “The idea that you can go to a concert and hear a piece of music that you have never heard before and move in time to it is wonderful.”

Every day, music revives memories within us that remind us who we are, and who we want to be —so keep clapping, tapping, and listening.

One Comment

Great article – check out the fairly new book THE SINGING NEANDERTHAL – I’m also curious how whistling ties in – Geert Chatreau ted talk might be of interest.

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A new Harvard study suggests that people around the globe can identify lullabies, dancing songs, and healing songs — regardless of the songs’ cultural origin — after hearing just a 14-second clip.

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Poet and Harvard Professor Henry Wadsworth Longfellow famously said, “Music is the universal language of mankind.” A new Harvard study suggests he may have been right.

The study, a collaboration among psychology research associate Samuel Mehr, human evolutionary biology graduate student Manvir Singh, alumni Luke Glowacki and Hunter York, and Associate Professor of Psychology Max Krasnow, found that people around the globe could identify lullabies, dancing songs, and healing songs — regardless of the songs’ cultural origin — after hearing just a 14-second clip.

The finding suggests that not only is music deeply rooted in human nature, but that some types of songs transcend cultural boundaries. The study is described in a Jan. 25 paper in Current Biology.

“It seems like all humans make music in some way or another,” Mehr said. “But there’s not great empirical evidence for whether or not the different types of music they make share features across cultures. One way to test that is with this type of naïve listener experiment … and the results suggest that, in some cases, the answer is yes.”

The findings are based on a wide-reaching experiment in which 750 online participants in 60 countries listened to brief excerpts of songs collected from nearly 90 small societies around the globe, including hunter-gatherers, pastoralists, and subsistence farmers.

Participants then answered six questions, rating each clip on a six-point scale according to whether they believed the song was used for dancing, soothing a baby, healing illness, or expressing love. Two additional uses — mourning the dead and telling a story — were included as controls.

A data science postdoctoral fellow with the Harvard Data Science Initiative, Mehr said the data showed that — despite participants’ unfamiliarity with the cultures, the random sampling of each song, and the short duration of the samples — people were able to reliably infer the songs’ functions, and their ratings were consistent across the globe.

The findings ran counter to expert expectations.

Mehr, Glowacki and Krasnow had also surveyed academics — including ethnomusicologists, music theorists, performers, composers, psychologists, and cognitive scientists — about whether they believed people would be able to identify the song types.

“We gave them an idealized version of the experiment we ran,” Mehr said. “Imagine you have unlimited time and resources, and the ability to record every song that’s ever been sung from every culture, and could take those and play them for people all over the world.

“The question we asked was, if we play those recordings for people, are they going to be able to tell … this is a lullaby or this is for dancing?” he continued. “Predominantly among ethnomusicologists, the answer was no. And not only that, but they predicted that people’s responses will be inconsistent with one another. That’s not what we found.”

Singh also wanted to know whether listeners were recognizing certain non-musical characteristics of the songs — lullabies are typically sung by one woman, for example, while dancing songs more often involve a group.

“The question then was if people are able to do this, how on earth are they doing it?” Singh said. “How is it that a guy in Tallahassee can recognize a dancing song from a hunter-gatherer tribe from Southeast Asia whose culture he knows nothing about?”

To test that, the team conducted a second study. This time, they asked listeners about a number of contextual and musical features, ranging from the number and gender of the singers to the tempo and melodic complexity of the song.

“From all these, we get a very simple and rudimentary analysis of each song,” Mehr said. “It turns out when you ask people these very simple questions about songs, they agree with each other very highly. Even on really subjective musical features, like melodic complexity, they tend to make consistent ratings with one another.”

When data from the two studies were combined, the results showed that songs of the same function shared similar characteristics — lullabies, for example, tended to be slower and melodically simpler than dance tunes — suggesting that something about musical characteristics crosses cultural boundaries.

“It seems like all humans make music in some way or another. But there’s not great empirical evidence for whether or not the different types of music they make share features across cultures. One way to test that is with this type of naïve listener experiment … and the results suggest that, in some cases, the answer is yes.” Samuel Mehr

Mehr said the researchers were able to draw their wide-reaching conclusions because the songs used in the study were drawn from the discography of the Natural History of Song , a Harvard-based project that creates rigorously constructed databases of ethnographic text about music and audio recordings of music.

“We assembled all of the examples of music in a systematic way, so that inferences drawn from the whole discography are generalizable to humans as opposed to merely the cultures that were studied,” said Mehr, who directs the project with Singh and Glowacki, who is now a research fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse. “This has been a problem in music research in general. The studies that have been pitched as studies of universality in music have typically included only a handful of cultures, or didn’t systematically sample different genres of music in a principled fashion.”

Going forward, the team hopes to conduct more in-depth analysis of the music collected for the Natural History of Song, and do additional studies to improve the inferences about music’s ability to cross cultural boundaries.

“One weakness of this study is that the listeners we’re sampling from are people on the internet, so they all have access to things like YouTube, and they probably are all familiar, say, with Taylor Swift,” Mehr said. “Do the results tell us about the design of the human mind, or do they tell us about what modern listeners hear in the music of the world?”

To address that, the team is working to translate the studies into more than two dozen languages and run online experiments in many more countries. Singh and Glowacki are also working to bring the study into the field by playing song excerpts for members of small-scale societies in Indonesia, Ethiopia, and elsewhere.

“That is the most exciting part,” Mehr said. “Because these are people who have had little exposure to the internet or radio or Western culture. The only music they know is their own music. We’ll find out whether they share the same conceptions of form and function in music with our English-speaking internet users.”

In the end, Mehr said, the study and others like it will enable scientists to form a foundation for answering a number of long-running questions about music and its evolution.

“That’s one of the most important contributions we’d like to make to the field,” he said. “This kind of basic, cross-cultural fact-finding about human behavior is the first step in developing a new science of music.”

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The role of music in identity formation and self-expression

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The role of music in identity formation and self-expression - Introduction

Music is a universal language that can trigger feelings, recall memories, and unite people despite differences in language and culture, bringing down walls and barriers quickly.

Music is art produced by masterfully combining rhythm and sound. Since it has always played a crucial role in human existence; therefore, its significance cannot be understated.

Among the many things that music can be connected to, research has revealed that a piece is essential for developing and expressing identity.

Whether it is via the lyrics of a song, its musical composition, the kind of music one enjoys, or the style in which music is played and listened to, music can be a powerful instrument for individuals to express themselves and connect with others like very few other things can do.

This article analyzes the link between music and identity, focusing on the function of music in identity creation and expression.

In the end, this post seeks to highlight the significance of music in determining our identities as people and as members of society and how platforms like CalypsoRoom help people express themselves and find their own identities online while listening to the music they love.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Universal Language and Identity Formation : Music, a universal language, significantly influences identity development and self-expression. It transcends cultural and linguistic barriers, shaping our identities as individuals and members of society through its rhythms, lyrics, and styles.

Cultural Heritage and Musical Preferences : Musical tastes are deeply rooted in cultural heritage, reflecting one's background and traditions. Music forms an integral part of cultural rituals and practices, thereby establishing a profound connection to one's cultural identity.

Self-Expression Through Music : Music serves as a powerful medium for self-expression, allowing individuals to convey emotions and experiences in ways that words alone cannot. The diverse elements of music, such as lyrics and rhythm, enable people to express a wide range of emotions, affirming personal experiences.

Personality and Music Preference : There is a notable correlation between an individual's personality traits and their musical preferences. While this doesn't imply a causative relationship, it suggests that factors like genetics, environment, and education might influence both music tastes and personality.

CalypsoRoom and Online Identity Expression : CalypsoRoom exemplifies how technology, particularly online platforms, can facilitate identity expression through music. This platform allows users to explore various musical genres, connect with others, and express their identities, enhancing the role of music in personal and communal identity construction.

Music and identity formation

Influence of culture on music preference.

Since that culture that runs naturally in our veins is frequently one of the significant determinants of a person's musical preferences, it substantially impacts musical taste and preferences .

This is so because music is fundamental to cultural rituals, practices, ceremonies, social gatherings , and so on and is frequently employed to establish a connection to one's cultural identity and self-expression.

For instance, someone who grew up listening to traditional African music may be more inclined to like that style because it is a significant part of their cultural history.

Similarly, someone with a Latin American heritage would choose salsa or reggaeton music since it reflects their ethnic customs and traditions.

Understanding how culture shapes musical taste can help us better appreciate how music contributes to the formation of our cultural identity and history.

Music as a means of self-expression

People frequently utilize music as a powerful form of self-expression because it enables them to convey their ideas, sentiments, and life experiences in a way that is personal to them and that is just not possible to do with any other means.

This is because music has the potential to express feelings and experiences in a manner that words alone cannot, empowering ideas and concepts like anything else.

For instance, a song's lyrics can convey a variety of feelings, such as happiness and love as well as sadness and heartbreak, and this is the reason why people find solace and affirmation in their personal experiences by relating to a song's lyrics, rhythm, BPM, genre and style.

Relationship between personality and music

An increasing collection of research points to an association between personality type and musical taste . People who exhibit particular personality qualities may be more inclined to like one musical genre over another.

Heavy metal music, for instance, is sometimes linked with exuberant, energetic, and unconventional behavior. As a result, people who enjoy it may have characteristics like extraversion and a desire to try new things.

On the other side, because classical music is frequently connected to intelligent and sophisticated behavior, those who love it may display characteristics like introversion and agreeableness.

It is essential to remember that, even while there may be a connection between personality and music taste, this does not always suggest a causative relationship.

In other words, heavy metal music does not make a person more extroverted or receptive to new things.

Identity expression via music

A person's identity expression and perception may be significantly influenced by the kinds of music they listen to.

For instance, a punk or heavy metal listener would connect with a sense of disobedience or non-conformity. In contrast, a classical music listener might identify with a sense of refinement or intellectualism.

Similar to how a person listening to country music may connect with a feeling of tradition, community, and patriotism, someone listening to hip-hop may identify with a sense of originality, inventiveness, and authenticity.

Making political and social statements via music

The political and social expression has a long history of using music as a tool. For instance, songs like "We Shall Overcome" and "A Change is Gonna Come" were used to enthuse and motivate people working for racial justice during the American Civil Rights movement.

Similarly, more contemporary songs like Kendrick Lamar's "Alright" and Childish Gambino's "This is America" have made firm statements against problems including systematic racism and police brutality.

Music as a form of resistance

Resistance to repressive regimes and structures may also be expressed via music.

For instance, singers like Miriam Makeba and Hugh Masekela protested and resisted the repressive government practices during the apartheid era in South Africa.

Similarly, in contemporary times, performers like Pussy Riot in Russia and La Santa Cecilia in the United States have advocated for social justice and resisted dictatorship via their music.

How CalypsoRoom can help with music identity and self-expression

CalypsoRoom is an excellent example of how technology can provide music fans a place to interact and express their identities via music online like never before.

CalypsoRoom offers a unique chance for people to discover their musical tastes and connect with others who have similar interests by developing an online area where people can listen to music together and communicate using webcams.

This platform fosters a sense of connection and belonging frequently connected to music, enabling people to express themselves.

Top reads for music psychology enthusiasts

For those fascinated by the intricate relationship between music and the mind, "This Is Your Brain on Music" by Daniel J. Levitin offers an engaging exploration.

Levitin, a renowned neuroscientist and musician, delves into how music affects our brains and emotions, making it a must-read for anyone intrigued by the psychology of music.

Image Source: “This Is Your Brain on Music” by Daniel J. Levitin

In "This Is What It Sounds Like," neuroscientist and musician Ogi Ogas takes readers on an immersive journey to understand the universal language of music.

This book unravels the mysteries of musical tastes and preferences, making it an essential read for music enthusiasts and psychology lovers alike.

Image Source: “This Is What It Sounds Like," by Ogi Ogas

“Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain" by Oliver Sacks is a captivating exploration of the power of music through the lens of neurology.

Sacks, a famed neurologist, shares profound stories about the impact of music on the human brain and emotions, offering a unique perspective that is both educational and deeply moving.

Image Source: “Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain" by Oliver Sacks

”Music in the Human Experience: An Introduction to Music Psychology" by Donald A. Hodges and David C. Sebald is a comprehensive guide for those seeking a deeper understanding of music's impact on human experience.

This book offers a rich blend of psychological theory and musical elements, ideal for readers interested in the scientific and emotional aspects of music.

It's a valuable resource for students, educators, and anyone passionate about the intersection of psychology and music.

Image Source: ”Music in the Human Experience: An Introduction to Music Psychology" by Donald A. Hodges and David C. Sebald

These books provide insightful perspectives on how music shapes our brains, emotions, and lives, appealing to both music lovers and those curious about the psychology of music.

Music as a tool for identity and self-expression - Conclusion

It is only possible to consider the importance of music's involvement in developing and expressing identity.

We may express ourselves and connect with people who share our interests and values via music, and this is very clear since always.

Moreover, music can promote social change and increase empathy and understanding amongst various social groupings.

As we move toward the future, it seems evident that music will continue to play a significant role in defining our individual and social identities.

We can anticipate new and creative approaches to utilize music to communicate with people and express ourselves because of technology and platforms like Calypsoroom.

In the end, the capacity of music to influence our identities and effect constructive social change continues to be an essential component of human culture that will motivate us for many generations to come.

Music will save us all, CalypsoRoom Team

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is the role of music in identity formation.

Music can link people with their cultural origins, previous experiences, and current social environment, which tremendously affects how they feel about themselves. Therefore, listening to music may benefit a person's viewpoint, morals, and worldview.

How does music help with self-expression?

Music provides a unique platform for self-expression by enabling people to communicate their thoughts, feelings, and experiences via lyrics, melody, and rhythm. It may also be utilized therapeutically to help people deal with difficult emotions and circumstances.

Can music impact an individual's mood and behavior?

Definitely! A person's behavior, such as dancing, singing, or exercising, can be affected by the emotions and sentiments that particular forms of music might provoke, such as happiness, melancholy, or enthusiasm.

Can music be used to build community and social connections?

Indeed, music can unite individuals and foster a sense of belonging and social relationships. Shared musical experiences like concerts, festivals, and music clubs strengthen bonds between people who have similar musical preferences and interests by fostering a feeling of community.

Can music help individuals express their emotions and experiences?

Yes, music is a powerful tool for expressing emotions and experiences. It can communicate complex feelings and thoughts, helping people process emotions that are hard to express in words.

What role does music play in shaping cultural identities?

Music plays a vital role in shaping cultural identities, being a key aspect of cultural traditions and rituals. It helps to pass down stories, values, and beliefs, thus reinforcing a sense of identity and unity within a culture.

Is there a connection between musical preferences and one's sense of self?

Yes, there's a connection between musical preferences and one's sense of self. Musical preferences often reflect personal experiences, values, and worldview, thus contributing to an individual's self-identity.

How can music be used as a tool for self-expression and empowerment?

Music can be used as a tool for self-expression and empowerment by providing a platform to voice personal thoughts, emotions, and experiences. It can foster a sense of agency and self-confidence, especially when creating or performing music.

Are there any studies linking music to identity development?

Yes, numerous studies link music to identity development. For example, research has shown that adolescents often use music to explore their identity and express individuality, indicating a strong connection between music and self-concept development.

Music and the Construction of Personal and Social Identities Essay

Introduction, structural cultural context, ethnicity and race, family: peers versus parents, school and status, gender and sexuality, works cited.

Music is seen an essential communication channel. It offers a means through which individuals and groups can share their aims, values and emotions even though the spoken languages might be mutually incomprehensible. Music further provides dynamic links for human interactions, particularly individuals whose distinctive wants make other communication means rather difficult or demanding.

Nowadays, music plays a more significant role in shaping individuals’ lives as compared to any other historical period. This can be attributed to the rapid technological advancements and increasing economic influence of the music industry.

Despite the relative difference between the current and the past music experience, it is clear that music has increasingly been used in the construction of the youths’ identities.

This paper presents an overview of the studies that have supported the increasing knowledge and appreciation of the role of music in constructing the youth identities. The process does not simply involve aspects of personal identity, but equally includes the essential social aspects relating to ethnicity and race, family such as peers versus parents, school, status and gender.

Youth encounter a series of indulgence desires and essential social world thoughts in their development. The orientation spheres shape the way young people use media, particularly music (Eyerman and Jamison 466). Four dimensions that have been identified to be of a great essence in shaping youth identities include ethnicity and race, family (peers versus parents), school and status as well as gender and sexuality.

While music such as Blues and Jazz have been associated with the black musicians for quite some time, the connection between ethnicity and audience of the popular music which was common in the U.S. did not emerge in Europe till 1970s. Besides, Ska and soul music emerged in the 1960s and 1970s yet they did not construct the youths’ identity so much.

However, the triumph of reggae music in the 1970s showed that there were ethnically non-European subcultures that used music to reinforce their identities. Reggae music was deeply immersed with Rastafarian inspirations since it was a remonstration music intended to draw attention of the youthful blacks who came from the remote cities.

Even though Rasta was commonly found in some European cities, the Rastafarian movement unveiled its most noticeable existence in Britain. It was the most undisputed socially significant development in Britain because it served its purpose as an important source of identity for the marginalized youthful blacks (Danesi 67). Thus, youthful blacks use reggae music to identify and distinguish themselves from any kind of the whites’ racialism.

However, few exceptions have been noted regarding the use of music by the marginalized youth. For instance, youths have used music to set the ethnic and race boundaries. A clear illustration is in Western Europe where it is very complicated to question the cultural and ideological youths’ association in different ethnicities. The use of music by the marginalized ethnic groups is absolutely too patchy.

It is only obvious that mediated popular cultures and media discourses play considerable roles in modeling the manner in which the ethnically based groups observe each other. While music might assist in dissolving ethnic boundaries, it may occasionally strengthen and even help in shaping them (Eyerman and Jamison 452). Youths from different ethnic environments, thus, resort to music to create their own ethnic and cultural identities.

Social recognition in peer groups is an interesting concern during youth (Von Feilitzen and Roe 227). Social organizations including school and family put much emphasis on the importance of being successful. In such institutions, welcomed group participation, acceptance or membership might refer to school groups, peers, family, ethnic subcultures or to the wider social class world.

Achievement might also take place within one of such social grounds. Unfortunately, most of the visible forms of validating social achievements including success at schools, perhaps, have petite potential to generate the peers’ popularity as compared to music.

In fact, the impact of music on peer group relationships significantly affects various aspects of youthful life. Imitation of speech, consumption tastes, leisure forms and dressing codes of the music idols by the youth has generated peer influence and resulted in frictions with parents.

Furthermore, as peer orientation, school failures and poor familial adjustment increase, peer group attachments increases. Early and considerable movements away from parental orientations towards peer group orientations seem to have a strong connection with musical preferences, interests and identification with particular music centered subgroups.

Youths who are parent oriented are less likely to develop musical interests and might less often listen to it. However, peer oriented youths tend to display greater musical interests and would extensively listen to it. This kind of music listened by these groups differ significantly (Eyerman and Jamison 459).

Peer oriented youths prefer listening to more socially disvalued and hard rock music whereas parent oriented youths give much preference to classical, jazz and blues.

Finally, research evidence clearly indicates that family problems might provoke youths to make even greater music and peer-group investments than normal at this particular life-stage.

This could make youths get indulged into music movements founded by youth cultures that are blatantly anti-adults. As regard to this, it is apparent that the chosen youth subcultures and their preferred music offer marginalized identity sources to those tendered by home contexts.

Von Feilitzen and Roe claim that youths sharing same statuses and education level have their own musical subcultures and cultural orientation developments (p. 227). Youth cultures that identify themselves and are strongly attached to certain types of music including heavy metal rock tend to negatively perform in school.

Such youths are low achievers and are very discontented male youth who come from low working class and powerless families. However, certain musical preferences including blues, jazz and classical music are linked to higher academic success.

In contrast to them, rock music is essential to youths who have rejected their class background cultures as it provides them with social markers which differentiate from their parental expectations and culture. This is because the intergenerational power and mobility status which occur within the larger inequality status context are normally upheld with distinctive shifts in individuals’ lifestyles, self-esteem and identity.

To youths, music also defines various types of social mobility including education, occupation, downwards and upward status mobility. The class mobility is linked with some kinds of musical preferences which differ with respect to cultural legitimacy. The music audience divisions result from individual and group trajectories within various social status hierarchical dimensions.

For example, strong inclination to disco music is linked to upward professional mobility; strong classical music liking is associated with higher education and upward mobility, but those who give much preference to heavy metals are identified by downward educational mobility (Eyerman and Jamison 461).

Therefore, youths identifying themselves with heavy metal music are perceived to be dynamic sensational seekers expressing their schooling displeasures since they find the regulation and structure of such institutions very hard to take.

Youthful males are greatly preoccupied with musical preferences and tastes as compared to females. Often, youths in puberty are more anxious about the popular music that crops up during this period (Danesi 98) and would always wish to take an equal amount of time to listen to the preferred music.

However, since females mature two years faster than males, they usually start listening to music at around nine and ten years while males identify and begin giving preference to music at twelve and thirteen years. Both sexes always listen to popular music having their central themes focused on dating and love.

The youthful girls, nonetheless, have special strings attached to pop music whereas youthful males are exclusively linked to assertive masculinity and rock music (Danesi 98). The relationship amid sexuality and music has been significant.

Male youths have been identified with dominant musical subcultures and more visible social mechanisms than females who majorly focus on less visible social mechanisms and less dominant musical subcultures. It is true that with respect to music and identity, both sexes are more inclined to romantic and sexually expressive music.

Music has played an important role in the construction of youths’ identities. Youth gender schemas including their self-definitions as either feminine or masculine emerge from the core musical constructs they draw on when defining themselves.

Moreover, countless new musical information being received by the youths concerning individuals and their behaviors are primarily coded and thereafter inferred to with respect to gender norms and class. This makes youths identify themselves with certain musical subcultures.

Besides, youths usually utilize music as a technique to develop and negotiate their interpersonal relations as depicted in the class and status dimensions. An individual’s musical preference clearly defines the social group a person belongs to or is not willing to be associated with.

Thus, when youths develop specific musical preferences and taste patterns, it must be clear that the patterns are linked to a particular social circumstance or subcultural identification.

Danesi, Marcel. Geeks, Goths and Gangstas: Youth Culture and the Evolution of Modern Society, Toronto: Canadian Scholars Press Inc., 2010. Print.

Eyerman, Ron and Jamison Andrew. “Social Movements and Cultural Transformation: Popular Music in the 1960a”. Media, Culture and Society 17.3(1995): 449-468. Print.

Von Feilitzen, Cecilia and Roe Keith. “Eavesdropping on Adolescence: An Exploratory Study of Music Listening Among Children”. The European Journal of Communication 17.2 (1992): 225-244. Print.

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"Music and the Construction of Personal and Social Identities." IvyPanda , 27 Feb. 2024, ivypanda.com/essays/music-and-the-construction-of-personal-social-identities/.

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IvyPanda . 2024. "Music and the Construction of Personal and Social Identities." February 27, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/music-and-the-construction-of-personal-social-identities/.

1. IvyPanda . "Music and the Construction of Personal and Social Identities." February 27, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/music-and-the-construction-of-personal-social-identities/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Music and the Construction of Personal and Social Identities." February 27, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/music-and-the-construction-of-personal-social-identities/.

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43 Musical identities

Raymond MacDonald, University of Edinburgh, Department of Music

Professor David J. Hargreaves, Centre for International Research on Creativity and Learning in Education (CIRCLE), Roehampton University, Southlands College.

Dorothy Miell, BSc., PhD., CPsychol., is professor of psychology and vice principal of the University of Edinburgh, UK. Her key interests are in the social and communicative aspects of collaborative working, particularly in creative contexts such as music making and when examining how individuals work together in multidisciplinary teams. Her work has included investigations of children's collaborations in formal and non-formal educational settings as well as studies of both amateur and professional musicians. She has co-authored and co-edited a number of articles and books in these areas, notably Collaborative Creativity (Free Association books, 2004, with Prof Karen Littleton), Musical Identities (OUP 2002, with Profs Raymond MacDonald and David Hargreaves) , Learning to Collaborate, Collaborating to Learn (Nova Science 2004 with Prof Karen Littleton and Dr Dorothy Faulkner) and Musical Communication (OUP 2005 with Profs Raymond MacDonald and David Hargreaves).

• Published: December 2008
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This article presents a number of key themes relating to the concept of musical identities. It provides a definition of identity, with a discussion of why identity is a timely topic for consideration. The article then presents an overview of a series of studies investigating musical identities of jazz musicians. These highlight the utility of qualitative techniques, and in particular focus-group and semi-structured interview methods, for understanding how professional musicians construct their identities in relation to both their musical activities and wider psychological and cultural issues. The article looks next at how theories of motivation and the self can help to explain some of the behavioural aspects of musical identities. It provides evidence that children's self-concepts, and in particular their levels of confidence (both of which are related to musical identities), can influence the rate of musical development and musical achievement, drawing briefly on a study which compares the views of pupils, parents, and teachers about what it is to be ‘good at music’.

Introduction

Many chapters within this Handbook have highlighted just how important music is for us all, and the extent to which music is ever-present within modern society. This ubiquitous aspect of music signals many features about how we as humans respond to music and highlights the universal importance of musical communication. Indeed, the notion that we all respond emotionally to music is not a vague utopian ideal, but the conclusion drawn by an increasing number of academic researchers interested in researching the foundations of musical behaviour (Juslin and Sloboda 2001 ; Trevarthen 2002 ). We suggest, given the importance of music within our lives, that it influences how we see ourselves and how we relate to the world around us. In short, we contend that music crucially influences our identity.

This chapter presents a number of key themes relating to the concept of musical identities. We provide a definition of identity, with a discussion of why identity is a timely topic for consideration. Also presented is a specific definition of musical identities, and we implicate music as an important feature of personal identity. We then move on and consider a number of specific research examples to shed further light upon the importance of musical identities. We present an overview of a series of studies investigating musical identities of jazz musicians. These highlight the utility of qualitative techniques, and in particular focus group and semi-structured interview methods, for understanding how professional musicians construct their identities in relation to both their musical activities and wider psychological and cultural issues. The chapter looks next at how theories of motivation and the self can help to explain some of the behavioural aspects of musical identities. We provide evidence that children's self-concepts, and in particular their levels of confidence (both of which are related to musical identities), can influence the rate of musical development and musical achievement, drawing briefly on a study which compares the views of pupils, parents and teachers about what it is to be ‘good at music’.

Defining identities

Our contention is that music is not only important for us all, but that it plays a fundamental role in the development, negotiation and maintenance of our personal identities (MacDonald et al . 2002 ; Roe 1999 ; Stålhammar 2006 ). Any individual involved in musical activities (i.e. both listening and performing) develops aspects of personal identity that are inextricably linked to these musical behaviours. Moreover, for young people at least, it seems that music may play an absolutely fundamental role in the development and maintenance of identity: a number of researchers have provided evidence to suggest that music is the most important recreational activity in which young people engage (Zillman and Gan 1997 ; Roe 1999 ). In terms of signalling to the world fundamental aspects about a young person's sense of self, music is often used as a kind of ‘badge of identity’ (Tarrant et al . 2002 ; MacDonald and Miell 2000 ). Furthermore, there is growing evidence that music remains a fundamental part of our identity across the life span (Applegate and Potter 2002 ; Carlton 2006 ).

Turning to identity research at a more general level, Anthony Giddens asserts that identity, within contemporary society, is the most important issue with which humans must engage (Giddens 1991 ). We all have to make choices about our lives; from mundane questions about what to wear when we get up in the morning, to life-changing decisions about family, friendships and career paths. A key point here is that in earlier times, when traditional social order with clearly defined roles gave much more specific guidance regarding our life choices, these decisions were much easier to make and in some ways made for us. However, we now have many more options open to us and we have to make these decisions, what Giddens calls ‘identity work’, in a much more individualized and detailed manner. As Giddens states:

What to do? How to act? Who to be? These are focal questions for everyone living in circumstances of late modernity—and ones which, on some level or another, all of us answer, either discursively or through day-today social behaviour. (1991, p. 70)

Consequently, identity research is now established as a multidisciplinary field, taking place in a wide variety of academic contexts, to such an extent that there exists a international organization called The Society for Research on Identity Formation , and a related journal, Identity , whose aim is ‘to provide a forum for identity theorists and researchers around the globe to share their ideas and findings regarding the problems and prospects of human self-definition’. We find identity research not only in all branches of the arts and humanities, but also within the much more positivistic worlds of medicine and science. No single discipline has exclusive rights to identity research, nor can each identity research project be informed by all current thinking on identity (MacDonald et al . 2004 ). Of course, each research project will highlight different facets of identity processes and, in many cases, may involve differing definitions of identity. For example, the studies of jazz musicians outlined below utilize a discursive definition of identity, and emphasize how language shapes and constructs our sense of self, whereas the motivational theories presented later on in the chapter take a more social cognitive approach to the self. While there is no agreed definition of identity, researchers generally emphasize aspects that relate to how individuals construct themselves in relation to one or more phenomena. There is also an acknowledgement that each of us has many identities relating to the different roles we adopt (mother, musician, friend, colleague etc.). These identities are not discrete, will often merge and are constantly being negotiated and evolving. Identity is currently a very topical research issue for academics from many disciplines, perhaps because it is a fundamental issue for individuals worldwide in this period of post-modernity.

Musical identities

Moving on to the specific domain of music, we contend that music plays an important role in the negotiation, construction and maintenance of identities. For example, an individual who is a keen Bob Dylan fan will maintain a sense of self that is influenced by this liking for Bob Dylan: many of his friends may also be Bob Dylan fans, and his choice of clothes and political beliefs may be influenced by his taste in music. His linguistic devices may be influenced by his musical tastes, and in conversation he may choose to signal these musical tastes as a marker of his individuality. Thus, music plays a central role in this individual's identity. Zillman and Gan ( 1997 ), Tarrant et al . ( 2002 ), and DeNora ( 2000 ) all investigate the role that music plays in identity construction and maintenance. Zillman and Gan ( 1997 ) provide evidence to suggest that music is the primary leisure activity and, in terms of identity construction, the most important recreational activity undertaken young people. Tarrant et al . ( 2002 ) highlight the importance that shared musical tastes have in forming and maintaining friendship groups. This demonstrates how music can be an important marker of identity and now young people in particular want to have musical tastes in common with their friends. De Nora ( 2000 ) takes a sociological perspective in demonstrating how enmeshed music is within everyday life, and quite clearly draws a direct link between the importance of music and the construction of the self.

Individuals who are involved in music-making (be that as a professional opera singer or an occasional singer in the bath tub) develop an identity that is crucially influenced by these activities. For example, a young child going to piano lessons for the first time may be praised by her parents for practising and, over a period of time, sees her piano playing as one of many important activities in which she is engaged. Thus, when talking about her routine and weekly activities to friends and family her view of herself as a piano player influences how she talks and thinks about herself: as such, she develops an identity as a musician in the broadest sense of the word.

Another important point to note is that the identity of being a musician is a socially and culturally defined concept. We don't acquire the label ‘musician’ simply by attaining advanced technical skills. By this we mean that viewing ourselves as musical is not directly linked to the levels of technical ability or knowledge that we have. Similarly, there is no legal control over who can or can not call themselves musicians. It appears that whether or not we view ourselves as ‘musicians’ or ‘musical’ is crucially influenced by our social and cultural surroundings and by the ways in which we relate to people around us (Green 2002 ). The notion of being a musician is influenced by certain non-musical factors, which involves what we have termed identity paradoxes . Lamont ( 2002 ) highlights how the school setting plays a role in a child's developing musical identity by taking a detailed look at the music education environment, and demonstrating how the organization of lessons within a school has a crucial effect upon a child developing musical identity. Borthwick and Davidson ( 2002 ), on the other hand, look at more informal family environments, and how communication within the family influences children's developing sense of musicality. Specifically, these authors show how one sibling adopts the identity of musician while other siblings, who may be musically experienced, view themselves as not musical in comparison to this sibling. OʼNeill ( 2002 ) investigates how young people learn to view themselves as musicians and uses a qualitative social constructionist approach to investigate the relationship between a young person's sense of musicality and wider social influences.

Gender issues are also important to take into consideration when thinking about how musical identities develop and are maintained. A number of researchers have highlighted how cultural expectations and hegemonic influences affect the developing musical identities of males and females differently, both in terms of musical tastes and participation (Dibben 2002 ; Green 1997 ; McClary 1991 ; OʼNeill 1997a ; Welch 2006 ). For example, Dibben ( 2002 ) and McClary ( 1991 ) discuss how women are under-represented within the professional music world and Green ( 1997 ) provides evidence to support the notion that hegemonic masculine identities facilitate the development of a composer's identity. This may help explain why there are proportionally far fewer women, in comparison to men, working as composers within Western classical music. OʼNeill ( 1997a ) shows how gender stereotypes influence musical instrument choices made by boys and girls while Welch ( 2006 ) points out that the exclusion of women from cathedral choirs dates back to AD 597.

Crucially, all of the work highlighted above demonstrates how environmental and wider cultural influences are brought to bear on self-perceptions of musicianship and musical tastes. In particular, this work also demonstrates how essentially non-musical variables fulfill fundamental roles in an individual's sense of developing musical identity.

Identities in jazz

One particular approach to studying musical identities is to consider how musicians talk about their musical lives. This approach was utilized in series of studies that investigated how jazz musicians construct, maintain and negotiate their musical identities in a variety of different contexts (Wilson and MacDonald 2005 ; MacDonald and Wilson 2005 , 2006 ). This approach is presented as an exemplar of how research into musical identities can be conducted from a qualitative perspective. The key methodological points are that this research can utilize both focus group and interview methodology. Additionally, the data can be analysed using a range of theoretical perspectives including thematic analysis, interpretative phenomenological analysis, discourse analysis and narrative analysis. The jazz context provides a particular useful and timely way to study identity. On the one hand the performance of this music represents a unique form of collaborative creativity (Sawyer 1992 ; Meadows 2003 ; Berliner 1994 ). Secondly, while there is a growing literature investigating the particular psychological and musical processes of jazz music (Cooke and Horne 2002 ), there is a need for research to focus upon the social aspects of identity maintenance, and in particular the multifaceted ways in which the collaborative context of jazz performance influences these identity projects (Sawyer 2003 ).

The first study utilized a thematic analysis of focus group data to investigate how jazz musicians talked about improvisation (Wilson and MacDonald 2005 ). What emerged from focus group data was a negotiated social construct rooted in the understanding of the participants themselves and an excellent method for investigating musical identities. From the analysis two main themes were identified. The first theme was termed ‘ Jazz is ’. While there was considerable debate around the topic of what jazz music is, the discussions centred around: improvising and composing; swing elements of jazz and collective processes involved in jazz playing . Improvisation was seen as a stronger expectation in jazz than in other forms of music, and was discussed both as the elaboration of a tune and as a looser form of collective creativity. Swing , the maintenance of a common and consistent pulse of a particular quality, was widely seen as a central yet intangible quality in the collaboration of musicians playing jazz. A perceived tension between collective and individual creativity, such as that identified by Sawyer ( 1992 ), also emerged in the accounts presented, however; achieving the requisite collective interaction was voiced as more important than individual goals of self-expression. Individual and collective creativity were often viewed as existing in balance with each other in jazz. Social interaction therefore becomes extremely important in its execution. The second broad theme that emerged from the data was termed ‘ Jazz life is ’ and related to wider social and cultural issues pertaining how jazz musicians live. Within this category discussion centred around: social context, professional context, being in a group and self and others . These four themes gave detailed accounts of what the participants reported as being the key features of a jazz musician's life style.

This focus group analysis presented a thematic account highlighting the importance of shared understandings and practices in musical, social and cultural terms and features of identity for these participants. This thematic analysis coded what participants said into descriptive categories, and this is a common approach within qualitative studies of musical identity (e.g. Monson 1996 ). However, discourse analysis seeks to move beyond the categorical grouping of thematic content analysis to investigate structural features in discourse and to explore how particular speech acts perform a range of functions for a speaker and move beyond a thematic account (Edwards and Potter 1992 ).

With this issue in mind we examined discursive features of dialogue between jazz practitioners during the focus group interviews to reveal the relationship between the construction of specific meanings for the music and musicians and the negotiation of musical identities (Wilson and MacDonald 2005 ). This paper reported three key elements of identity work from a discursive analytic position: interpretative repertoires for jazz; the resolution of uncertainties created in handling these repertoires within the conversation; and ways in which the data are characterized by the focus group context. Two distinct interpretative repertoires (cf. Gilbert and Mulkay 1984 ) were employed in these data, which we termed the ‘expert’ and the ‘naïve’. These were used flexibly to support participants’ claims to identity as jazz musicians, while positioning others as separate from this identity. In the expert repertoire, jazz was accounted for as music produced by groups of individuals whose hard-won knowledge and skills gave them a particular insight into the music. In the ‘naïve’ repertoire participants emphasized the ineffable and soulful aspects of jazz music that were seen as being beyond complete comprehension.

The two papers discussed above give accounts of focus group data analyses and suggested a number of themes and features that we wished to follow up outwith the group context. In particular, we wanted to gather the views of both male and female practitioners (all focus group participants had been men) who were not previously known to the interviewer (both researchers had known the focus group participants personally and professionally). A series of ten individual in-depth interviews with professional jazz musicians in London was therefore conducted to provide rich data on individual identities, social contexts, and the experience of improvising (MacDonald and Wilson 2006 ). The findings highlighted how identity as a jazz musician was negotiated with other individual identities. For example, the relationship between gendered identities and identity as a jazz musician was examined as an instance of how conflict between these identities may allow hegemonic influences to operate.

In summary, these three papers highlight the importance of talking about music in terms of negotiating the constantly evolving musical identities of professional musicians. For these participants, musical identities were implicated as central to identity construction across a range of social situations. In the next section we move from analysing talk about music to investigating how motivation is related to musical participation and musical identities.

Musical identity and motivation

In our earlier discussion we cited the example of a young child, going to piano lessons for the first time, who gradually develops a view of herself as a pianist, or more generally as a musician. This development can be encouraged by praise from her parents and wider family about practising, or about particular musical achievements, and by talking to her friends and schoolmates about her progress. The positive feedback that she gets from these significant others in her social world will play an important role in her developing identity as a musician, and will thereby motivate her to higher levels of practice and achievement, which in turn will lead to further strengthening of the ‘musician’ role: and so a ‘virtuous cycle’ can develop in which growing levels of musical achievement and musical identity are interdependent. In other words, children's motivation to succeed in music is inextricably linked with aspects of their musical identity: the ways in which they think about their own abilities have a direct influence upon their motivation to engage in activities which develop those abilities, and vice versa. It therefore makes sense to consider how theories of motivation and the self can explain some of the effects of musical identities.

Motivation to learn in music is the topic of Chapter 27 in this volume, by Susan Hallam, and we refer the reader to that chapter: our distinctive emphasis in this section is on how musical identities give rise to certain aspects of motivation. An extensive body of theory and research has been conducted on motivation for educational attainment more generally—in subjects such as mathematics and reading—and this also has been applied to motivation in music learning by OʼNeill and McPherson ( 2002 ), Hallam ( 2002 ) and Austin et al . ( 2006 ).

Self-theories form a central part of the theoretical models of educational and musical motivation which have emerged in recent decades, and Austin et al . ( 2006 ) illustrate this point very clearly in proposing a process model of motivation which is based on the work of Connell ( 1990 ). The model has four components—the self system (e.g. perceptions, beliefs, thoughts, emotions); the social system (e.g. teachers, peers, siblings); actions (e.g. motivated behaviours including learning and self-regulation); and outcomes (e.g. learning, achievements). Each of these four components is seen to have a reciprocal causal relationship with each of the others, such that the motivational system develops and changes as learning proceeds, and as new challenges are sought by the learner. Hallam (Chapter 27 ) goes further than this, proposing a wide-ranging model of musical motivation which sees ‘malleable aspects of the personality and self-concept’ feeding, along with various environmental influences, into motivation, interaction with the cognitive characteristics of the individual, and with the different cognitive processes involved.

Most writers in this area agree that expectancy—value theory (e.g., Eccles et al . 1983 ; Pintrich and Schunk 2002 ) is the most well established and useful theoretical approach, and models based on this approach have three main components. These are value components—the extent to which learners view a particular task, activity or domain as being important, and as being of value to them: expectancy components—learners' beliefs about their abilities to succeed in the activity: and affective components, namely how learners feel about themselves in relation to the activity. Thus, our young pianist's motivation to progress to higher levels will depend on the extent to which she sees playing the piano as being important in her life, and in having future benefits and pay-offs: on whether or not she perceives she is capable of achieving higher levels of success; and on whether or not she simply enjoys playing the piano in relation to all her other interests and activities.

Eccles et al . ( 1983 ) proposed that there are four main aspects of the value component, namely its attainment value (the importance to the individual of success in the task); its utility value (its perceived usefulness to the individual); its intrinsic interest (the absorption in and enjoyment of the activity for its own sake); and its perceived cost (the loss of time spent on other activities as a result of engagement in musical activities, and the consequent loss of interest in them. Many parents, including the present authors, have faced the ‘Saturday morning dilemma’—school sports team or band/or chestra?!). The third of these aspects raises the important distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation: the former is evident when interest in an activity is natural, unforced and high, and the latter occurs when external rewards and punishments (such as praise and criticism) are involved.

Amabile's (1996) social psychological theory of creativity emphasizes the importance of intrinsic motivation, proposing that ‘the intrinsically motivated state is conducive to creativity, whereas the extrinsically motivated state is detrimental’ (p. 107). The perceived cost of engaging in an activity may involve both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation: children may decide that the time and work involved in practising an instrument is not worth the effort, for example, and consciously decide to give up in favour of other pursuits (e.g. Eccles et al . 1998 ). It is also worth pointing out that external rewards do not always lead to improvements in performance: if intrinsic motivation is already high, rewards can have the effect of undermining performance rather than of improving it.

The decision to either persist in music, or to give up, is clearly interdependent with the second, expectancy component of the expectancy—value model, which refers to learners' beliefs in their own ability to succeed on the task, and this is what Bandura ( 1997 ) calls self-efficacy . Learners' prior view of their own potential ability to succeed on a task—their competency beliefs—can be an important determinant of their actual performance on that task, and this leads to some further conceptual distinctions. Dweck ( 2000 ) suggests that people differ in the extent to which they display mastery-oriented as distinct from helpless behaviour, which in turn relates to their locus of control . Learners with an internal locus of control are likely to display mastery-oriented patterns of behaviour, for example in trying to persist with a task even when they meet difficulties or setbacks. Those with an external locus of control, however, feel that circumstances are beyond their own control, and may display helpless patterns of behaviour. In Chapter 27 , Hallam draws on these concepts in describing how learners' competency beliefs can be an important determinant not only of whether they engage in that task as well as of their actual performance on that task.

OʼNeill ( 1997b ) investigated the longer term effects of these motivational patterns on children who were about to begin instrumental tuition by giving them problem-solving tasks which were arranged such that they were bound to fail. She found that those who displayed mastery-oriented behaviour after failing on the task made more progress after one year of instrumental music lessons than those who initially displayed helpless behaviour. This result leads us to a more general consideration of the third component of expectancy—value theory, namely the affective component: people's beliefs about and reactions to success and failure can be explained in terms of attribution theory (e.g. Weiner 1985 , 1992 ). According to this, people attribute their success or failure on a task to four main factors: ability (‘I am good/poor at this task’): effort (‘I practised hard/insufficiently’); task difficulty (‘this particular task was easy/difficult’); and luck (‘I had a lucky/unlucky day’). The first and second of these are internal in the sense that they are under the control of the learner, and the third and fourth are subject to external influences.

These theoretical analyses of educational motivation, along with Hallam's discussion in Chapter 27 , reveal some of the mechanisms by which musical achievement and development can be determined by musical identities. We referred earlier to a hypothetical ‘virtuous cycle’ according to which increasing levels of musical achievement give rise to higher levels of musical self-esteem, and vice versa; children who feel that they are competent musicians are likely to achieve higher levels of success than those who do not, as are those who find music intrinsically interesting, and value it positively (Eccles et al . 1983 ). This can work in both directions, of course: some children may get the idea that they are ‘unmusical’, perhaps because of an unwitting remark by a teacher, parent or another pupil, and this perception could correspondingly lead on to a downward spiral of not trying, therefore becoming less able, therefore trying even less, and so on.

The content of musical ability self-perceptions were investigated as part of a series of studies conducted within the Curriculum Development Project in the Arts and Music Monitoring Programme, sponsored by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) in England. Hargreaves and colleagues ( 2004 ) compared the views of pupils, parents and teachers about ‘what it is to be good at music’ along with parallel questions about art and design, dance, and drama, from the points of view of pupils, teachers and parents. Focus groups of pupils and parents, and individual teachers, were asked to discuss three questions: (a) what does it mean to be good at music (what does it involve)?; (b) can one ‘be good at’ some aspects of music and not others?; and (c) how can one get better at music, and how would others know whether or not this had occurred?

Performing, and knowledge about music, were both seen as especially important aspects, particularly by pupils and teachers. Music was seen as comprising a range of different skills and capacities, including non-musical skills such as learning quickly, leading a group, and having confidence. Teachers tended to emphasize the requirements of the English National Curriculum, and to conceive their views of musical ability and achievement in those terms. Parents tended to focus on skills and activities which are visible, notably those involving public performance. All three groups' responses suggested that music is no longer seen as a special talent which individuals either do or do not possess, and that it is perfectly possible to be good at some parts of it and not others. Qualifications and exams assumed lesser importance than might have been expected, and pupils' views were no less detailed and insightful than those of teachers and parents.

The pupils' views were explored in detail in a more recent report by Lamont et al . ( 2007 ) on a focus group investigation of 134 8–14-year-olds' understandings of what it means to be a musician, and of the differences between their descriptions of musicians in general with their own self-concepts as musicians. The results clearly showed that they defined musicians in terms of playing a musical instrument, making up music, and that closely related to this were being a singer, and being a music teacher. These children also emphasized effort, practice and hard work as being important characteristics of musicians. Their beliefs about themselves as musicians were more varied, however, and were more likely to include factors beyond their control (such as musical ability, and critical periods in their lives). There was a general acknowledgment of the role and importance of music in society, and of the possibility of music as a career and leisure choice. The motivation to be active and to succeed in music seems to be closely bound up with the development of positive musical identity.

Conclusions

In summary, recent developments within the psychology of music advocate a theoretically eclectic position for academics endeavouring to develop our understanding of the psychology of music (Miell et al . 2005 ). Much of the earlier research utilized a predominately quantitative empirical epistemology which focused on isolating discrete variables and was less concerned with the wider social and cultural influences on music perception (Hargreaves and North 1997 ; MacDonald et al . 2002 ). However, a more multi-disciplinary and pluralistic position is entirely in keeping with postmodern research priorities within the wider academic community, and so researchers interested in investigating musical identities including psychologists, music therapists, musicologists, music educationalists and others, can adopt quite different theoretical stances on the research processes. The current situation within musical identity research reflects these multidisciplinary features, and we find research that is empirical (using both qualitative and quantitative approaches), and review based.

In this chapter we have focused on key themes and approaches within musical identities research. We have highlighted these issues with examples from published material and from our own current research, and in doing so have concentrated on two broad areas: jazz identities and motivations and identity. These two areas highlight the pluralistic manner in which researchers are currently investigating musical identities. In particular the section above on jazz identities highlights how the way in which musicians talk about their musical experiences helps to construct their musical identities. Related to these observations, the section on motivation draws together recent thinking in this area to highlight the importance of motivational aspects of musical development and also how self-perceptions influence the development of music skills and, through these, the development of musical identities. This chapter highlights the crucial role of wider cultural and social variables in determining not only the extent to which we view ourselves as musical or not, but also the extent to which we engage in musical activities (both listening and playing).

Musical identities are an important consideration for researchers interested in the psychology of music, not least because we all have musical identities, but also because identity ‘work’ is a fundamental psychological process in which we all engage. This identity work can take the form of musicians reflecting on their own practice and how this practice is related to their lifestyle, or it can be how children view their own sense of musical skill and development. In short, we are suggesting that talking about music and, through this, developing and negotiating musical identities, influence our engagement with music in important ways.

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• Music Matters, 2nd edition
• Music Matters
• Praxial Music Education
• Community Music Today
• Appearances
• Curriculum Vitae
• Music and Identity

The year 2005 marks my third year as a New Yorker, my thirty-second year as a professor of music education, my fifty-sixth year as a white, male, Canadian (of Irish heritage), and my fiftieth year as a performer, composer, arranger, and golfer. Other aspects of my personal identity include my years as a youthful hockey player, an ardent student of history and philosophy, a writer, a speaker, a lover of visual art and dance, and some other things.

During this time, I’ve most often found my comfort level in fairly detached analyses and scholarly expositions. I think that friends who know me well would call me socially affable, but away from work I’m actually a fairly private person, spending much time quietly reading, listening to recordings, or playing golf.  And so it’s sometimes difficult for me to take personal risks in writing about my inner thoughts and conflicts, and the situations that prompt them. What I’ve just written here is one of the only times I’ve ever stated this much in print.

For these reasons, I find O’Toole’s essay ( PME , chapter 16) important and moving, knowing that she is putting her- self -identity  “out there,” personally and professionally. I particularly appreciate her sincerity in speaking her individual truths about the circumstances of her teaching, whether observing the MUSE program in Buffalo, teaching 5th and 6th graders, or working with a university choir, and a tradition bearer.

I want O’Toole and like-minded colleagues to feel at home with the praxial orientation, so it’s disappointing to me that she doesn’t feel this way. I believe deeply that issues of gender, race, and class are central to music, music education, community music (see Veblen’s essay chapter 17), and social life. I believe I put the selfhood and self-identity of the individual student at the center of MM by devoting major sections of the book to self-growth, self-knowledge, critical reflection, and cultural identity, as I’ve reviewed in previous sections of this web site. Also, for example, Woodward offers this view: “As Elliott suggests, to begin with, every child should be immersed in the music of his or her own culture. A child’s music is his or her identity, his or her natural musical home” ( PME , p. 257). Still, I admit that I did not address the issues of gender, race, and class as directly and deeply as I should have. I need to rectify this deficiency when I write a new edition of MM .

To take another tack now, however, let me offer some reflections on the nature of identity. I will follow these thoughts with some points I think O’Toole and I may agree on, despite her words to the contrary.

Philosophers often discuss “identity” in terms of the conditions of change under which something can be said to remain the same. In contrast, psychologists usually use “identity” in reference to a person’s sense of self and the personal attributes and external relations that are individually defining. For example, and briefly, Plato and Aristotle explored the concept of identity in terms of change. They asked: how can something that goes through either mutation or growth be considered the same thing?  Both concluded, perhaps differently, that human beings have an inner substance or “soul” which remains constant throughout physical change. Hegel, on the other hand, viewed identity in terms of social activity.  He noticed that our sense of self arises from our interactions with others. For Hegel, the social foundations of identity include such matters as race, nationality, class, and culture.

But are there other influential aspects of identity, such as ethnicity, national affiliation, or economic status that may remain while others “shift”? In The Cultural Nature of Human Development , Rogoff (2003) observes that “people’s cultural participation is often discussed in terms of cultural or ethnic ‘identity,’ asking Who are you? or What are you?” (p. 77). Consider, for example, that people of the Asian race remain Asian even though they may live in Korea, Thailand, Canada, Japan, or New Zealand, and/or even though they may be lawyers, teachers, musicians, or doctors whose salaries change over time, and/or even though they may be Christians, Buddhists, and so forth. As Fornäs (1995) writes:

“Cultural practices create cultural identities: symbolic patterns or ordered sets of signs which interact both with subjectivities and with social communities.  Neither social nor subjective identities can be directly observed.  A person’s collective belonging or inner self is not in itself clearly visible for another person . . . Cultural identities are specific structured units in our symbolic interaction with which we construct, designate or characterize collective (social) as well as individual (psychological) identities. Cultural identities thus mediate between the external and the internal, and between the objective, the social and the subjective.  But they simultaneously form an arena of their own, a symbolic order with specific codes and processes.” (pp. 179-80)

So, our identity and/or our selfhood and self-growth have several components. For example, in MM I explained how self-growth, self-identity, and enjoyment emerge from students learning to make and listen to music in the social-cultural context of “others” (e.g., teachers, peers, heroes, legends, lore, valued works) as these emerge differently in specific musical practices (e.g., jazz practices, Irish music practices, Baroque choral and instrumental practices). I note that O’Toole says somewhat the same thing in relation to the music-teaching examples in her essay.  Indeed, the self is personal-social, encompassing who we are individually and in relation to other people in our lives .  For purposes of reflection, we could say there is the material self that relates to our body, possessions, family, and home. But there is another aspect of selfhood and identity: the spiritual self or, in other words, a person’s inner or subjective being.  William James referred to this as “pure Ego,” which arises from one’s stream of consciousness. He writes: “Resemblance among the parts of a continuum of feelings (especially bodily feelings) . . . constitutes the real and verifiable ‘personal identity’ which we feel” (1890, vol. 1, pp. 334-336).

Praxial music education conceptualizes “identity” in terms of the fluid connections between the student’s personal, psychological, social, cultural, and bodily self, all of which develop in the context of the educational community or “belongingness” that I call the curriculum-as-practicum, which has self-growth and enjoyment as its center.

Closely related to what I’ve just said are sections in MM where I suggest that “each mini-world on its own (i.e., the jazz-choral world, the Baroque world, and so on), rests on musical-social traditions and standards that provide students with knowledge about who they are and what they can do in relation to themselves, to each other, and to past others” (p. 180). I go on to explain that students who participate in learning, maintaining, and contributing to musical practices (as adult listeners and/or amateur music makers) gain what philosopher Alistar MacIntyre calls the “internal goods” of a practice, including, most importantly, “a certain kind of life.” Sparshott’s term is Lebensform : a “form of life.” Moreover, when teachers induct children into musical practices as active, reflective practitioners, they speed a child toward “a system of meanings that gives purpose to one’s being” ( MM , p. 180) Thus, music becomes an important part of a student’s “life themes.” As Damasio (1999) writes: “The idea each of us constructs of our self, the image we gradually build of who we are physically and mentally, of where we fit socially, is based on autobiographical memory over years of experience and is constantly subject to remodeling” (p. 224).

O’Toole’s essay begins by highlighting the words of Christopher Small who locates musical meaning by “centering on relationships in music – relationships between person and person, between person and society, between humanity and the natural world, etc.” I hope it’s clear from what I’ve just said above that I agree completely with Small and O’Toole, and that my statements in MM evidence my agreement, though I did not emphasize the sociality of musical events to the degree that Small does.  His insights are profound in this regard.

However, and in view of what I’ve explained in several other sections of this web site, I suggest it is quite incorrect to say that I am mostly concerned with the “technical and performative aspects of musicing” ( PME , p. 297), that I limit musicing to performers, that I have “a separate category for listeners,” and that the praxial philosophy “does not include any other kind of participant in music or music education nor the identity issues Small addresses” (p. 299). These statements fail to consider major portions of MM that provide evidence to the contrary. For example, and addition to what I’ve already said in previous sections of this site, O’Toole’s statements omit to consider the several kinds of musicing I discuss (see, for example, MM , chapter 7), and the praxial emphasis on engaging all students in creativity and interpretation (see MM , chapter 9), all of which I link to listening. Interestingly, Burnard denies O’Toole’s viewpoint:

“. . . it is important to remember that the praxial philosophy encompasses all manner of participation – listening, composing, improvising, arranging, performing, conducting – as music making situated in the mainstream of one’s own experiences.Young people are embroiled in varied living and musical cultures operating outside school. The praxial philosophy acknowledges the many musics of the world and the musical worlds of young people” [italics added]. (p. 271)

Burnard add this: “Elliott validates the actions and intentions of all people present in a musical setting. In this view, it is everyone, together, as a collective, who shapes musical courses of action and response” (p. 272).

Indeed, I share O’Toole’s enthusiasm for the MUSE program and the choirs she describes in her essay (I give similar examples in MM ), and I passionately support other examples of these kinds of community music education. I’ve taught in these same kinds of situations and contexts. And as I explained in my discussion of multicultural music education, learning other musics through all forms of musicing and listening is crucial if we want to make our profession a humanistic and self-affirming enterprise wherein students explore and construct their identities in relation to the identities and values of others. In fact, as Veblen confirms ( PME , chapter 17), I’ve spent several years encouraging and documenting the kinds of “nontraditional” music-teaching programs that music-gender scholars like O’Toole support. So again, we agree on several very important matters.

To bring up another claim: “Elliott’s language in Music Matters encourages dismissal of nontraditional ways of musicing” ( PME , p. 300). Regelski makes a similar point in his essay when he says that my idea of praxis “appears to stress existing types of music more than, or in preference to, the social groundedness of music” ( PME , p. 229). He continues:

If this is the case, it fails to sufficiently acknowledge that different types of music (jazz, rock, “art music,” etc.) have evolved according to certain use-functions (needs, intentions, interests, benefits, “goods,” etc.) and continue to serve various functions in the present – though not always in the ways connected with the originating conditions. (p. 229)

I acknowledge that I should have said more on these matters. But if readers review what I say throughout the whole of MM , they will see that I discuss and refer to many kinds of “nontraditional” musicing, including these: rap, West African drumming, Balinese keybar, Korean kayagum sanjo , Ottoman peshrev, the sacred songs of the Australian Pitjantjara peoples, Zulu songs, Arab maqam , Iranian radif , Sardinian launeddas, jazz, soft rock, pop, country and western music, and so on. Moreover, I cite ethnomusicologist Tim Rice to affirm my concern for the variability of musical meanings, the fluidity of musical practices, and the ways people construct meaning and identity in and through music:

“the acts of creating, performing, and appreciating music are not simply exercises in pure form or pure production. The creating of music always involves an act of appropriation and interpretation of traditional procedures and images. These images and procedures are historically meaningful, socially meaningful, and individually meaningful . . . . Music receives its meaning through unending interpretations by individuals in the world. That world, the world in which music has meaning, is our world . . .”  ( MM , p. 143)

Permit me to engage another issue: that MM does not provide explicit examples or discussions on “such subject positions as race, class, gender, sexuality, patriarchy, consumerism, age, and ability” (p. 300). Is this true? Not completely. I do offer explicit examples of gender and sexuality, as in this excerpt from my discussion of music listening ( MM , chapter 8): “what rock songs share in common with musical works from many other times and places, including nineteenth century Romantic works, is a tendency to develop musical expressions of human physicality that invite listeners to experience their own physicality (and sexuality) in various (and often new) ways” ( MM , pp. 193-194). I follow these words with more from Susan McClary:

“to say that one hears sexual longing in the Tristan prelude is not to introduce irrelevant ‘subjective’ data into the discussion. Surely that is the point of the opera, and we are missing the point if we fail to understand that. The process by which Wagner’s music accomplishes this is not at all mystical. In part, his music draws on his own (excessively documented) experiences in the sexual realm, and we as listeners perceive longing in his music likewise because we are human beings with bodies who have experienced similar feelings firsthand . . .” ( MM , p. 194)

I go on to point out how Madonna (for example) takes sly pot-shots at female stereotypes and how Madonna’s singing is linked to a long history of narrative vocal music that places emphasis on female expressions of both the spiritual and the erotic in the traditions of Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin and others ( MM , pp. 194-195).

So, while much of my thinking on these topics is not developed at length in MM , it’s inaccurate to say that I fail to mention any. Still, I concede that I must say much more in the future. In fact, music educators (me included, of course!) must make up for our failings by correcting, critiquing, expanding, and becoming activists for our theorized practice in relation to the contexts that authors such as O’Toole discuss so perceptively: gender as context, sexuality as context, and race as context, to name a few. Additionally, I believe there’s another context that bears examination in music teaching and learning: nationalism. For example, issues and tensions that surface so strongly in America are drawn and renegotiated very differently in Canada, Finland, the UK, Ireland, and so forth. Through deeper and broader comparative studies, we can probe the ways our national music education contexts and organizations shape, restrict, or distort our theorizing in terms of past or present themes, problems, fictions, slogans, and histories (e.g., “National Standards”).

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Music and identity

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