Not musical enough: primary school student teachers' 'situated self referencing' of a musical self for teaching

Taylor, Helen Vivienne (2008) Not musical enough: primary school student teachers' 'situated self referencing' of a musical self for teaching. Doctoral thesis, Northumbria University.

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Abstract

This narrative study into music and initial teacher education explored seven primary student teachers' stories of 'musical self'. They identified themselves as `not musical' at the start of their journey. The complexities of their personal and professional stories were explored examining culturally and socially rooted assumptions within their narratives. Research into student teachers' `musical self' is limited. The lenses of symbolic and interpretive interactionism and social constructionism supported analyses of students' co-construction of a teaching 'musical self'. Using Kuhn's (1962) paradigm theory, literature on music education's philosophies, principles and practices throughout the twentieth century were examined. This research built chronological biographies of students' contextually constructed teaching 'musical selves'. The students' subject and pedagogic knowledge development was tracked informing the in-depth interviews. The analyses of their stories were through thematic induction. Their own music making and successes with children did not appear to change their self labelling. The transactional self was underpinned by situated self referencing during interactions that created resilience in the students' ability to maintain 'not musical' labels. Strategies of self handicapping (Rhodewalt and Tragakis 2002) and self protection (Higgins 1999, Forgas and Williams 2002c) were regularly employed by the students. My initial assumptions of students' lack of musical expertise and experience proved inadequate as their musical backgrounds were more complex. The hegemony of Western High Art Music upon music education practices and perceptions proved influential through socially and culturally constructed norms for judging musical value and musicianship. The three key themes were durability of self labelling as 'not musical', WHAM effect upon individual conceptions of musical self and impact of various contexts upon the musical self. Emotional experiences and approving/disapproving atmospheres of authoritative people created durable labelling of the self as 'not musical'. Contextually based comparisons and expectations impacted negatively on their perceptions. Students separated their teaching and personal musical selves creating a false consciousness about 'musical self'. Students concluded they were 'not musical enough' to teach rather than 'not musical at all'.

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