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"Davidson, Jane W"
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Characteristics of Self-reported Favorite Musical Experiences
Research supports the folk wisdom that individual preferences are tied to our experiences: we like what we know and as a result, we know what we like. Yet our understanding of the elements contained in lived examples of musical experiences that facilitate enjoyment and investment in music is little described. The current study recruited Australian residents (N = 135) to complete an online survey, which asked them to describe their favorite musical experience with regard to its context and impact. The majority of favorite musical experiences involved listening to live music and performing. The descriptions provided indicated that these experiences resulted in layered emotional experiences, much more subtle than folk psychology would suggest. Further, thematic analysis results revealed that Gabrielsson’s Strong Experiences with Music Descriptive System adequately categorizes the elements of people’s favored experiences, with particular reference to general characteristics, bodily reactions, perceptual phenomena, cognitive aspects, emotional aspects, existential and transcendental aspects, and personal and social aspects. A wide variety of musical genres were involved, though pop, classical, rock, and hip-hop music featured predominately. By detailing key components which lead to favored musical experiences, the findings have implications regarding how musical engagement opportunities can be better designed to support continued musical investment, which has particular relevance for educational and community uses of music for fostering positive individual and community benefits.
Journal Article
How Can Music Engagement Address Loneliness? A Qualitative Study and Thematic Framework in the Context of Australia’s COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdowns
Social isolation and loneliness are serious public health concerns. Music engagement can strengthen social connections and reduce loneliness in some contexts, although how this occurs is not well understood; research suggests that music’s capacity to manipulate perceptions of time and space is relevant. This study adopted a qualitative perspective to examine how music engagement shaped the experiences of residents of Victoria, Australia, during conditions of restricted social contact during the lockdowns of 2020. Semi-structured interviews explored participants’ lived musical experiences while giving focus to perceptions of time and space (e.g., how music helped restructure home and workspaces in response to lockdown regulations, or punctuate time where older routines were no longer viable). Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of the interview transcripts identified five themes representing the key findings: (1) a super-ordinate theme of perceived control, which comprises four themes: (2) dynamic connection; (3) identity; (4) mobility; (5) presence. Each theme describes one generalised aspect of the way music engagement shaped participants’ perceptions of time and space during lockdown and supported their processes of adaptation to and coping with increased social isolation. The authors argue that these findings may inform the way music can be used to address loneliness in everyday life.
Journal Article
Music’s Role in Facilitating the Process of Healing—A Thematic Analysis
This qualitative study aims to understand the factors motivating Korean migrants’ participation in weekly Charismatic Prayer Meetings in a Catholic Church. As music plays a crucial role in these meetings, the paper explores whether active engagement with music motivated the long-term commitment of participants to the meetings. The research is based on a thematic analysis of a focus group comprising six Korean adults living in Australia. Results show that music performed in religious forms such as Praise and Worship and Speaking/Singing in Tongues prayers was found to intensify spiritual experiences of the people as a group, and over time, each participant experienced improved physical and mental wellbeing, which in turn motivated further investment in the meetings. It was evident that the passionate group music-making enabled participants to focus on conscious and subconscious body, mind, and spirit, eliciting transpersonal experiences within each person. The findings of the current study are deemed relevant to this specific cohort and to others in similar contexts, where minority groups use worship and music for socio-cultural inclusion that addresses both spiritual and mental health issues. Though a small-scale study, the current paper provides a rationale for these religious groups to be involved in music-based spiritual practice.
Journal Article
Musical Activity and Well-being
A relationship between participation in musical activity and well-being has frequently been observed in recent research reports. Of these, some propose various well-being-related correlates of musical participation, but the varying samples and foci leave researchers without a reasoned appraisal of these correlates or a data-driven categorization of them. To address this lacuna, the current research reviewed of existing literature, identifying 562 benefits of well-being benefits perceived to be associated with musical participation. These items were used as the basis for developing a new quantitative measure to evaluate the perceived benefits of well-being arising from music participation. Principal axis factor analysis of data using this new, 36-item measure identified five discrete dimensions: mood and coping, esteem and worth, socialization, cognition, and self-actualization. The development of this well-being measure addresses a gap in the research and provides a tool for future research concerning musical participation.
Journal Article
Rich Intercultural Music Engagement Enhances Cultural Understanding: The Impact of Learning a Musical Instrument Outside of One’s Lived Experience
Rich intercultural music engagement (RIME) is an embodied form of engagement whereby individuals immerse themselves in foreign musical practice, for example, by learning a traditional instrument from that culture. The present investigation evaluated whether RIME with Chinese or Middle Eastern music can nurture intercultural understanding. White Australian participants were randomly assigned to one of two plucked-string groups: Chinese pipa (n = 29) or Middle Eastern oud (n = 29). Before and after the RIME intervention, participants completed measures of ethnocultural empathy, tolerance, social connectedness, explicit and implicit attitudes towards ethnocultural groups, and open-ended questions about their experience. Following RIME, White Australian participants reported a significant increase in ethnocultural empathy, tolerance, feelings of social connection, and improved explicit and implicit attitudes towards Chinese and Middle Eastern people. However, these benefits differed between groups. Participants who learned Chinese pipa reported reduced bias and increased social connectedness towards Chinese people, but not towards Middle Eastern people. Conversely, participants who learned Middle Eastern oud reported a significant increase in social connectedness towards Middle Eastern people, but not towards Chinese people. This is the first experimental evidence that participatory RIME is an effective tool for understanding a culture other than one’s own, with the added potential to reduce cultural bias.
Journal Article
Examining How Voice Teachers Influence Student Achievement
While studies have defined voice teacher expertise, seldom have associations been made between voice teachers and their students’ performing achievements. This study investigated which characteristics and attributes of successful classical and music theatre voice teachers influence student success. A sample of 123 Australian voice teachers (77% females, 22% males, 1% non-binary), aged 26–78 years old (M=48.23), completed an online, quantitative survey examining teacher background, experience, and genre. Additionally, standardized, quantitative measures examined psychological components such as teacher empathy and leadership. Findings demonstrated statistically significant associations between greater student achievement and the teacher’s own performance and teacher training and achievements as well as the number of students they have taught. Additionally, teacher leadership, specifically training facilitation and positive feedback, was statistically positively associated with student achievement. Teacher genre was not found to influence student success. These findings indicate that incorporating leadership training into voice pedagogy courses, while facilitating ongoing performing and professional development, could contribute to voice teacher expertise which would conceivably produce more successful students.
Journal Article
Effects of group singing and performance for marginalized and middle-class singers
In western society music performance is generally considered from the perspective of
the elite performer, and the performance literature within the psychology of music
has been representative of this preoccupation. But, in spite of much attention being
directed to the ‘how’ of creating exceptional performances,
little attention has been given to the ‘why’ of performance.
Results of an investigation with members of a choir for homeless men indicated that
group singing and performance, at the most amateur levels of musicality, yielded
considerable emotional, social and cognitive benefits. The present article further
explores the effects of group singing and performance with (a) a second choir formed
for homeless and other marginalized individuals who had little or no music training
or group singing experience, and (b) middle-class singers with low to high levels of
music training and choral singing experience. Results indicate that the emotional
effects of participation in group singing are similar regardless of training or
socioeconomic status, but the interpersonal and cognitive components of the choral
experience have different meanings for the marginalized and middle-class singers.
Whereas the marginalized individuals appear to embrace all aspects of the group
singing experience, the middle-class choristers are inhibited by prevalent social
expectations of musicianship. The outcomes may be of relevance to music educators,
therapists and choral conductors who wish to create a choral environment in which
the benefits of singing and performance override elitist concerns.
Journal Article
The role of practice in the development of performing musicians
A sample of 257 young people aged between eight and 18 who had undertaken individual instrumental tuition were interviewed in depth about their performing history from the start of playing. A subset of 94 of these individuals also kept a practice diary for a 42‐week period. The data collected allowed estimates to be calculated of the amount of time devoted to various types of practice and other activities. The sample was selected in order to encompass a wide range of levels of musical achievement, from pupils at a highly selective specialist music school through to individuals who had abandoned instrumental study after less than a year of formal instruction. Data about formal examination successes confirmed the very wide range of achievement in the sample. It was discovered that there was a strong relationship between musical achievement and the amount of formal practice undertaken. Weaker relationships were discovered between achievement and amount of informal playing. There was no evidence that high achievers were able to gain a given level of examination success on less practice than low achievers. High achievers tended to be more consistent in their pattern of practice from week to week, and tended to concentrate technical practice in the mornings. These data lend strong support to the theory that formal effortful practice is a principal determinant of musical achievement.
Journal Article