You are on page 1of 13

Running Head: Transfer of Musicking to Adult Life

Transfer of Musicking to Adult Life:

Could Informal Practice be the Answer?

Emma K. Guy

James Madison University


Transfer of Musicking to Adult Life 2

Abstract

This paper explores ten studies and articles which pertain to the continuation of music in

adulthood and the effects of informal learning situations on the effectiveness and attitude

students have towards school music. Studies by Green (2002, 2005, 2008) and a similar study by

Cayari (2015) provide evidence that informal learning situations can strengthen the skills and

positive attitudes that students have towards music and connect school music more to their

everyday life. Articles by Carter (2015), Batt-Rawden (2005), Jones (2009), and Mantie (2012)

depict adult attitudes towards school music and the purposes music serves in their lives. Boal-

Palheiros and Hargreaves (2001) also add to the adult musicking discussion by emphasizing the

autonomy adults feel they have with music and the fact that school music never really applied to

the music they were listening to a home. In order to help more adults take part in musicking, I

believe it is necessary to begin implementing more informal learning to school music curricula

and begin offering programs which allow students to interact with other students outside of a

curriculum using music they commonly enjoy or like. If it is our ultimate goal as educators to

encourage our students to engage in a lifelong relationship with music, then we must rearrange

the way music is taught in school so as to cater to the personal musical needs and wants of our

students.
Transfer of Musicking to Adult Life 3

Transfer of Musicking to Adult Life: Could Informal Practice Be the Answer?

For decades now, there has continued to be a disconnect between the music training

students receive through school and the music they interact with outside of school or after they

have completed their school years. While there are those who have continued to participate in

music in adulthood similarly to the way they did when they were in school (i.e. western

ensembles, jazz groups, western chamber groups) there are many people who are excluded from

that transfer of educated musical skills to the methods in which they interact with music in their

adult life. A possible reason for this could be that music classrooms cater only to the musical

genres and practices that the educator was taught in their own music education career. In such a

circumstance, the students may feel disconnected from their music classes because they have no

say in what they learn or how they learn it. In addition, the typical western style curricula that

music educators follow rarely applies to the lives of most of the students in a class and increases

the chances that the skills they are being taught won’t transfer to adult musicking (Carter, 2015).

This paper analyzes various studies and articles written on the topics of informal learning and

continuation of musicking through life in order to suggest future research and remedies to this

predicament.

Literature Review

In 2013, Jellison was commissioned by students of UT-Austin and wrote the article

entitled “How Can All People Continue to Be Involved in Meaningful Music Participation?”

Carter (2015) suggests an alteration to her question. He states that “Our question rather should

be, ‘How can we provide meaningful musical experiences so that all people will seek to continue

music participation later in life?’” (Carter, 2015, p.1). He expresses that core classes in school

are built on the notion that they are providing students with the foundations and tools needed to
Transfer of Musicking to Adult Life 4

negotiate the topic in day-to-day life (p.1). Therefore, in regards to school music, he then poses

the question of what foundations are necessary for participation of music in adult life. Carter

goes on to argue that music activity for most adults is not listening, “because we in music

education have identified very specific skills that we feel should be exhibited when one is

engaged in meaningful listening activity”, but rather the action of “hearing” music (p.3). By this

he means that adults tend to encounter music in situations where the listener is not actively

seeking to avoid it, but they merely take notice of it as opposed to engaging in analysis and

criticism of it. According to Carter, adults participate in this “hearing” in 3 main ways: radio

listening, easy listening, and TV listening (p.5). He states that rather than being concerned with

what genre we teach in our class, we should be more concerned with teaching our students how

to react and function musically with whatever genre they please (p.4). His big culmination is

concerned with the transition of musical skills from school life to everyday life. He outlines

various music experiences people had and, out of the 4 of them, only 1 said they felt their school

music experience had prepared them for music in their adult life (p.9). Following these findings,

he finishes his article by outlining four transfer-of-learning principles that Jellison suggests.

They are as follows:

1. The more similar two situations are, the more likely that learning in one situation will

transfer to the other situation.

2. The more frequent the opportunities to practice a skill or demonstrate knowledge using

numerous and varied examples, the more likely it is that language will transfer to new

situations.

3. The more deeply and thoroughly something is learned, the more likely it is that learning

will transfer to the new situations.


Transfer of Musicking to Adult Life 5

4. Meaningful principles will more easily transfer to new situations than rote learning of

isolated facts and skills (p.11-13).

He concludes by reiterating that if music educators could adhere more to the real-life musical

situations of their students by increasing their emphasis on transfer of skills rather than

communication of information, then musicking would have a better chance of becoming a

lifelong activity (p.14).

The emotional purposes of music are outlined in Batt-Rawden’s article “Music and

Informal Learning in Everyday Life” (2005). Batt-Rawden reflects on a study that she did with

DeNora that analyzed how music affects the health and well-being of adults. They interviewed

multiple adults in said study and utilized their responses to validate some assumptions they made

about music and health. According to their findings, the main roles that music serves in life were

discerned as:

1. To alter or match emotional needs/moods or to self-manage/self-regulate.

2. To enhance social intimacy and send social cues.

3. To extend body capacity.

4. To trigger or lock in memories (Batt-Rawden, 2005).

Two statements that one of the interviewees makes about the emotional benefits of music are: “I

think people, they need to know what’s happening to them,” and “We all respond to the

emotional tone of music” (Batt-Rawden, 2005, p.290). This serves as evidence to the fact that

adults utilize music to both discover and understand their emotional needs and well-being. Even

when discussing the cooperative aspect of music (which was also noted as valuable), another

interviewee brought up emotion by saying, “…the strongest effect I gain from music is through

playing and singing with other people, this synergy effect is like an encounter of love” (p.295).
Transfer of Musicking to Adult Life 6

Other interviewees reflected that they utilized music to structure social events and create a

ground or atmosphere to fit particular social or solitary settings (p.290). The main point this

article is trying to prove is that adults use music for multiple different purposes and value it at

different levels. This reveals the diversity needed in school music curricula to prepare their

students for the type of musical interaction they desire in their life.

Another article which discusses the divide between school music and music at home is

Boal-Palheiros and Hargreaves’, “Listening to Music at Home and at School” (2001). This

article is centered around a study conducted by Boal-Palheiros and Hargreaves in which

approximately 60 students between the ages of nine and fourteen were asked ten open-ended

questions about the role of music in their life and at school. They begin by defining the key

differences between school and home music as:

At home children usually decide why, how often, for how long, and when they listen.

They also choose where and with whom they listen and select their favourite musical

styles, performers, and pieces…At school, in contrast, children are presented with music

listening as a formal activity with pre-determined frequency, duration, objectives, and

content. They listen with classmates not chosen by themselves, and the syllabus defines

which musical styles and pieces are included (p.104).

Their study gathered results concluding that a majority of the students:

1. Participate in music in their free time.

2. Listen to music everyday.

3. Listen to music at home because they enjoy it and enjoy listening to music in general.

4. Believe music lessons are good to have and like the context of their lessons (p.108-111).
Transfer of Musicking to Adult Life 7

In this study, rather than students who disliked their school music material, a majority of these

students enjoyed their lessons and school music. However, the students felt their home music and

school music served different persons and shared little-to-no connections (p.116). Boal-Palheiros

and Hargreaves conclude their study by stating that “the stronger emphasis on the emotional and

social functions of music at home might therefore be one of the most important reasons for

disliking school music” (p.116).

In a similar realm, an article by Jones entitled “Lifewide as well as Lifelong: Broadening

Primary and Secondary School Music Education’s Service to Students’ Musical Needs” (2009)

discusses the faults behind only using the term “lifelong” to describe the type of musical

involvement that is being aimed for. The fault behind this is that “lifelong” suggests a linear or

longitudinal paradigm of learning and interacting. They define “lifewide” musicking in terms of

both horizontal and vertical integration which basically means taking into consideration both the

time of life and the other parts of life that are occurring simultaneously (p.204). They claim that

acknowledgement of students musical interests outside of school is rare. They also propose that

music outside of school “is where the knowledge, skills, habits, and disposition for musicking

are more likely developed and on which music teachers would do well to focus their attention”

(p.201). Much like the Carter response, Jones believes that “the more school music experiences

are similar to music experiences that are valued for adult life, the higher the probability of

transfer and the more successful the transition” (p.206). Jones also cites an article by Chiodo

(1997) concerning musicking in adult life. Chiodo offers, as a solution, that schools should

incorporate more small ensembles, challenging and diverse repertoire, and emphasize the

importance of small ensembles and chamber groups and not just large ensembles (Jones, 2009,

p.207).
Transfer of Musicking to Adult Life 8

Another suggestion as to why adults may feel their school music experience was either

ineffective or inapplicable can be seen in an article about a study done by Mantie called “A

Study of Community Band Participants: Implications for Music Education” (2012). In this study,

members from randomly selected adult ensembles in Canada were interviewed with open-ended

questions and asked about their previous music experience as well as their experience in their

ensemble (Mantie, 2012). Amongst their findings is the theme of classical music, most of the

members had classical music backgrounds (either from high school or beyond) and preferred

classical music over other genres. In addition, many of the participants noted that they enjoyed

the convenience of the ensemble (i.e. no auditions, no stress to be really good) but, in their

suggestions for improvement, many wrote about bettering the performance ability of the

ensemble (Mantie, 2012). One thing to note is that none of these ensemble were New Horizons

ensembles and that all of them included a variety of ages but, due to classical ensembles being

available in school, most members were above the age of 40 (Mantie, 2012). It’s interesting to

read this study because, unlike the others I looked at, it represents the population of musicking

adults who valued their classical school music training and utilize it in their life. However, this is

still just a small portion of the population and there are significant amounts of people who do not

favor the classical music training they received in school.

Shifting gears to the effects of informal learning of students, we look at three articles by

Green. In their article on the “natural” music learning processes of students (2005), they talk

about how popular music is on the verge of becoming more implemented in music classrooms

but the informal learning strategies utilized by them are not (Green, 2005). They did an

experiment with groups of students in various schools in London. This involved having the

students choose their own cooperative groups, their own song, and their own instruments. Their
Transfer of Musicking to Adult Life 9

only instruction was to copy or cover the song and that teachers would be around to help only if

absolutely necessary. In surveys of the students following the experiment, many reported

enjoying the project and feeling like they learned more than they expected. They enjoyed

collaborating with their peers and playing the instruments they wanted (Green, 2005).

Previously, I had spoken about foundational skills to continue musicking through adulthood. In

this study students reported that they were listening deeper to popular music outside of school.

For example, one student said:

Yeah, I listen more to the beat more than the lyrics…I think (inaudible) we were really

concentrating on the, like, rhythm and the beat of that song, and now, to me, like, in

songs, the rhythm and that stands out more than..words (Green, 2005).

In another article on the same experiment, Green observes more from the teachers’ viewpoints

(2008). The teachers reported being surprised specifically by the students who they had believed

to be “disaffected” by their class. These students wound up taking leadership roles in their

groups and performing significantly better on their instruments than the teachers had believed

possible (Green, 2008). In Green’s “How Popular Musicians Learn” (2001), she attributes the

learning process of popular musicians to a sort of “osmosis” rather than the disciplined study we

associate with classical music (p.99). Perhaps to connect with the musical skills of students such

as those deemed “disaffected,” we must move toward more aural modeling and individual goal

setting. In a school setting, however, this is much easier said than done.

Cayari performed a similar study with college freshmen at the University of Illinois in

which his only specifications were to make a music video and cover a song (2015). The videos

produced were extremely varied, from a euphonium duet, to an acapella group, to a piano/vocal

cover. This exhibits the array of paths students will take when given the opportunity to chose
Transfer of Musicking to Adult Life 10

what interests them (Cayari, 2015). Students in the study also collaborated with people outside

the University, made videos that supported a cause, and did a mashup of two unrelated genres of

music. Had the teacher told them what song or style the video had to exemplify, the results

would have been vastly different. The general attitude towards the project was that the students

were intimidated by it at first but once they started cooperating they began to enjoy themselves

and become enthusiastic about the assignment (Cayari, 2015).

A final article, by Hewitt, observes “The Effects of Modeling, Self-Evaluation, and Self-

Listening on Junior High Instrumentalists’ Music Performance and Practice Attitude” (2000).

The interesting thing about this study is that, regardless of the results in terms of the

effectiveness of the 3 stimuli in the title, students’ attitudes towards practicing improved overall.

This is due to the fact that the students were just excited to be doing something different then

their normal everyday music routine (p.319). This implies that teachers would do better to

include more alternative learning strategies and variance in their lessons so as to maintain the

interest of their students. This would also, in turn, help students connect more with the course

material which could lead to better understanding and higher valuing of the content being

presented to a point where they could be more likely to continue that music in adulthood.

Recommendations for Practice

After reading many articles pertaining to adulthood musicking and informal teaching, I

think the best way to implement change is through the methods utilized by the teacher. While

steering completely away from the traditional western style of music being taught in schools, I

think teachers could take more steps toward inclusion of other forms of musicking. For instance,

if administration allows for an educator to teach a class of their choosing (which is an ideal

situation), then that educator would do well to create an exploratory music class where students
Transfer of Musicking to Adult Life 11

discuss their favorite music, bring in examples of music that they find interesting or appealing,

experiment on different instruments, dive into some music technology if someone is interested,

discuss music and how it affects their life, and much more. This blanket sort of class might not

follow a typical curriculum but it cold be the key to unlocking your students’ musical needs and

wants. If your school administration won’t allow for you to create that class, try to make it an

after school program. Truthfully, this class would be vastly different between schools as one

school might be in a very technologically advanced community and one might be made up of

mostly a certain ethnicity that has ties to a traditional form of music. The main goal for this

course is to offer students new experiences and desired experiences in music that are centered

around their own interests and styles.

Recommendations for Further Research

I am curious to know the value of school music in countries other than European and

North American ones. One of the studies I read included students in Portuguese schools and it

was intriguing because the study noted that music was not typically offered in many secondary

schools there. In this case, most of musicking has no choice but to be done outside the classroom.

It didn’t go further into detail but I wonder if the general feeling of the importance of music was

higher there than in the UK simply because the people get to choose what music they listen to

and how they interact with it should they want to. I think the majority of this paper is narrowed

to just the countries which include music as an option in their primary and/or secondary schools

and it may be valuable to view a different system. Some countries only participate in music on

their own time and in their own manner and I wonder what their attitudes towards adulthood

musicking are.
Transfer of Musicking to Adult Life 12

References

Boal-Palheiros, G. M. & Hargreaves, D. J. (2001). Listening to Music at Home and at School.

British Journal of Music Education. Vol. 18(No.2). pp.103-118.

Batt-Rawden, K. (2005). Music and Informal Learning in Everyday Life. Music Education

Research. Vol. 7(No.3). pp.289-304.

Carter, W.L. (2015) Response to Judith A. Jellison’s “How Can All People Continue to Be

Involved in Meaningful Music Participation?”. Retrieved September 9, 2917, from

http://www.nafme.org/wp-content/files/2015/12/13-Response-to-Judith-Jellison-by-

Warrick-Carter.pdf

Cayari, C. (2015). Participatory Culture and Informal Music Learning Through Video Creation

in the Curriculum. International Journal of Community Music. Vol. 8 (No. 1) pp.41-57.

Green, L. (2002). How Popular Musicians Learn: A Way Ahead for Music Education. Vermont:

Ashgate Publishing Company.

Green, L. (2005). The Music Curriculum as Lived Experience: Children’s “Natural” Music

Learning Processes. Music Educators’ Journal. Vol. 94(No.4). pp.27-32.

Green, L. (2008). Group Cooperation, Inclusion and Disaffected Pupils: Some Responses to

Informal Learning in the Music Classroom. Music Education Research. Vol. 10 (No. 2)

pp.177-192.

Hewitt, M. P. (2000). The Effects of Self-Evaluation, Self-Listening, and Modeling on Junior

High Instrumentalists’ Music Performance and Practice Attitude. (Doctoral Dissertation).

Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. (UMI No. 9983901).
Transfer of Musicking to Adult Life 13

Jones, P. M. (2009). Lifewide as well as Lifelong: Broadening Primary and Secondary School

Music Education’s Service to Students’ Musical Needs. International Journal of

Community Music. Vol. 2(No.2&3). pp.201-214.

Mantie, R. (2012). A Study of Community Band Participants: Implications for Music Education.

Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education. (No. 191) pp.21-43.

You might also like