Author: Melissa Mae MillsPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Children's choirs
Languages : en
Pages : 668
Book Description
"The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the effects of participation in a community children's choir on the identities of choir participants. Questions include: (1) How are participants' personal identities shaped by their participation, (2) How are participants' musical identities shaped by their participation, and (3) What role do participants' relationships with peers and the conductor play in shaping the participants' identities? Participants included six choir members, ages 12 to 14, who participated in two focus group interviews. Individual follow-up interviews were held with three of these choir members and their parents, one adult former children's choir member, and the choir's conductor. Data collection also consisted of 9 hours of rehearsal observations, a choir background questionnaire, and observation fieldnotes. Analysis involved coding of interview transcriptions and field notes, and identification of emerging themes. Member checks as well as a peer review of the data coding established trustworthiness of the analysis. Results are divided into three categories: personal identity, musical identity, and collective identity. Regarding personal identity, involvement in the children's choir enhances choristers' self-concept, self-esteem, and self-efficacy. Choristers hold fast to the ideals of the children's choir, a constant during a time of great change in their lives. Their self-concept is enhanced in the areas of commitment, self-discipline, social skills, respect, confidence, and leadership. In contrast to school, where they experience harsh peer judgment, children's choir is a safe place where the choristers feel unconditional peer acceptance. They are especially sensitive to being treated with fairness. Their self-efficacy increases as they master difficult repertoire and become proficient singers. Regarding musical identity development, choir participation enhances the choristers' musical self-concept and musical self-esteem. They attribute most of their improved musical abilities to choir participation. The choristers' frequent comparisions between children's choir and other ensembles helps them further differentiate their emerging self-concepts, although they may not fully comprehend choir's role in their musical development. Finally, the children's choir has a family-like collective identity that exerts a powerful influence on the participants. In this choir family, choir members and the conductor have specific roles to fulfill.