Children’s identity work in daily singing-based music classes: A case study of an Australian boys’ school

Abstract

Music can be a powerful activity and resource in a child’s ongoing identity construction. Rather than something that people have, musical identities are understood to be something people enact and continually work on. The correlation between musical identities and developing music skills raises serious questions regarding the possibilities and responsibilities for school music education and music teachers to positively contribute to children’s emerging identities. This study investigates how daily singing-based music classes at an Australian boys’ school shape and support children’s identity work. Research was conducted using one-on-one semistructured interviews incorporating a “draw and tell” artifact elicitation technique with seven students in Year 3. All students were engaged in their fourth year of Kodály-inspired music education as part of the school curriculum. Findings indicate that singing, singing games, playing the recorder, writing activities, musician models, and thinking musically positively contributed to boys’ identity work. These daily school music practices provided a resource for their identity work; fostered a high value for learning in, about, and through music; developed musical proficiency; ignited interest in learning musical instruments; and facilitated the entanglement of children’s musical worlds. Boys’ future identity work was supported by assisting the construction of musical possible selves and encouraging the continuation of music learning. This case study exemplifies music as a process and resource for children’s ongoing identity construction, the contributions of school music education to identity development, and the potential of singing-based music education to positively shape and support children’s musical identity work.

The experiential salience of music in identity for singing teachers

“…The theoretical concepts of identities in music and music in identities are helpful for unpacking the multifaceted ways in which music enacts a sense of self identity (MacDonald & Saarikallio, 2022). There is a dynamic relationship between identities in music and music in identities (Goopy, 2020(Goopy, , 2022(Goopy, , 2023MacDonald et al, 2002;MacDonald & Saarikallio, 2022). It is acknowledged that music in identity interacts with other components of the self-concept (Goopy, 2022;Hargreaves & Lamont, 2017) and aspects of our personality (MacDonald & Saarikallio, 2022).…”

“…There is a dynamic relationship between identities in music and music in identities (Goopy, 2020(Goopy, , 2022(Goopy, , 2023MacDonald et al, 2002;MacDonald & Saarikallio, 2022). It is acknowledged that music in identity interacts with other components of the self-concept (Goopy, 2022;Hargreaves & Lamont, 2017) and aspects of our personality (MacDonald & Saarikallio, 2022). This occurs across the lifespan, playing an important role in motivation and lifelong engagement with music (Spychiger, 2021).…”

“…This raises important questions regarding one of the stated goals of music education, that is, to promote positive musical identities (Elliot & Silverman, 2017;Hargreaves et al, 2018;MacDonald & Saarikallio, 2022). The ways in which these identities can be developed to encourage life-long engagement in music have been reported in the literature (e.g., Goopy, 2020Goopy, , 2022Krause et al, 2020;Lamont, 2011Lamont, , 2017Welch, 2017;Welch, Himonides, et al, 2010); recent research suggests that these identities do not always encourage beneficial engagement, however (e.g., Goopy, 2023). The findings of the present study suggest that identity risks and costs are associated with a high salience of music in identity.…”