Examining data...and probably reaching a state of perplexedness at some lame-o sentence I wrote 2 years ago...
I’ve decided to include a relatively small blurb on the research I am undertaking for my PhD. My blog, as many of you know, began as a purely fun endeavor, a way to talk (and perhaps dialog with people) about things in life about which I am passionate…namely, music, food, & wine, with the occasional nature or holiday-inspired essay.
Now I’ve decided to include some information regarding my dissertation research, perhaps mostly for people close to me who aren’t 100% sure of what I’m doing exactly. Totally understandable, no doubt. I wake up each day with the assumption that most people’s eyes will glaze over the second I start talking about said research.
But I am also doing this for the cellists who agreed to be part of this study and were so generous with their time and were so articulate in discussing their experiences with music, school, and improvising.
Please be aware: the following is a synopsis and only begins to touch on the purposes behind my research. It is actually very helpful to me to be able to summarize this without a tremendous amount of explanation.
My research deals with issues of ideology, hegemony, resistance, and identity construction in the experiences of classically trained cellist-improvisers. Through interviews with five cellists, I investigate how identity construction is related to performativity (that is, actually performing music, though ‘performativity’ refers to much more than just that) and also to established institutional hegemonies, namely the hegemony of classical music indoctrinated in conservatory training.
To clarify: Certain groups constitute counter-hegemonies,meaning that they resist the established paradigms (“norms”) inherent in the ideology. (I keep thinking of the Sex Pistols, so those who know them…well, keep that in mind). Through this “resistance,” their identities evolve and subsequently new paradigms evolve, and the established systems (i.e. music conservatories in this case) are challenged. By examining the existing ideologies–and also by understanding how and why certain groups choose to challenge certain hegemonies within the ideologies–we can move forward and transform reality through critical ways of being (thinking, reading, listening, performing, acting). If we can understand our individual realities as directly relating to the intricacies of our history, background, education, etc., we can see ourselves in the broader scope of society. Through this understanding, change can occur on personal and institutional levels.
Moral of the story: roll with the times…and if you don’t, someone or something is going to push you out of the way, rendering you obsolete. …I could quote Bob Dylan here, but I’ll refrain…okay, okay, it’s just too perfect:
The line it is drawn, the curse it is cast
The slow one now will later be fast
As the present now will later be past
The order is rapidly fadin’
And the first one now will later be last
For the times they are a-changin’
So I would like to thank the cellists who are involved in this project. My research wouldn’t be what it is without the experiences of these musicians:
1. Stephanie Winters
2. Will Martina
3. Tomas Ulrich
4. Jody Redhage
5. Daniel Levin
(I will do another blog post, if they’re in favor of my including them, that will give more information on them as individuals, their work, etc.).
Butler's Gender Trouble - key source for exploring issues of identity construction
Gramsci, Freire, & Adult Education: Possibilities for Transformative Action
Paulo Freire...please don't be worried that this has the word "oppressed" in the title...I realize the text is backwards thanks to my computer's 'photo booth.' The book is called Pedagogy of the Oppressed
Afterthought: All my life I have been fascinated by institutions and people who went against the grain (pardon the cliche). Kids who talked back to teachers, the “alternative” crowd at Reynolds High School in Asheville, NC, of which my sister was a part (and I would have been a part had I not gone through that rebellion rather early on), the punk movement, any music that sounded innovative to my ears, sex stores geared towards women’s freedom & education, you name it. I tend to be attracted to most things considered to be “on the fringes”…with the exception of the hipster “movement”…wait, is it even a movement? I mean, come on. And sadly, the impression I get is that hipsters love to think they’re “on the fringes,” but they’re just fooling themselves. And maybe I’m fooling myself, but I’ve always felt like an outsider. And as I get a little older, I realize how much I appreciate that about myself. And even more importantly than that, how much I appreciate that in other people. And now I’m lucky enough to be writing about people who are literally changing the course of history.
