start of chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

 The fundamental factors in maintaining and constructing a musical identity. 

Every individual is born with the capacity to develop a musical identity to some degree. This isn’t necessarily in the ability to play, perform or become a professional musician, but also entails the ability to listen and play the role of audience member. It is this role of audience member that Frith (1996) believes that in listening to popular music we are listening to a performance, but further, that “listening” itself is a performance.1 Listening, as performance is a vital ingredient in the construction of musical identities as without an audience or listener, there can be no receiver making meaning of the performance, performer and text. Performance listening is an area that I am less interested in here, but will be discussed to some extent later.                  

          In some cases individual’s musical identities develop into learning and acquiring the skills to perform and play a musical instrument. Once this activity has been agreed within the individual, often teenagers or adolescences and usually implicitly, it signals the beginning of a very engaged and serious relationship with the self and music as a way of expressing identity. Macdonald et al (2002) extends this idea by suggesting that younger children have definite ideas about musical activity like ‘I play the piano’, whereas,

‘As we grow older, our concept of self in relation to music places less emphasis on physical characteristics and typical activities, and more on psychological characteristics (e.g thoughts, feelings, motives) as well as social, moral and political judgements: ‘I am an expressive performer’ ‘I think it is important to practise regularly’. (2002:80)

 I would suggest that it is at this stage where a musical identity is likely to take shape and develop, with the musical self in question pursuing their musical identity more extensively. After the commitment to this particular identity has been made, various other mediums and symbols are explored and used to affirm and reaffirm the self in relation to identity, and this is what i intend to discuss here. 

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1 Simon Frith (1996) performance rites – On the value of popular music. Harvard university press.

new structure

How is musical identity constructed and maintained?

Introduction- outlining my arguements and ideas. 

 1.Playing, performing, listening, writing are all fundemental in constructing and maintaining musical identity. these are the processes i embarked upon for this study. Outline and discuss in detail.

2. all actions above are what small would refer to as ‘Musicking’. Explore C. Small’s notion along with discussing  Geertz’s lived in order merging with the dreamed in order. offerown opinions.

3. Case Studies – give examples of contemporary musical identities. Pete Doherty, Bruce Springsteen. How do they construct and maintain their identity. explore and discuss referring to effect of celebrity status, identity in the public eye. How does this effect musical identity? identity becomes an image.

4. How do i construct my musical identity? using 1st hand research , lyric sheets, recordings, photos(?), videos(?)             (is this enough for his section Clive? what else would i need to touch on?)

5. How do i maintain my musical identity? continuing the processes above, what happens if this identity changes/ takes a different shape. discuss using postmodern notion’s, what would happen if this identity entered the mainstream, public eye as the case studies above. Music becomes a copy of a copy, loses its originality – boudrilliard.

6. Conclusion - compresensively evaluate study. What other studies could be researched?

beginning of S. Hall chapter for dissertation

Stuart Hall (1996) indicates that identification is constructed through the recognition of some common origin or shared characteristics with another person, group or ideal. Identification differs from identity and Hall asserts that the discursive approach to identification sees it as a construction of the self. An ongoing process never finished but always as Hall intelligibly puts it a process of ‘becoming not being’. (1996:64)

‘Language and culture… allows us to think of what we might become, how we have been represented and how that bears on how we might represent ourselves.’

So I constitute my identity through identification. In this sense identity is a product of discursive practises so it could be contended that we use discourse to construct our identities and negotiate the representations we offer to society. What is it about my identity as a musician that I find the most profitable way to integrate or get by successfully into society? D. Hargreaves (2002) says that music is a fundamental channel of communication and proposes that,

‘Music can be used increasingly as a means by which we formulate and express our individual identities. We use it not only to regulate our own everyday moods and behaviours, but also to present ourselves to others in the way we prefer.’

Hall continues with a strategic and positional concept of identity saying that identity is a process of articulation reliant on material and symbolic resources that are culturally available to the individual. He states that identification isn’t decided in that it can be won or lost, sustained or disregarded but that essentially it is conditional and fixed in contingency. He agrees that identity is a method of signifying and has the ability to operate across difference, mark symbolic boundaries and constitute what is left outside to develop this process.

This suggests to the author that Hall’s individual goes through the process of acquiring identity in what some sociologists would term a post -traditional world. He admits that this concept of identity doesn’t signal a stable, core or centred self. That it isn’t at one with a group of others that share the same historical time and place, but in fact is multiply assembled across different discourses, practises and positions which are often contended and divided. Here Hall further stiffens the notion of a post modern subject that can assume different identities at different times. He concludes that identities are constructed within discourses and that only by realising what the self’s identity isn’t or what it lacks can the meaning of identity be constructed successfully. So by recognising that I’m not a Doctor or School Teacher for example, but primarily a Musician then a Student, I can begin to explore the post modern approach of the self which is very relevant in developing an understanding of how and why I use the marker of Musician to score my identity.

      

Anthony Giddens – Modernity and self identity. Self and society in the late modern age. 1991, Polity Press.

Sociologist George H. Mead (1925, pg 23-34) says we rely on a significant other to weave ourselfs into society and construct our identities. We have the capacity to think from some other point of view and this is how we develop in society. In Giddens (1991) world of high modernity we are faced with a situation where humankind becomes a ‘we’ and so we are faced with a situation where there is no other. If this is the case, what other signs or markers can we use to distinguish ourselves and keep on building our identities? In this instance, writing songs. Composition and performance (on a stage for an audience) is a release from living in a fluid, de-centred world. Uncertainty about the future breeds anxiety which can be tamed through composition and performance therapy. Giddens says, ‘Therapy is not simply a means of coping with novel anxieties, but an expression of the reflexivity of the self.’ Pg 34

It could be argued that through the framework of ‘Musician/songwriter’ i become empowered, taking ownership of my identity through the symbols on offer in such a framework. I am reflexively aware that i have the ability to grow and shape my identity, finding song writing the most promising way to articulate this.

 Giddens (1991) agrees that entering therapy can generate empowerment. However, he adds that decisions on therapy are very similiar in nature to other lifestyle decisions made in the setting of modernity. He asks, what type of therapy should one persue? and for how long? I would argue here that in giddens modernal world , built up of abstract systems, if therapy is a lifestyle choice, then it could be said that so is identity. So Giddens is effectively asking what type of identity should one persue? and for how long? Giddens (1991) would also argue however that improvised composition is a result of living in a fractured and fragmented world and that my playing is manifested from the cultural resources availiable to me. Further more that these resources are only in place as a product of high modernity. He refers to high modernity as erratic and runaway in character. He says that modern expertise is reflexively highly mobilised and orientated towards improving or effecting the internal. So modernity is concerned with ideas of the individual and the said individual persuing inward improvement. In such chaotic and uncertain times, composition therapy gives me a sense of reason and purpose that has been erroded in a post traditional order. Although this framework is only on offer as a result of a ‘runaway world’ (pg 37) to successfully continue my biography in a world elusive of significant others, i turn inwards to composition therapy to keep my narrative going.

This ability to explore and organise the self reinforces Giddens post modern notion of individuals being mutli faceted, shifting agents. Or as Giddens eloquently puts it, ‘A reflexive project.’ 

Goffman (1959) in his article The presentation of self in everyday life, takes this idea of multiple identities further when he discusses the idea that as individuals we play different roles or characters as we perform in society to communicate our identities with others. He aserts that we wear masks to to carry this out,

‘This mask represents the conception we have formed of ourselves – the role we are striving to live up to – this mask is our truer self, the self we would like to be, in the end, our conception of our role becomes second nature and an integral part of our personality. We come into the world as individuals, achieve character and become persons.’                    In new york: the over look press (1959- 17 – 25)

Goffman believes that the wearing of such masks are a result of interaction between the self and Meads (1925) significant other. The mask wearing individual is doing so for the benefit of some other who is implicitly being asked to believe in the performance and the characteristics on offer.

Music and Adolescent identity, A. North and D. Hargreaves, 1999

North and Hargreaves (1999) conclude in their research that a persons musical preference does influence the extent to which adolescents percieve him/her positively, which in turn suggests that music is a badge used by adolescents when judging others. They also says that it is then very likely that adolescents use music as a badge to tell others about themselves. One of the earliest sociologists Mead (1925) in The genesis of self and social control. International journal of ethics, reaffirms  this by saying,

‘We are in possession of selves insofar as we can do and take the attitudes of others towards ourselves and respond to those attitudes.’ (1925, Vol 35, Pg 251-73)

 North et al use the self to prototype matching hypothesis as a way of exploring musical preferences and self concepts in forming adolescent identities. They believe that many lifestyle choices are associated with a popular image of the prototypical person who selects them. The hypothesis is based on the notion that individuals are motivated to reinforce their existing self image. They predict that this happens in music when an adolescents preferences are guided by a self to prototype matching strategy. Meaning that the adolescent should prefer the musical style whos prototypical fans match that of his/her own concept.

So we create ideal images which we aspire to and use as reference points in building and confirming our identities. Music acts as a badge or label which we use to seek approval and affiliation within social groups. So from a sociological point of view, identity here is interactive and relies on the exchange of information with a significant other. For one to construct oneself the cultural resource of music/song is used. Weedon (2004:7) takes this further by saying that as individuals installed into specific discourses, we repeatedly perform modes of subjectivity and identity until they are experienced as though second nature. So for oneself who wears the badge of ‘musician/ songwriter’ it is in the interest of this ‘ideal’ identity to keep the badge pinned on and keep performing until inbuilt and as Weedon says part of the lived subjectivity.

Small, Christopher (1999) ‘Musicking – The meanings of performing and listening. A lecture’ Music education research, 1:1, 9-22

Small discusses music as a piece of work and the effect of this work on an individual listener. He says that it is uncommon to talk about the role of the performer or composer when analysing the meaning of music and that the peformer is simply the medium for which the work must pass to reach its goal. The more transparent the medium the better. He asserts that this is strange as without the performer there is no music for the listener, so the most fundemental question is why would anyone want to perform music? Performance doesnt take place to present the musical work, instead the musical work exists to give the performer something to perform.

Small continues that music involves actions. To listen, to perform so he concludes that music should be a verb, to music is to take part. So, any person involved in effecting the nature of a musical performance is musicking. In Smalls use of the word he isnt concerned with value judgments of what music is or is not. This distorts its meaning and weakens its use as an investigative tool. Musical performance involves encounters between human beings and as is the case with all these encounters, they take place within a social and physical space. This space makes it own meaning which has to be considered when asking what meanings are being created in the performance.  So small asks the useful question of, ‘what does it mean when this performance takes place at this time, in this place, with these people taking part?’ I think this process is what Small would refer to as musicking.

Small discusses the act of musicking, as bringing into existince for those present at the event (performance), an important set of relationships. Musicking allows us to experience the actual structure of our conceptual universe. To sum up Small believes that through musicking, we bring into existence relationships which model those as we think they should be and ought to be. Its important here to state that this process of giving and recieving information is a natural process which links together all living creatures and is not some supernatural exploration. The reciever creates the context in which the message has meaning, and without that context there can be no communication, and no meaning.

It seems to me that this meaning is created through the language of gesture, or at least that is the point Small is trying to make. So small continues that it is these innumerable gestures which are eloborated and interpreted everyday into what we call ritual. Smalls definition of a ritual is,

‘organized behavious in which humans use the language of gesture to affirm, explore and celebrate their ideas of how the relationships of the cosmos operate, and thus how they themselves should relate to it and to one another. in the concentrated and heightened time of ritual, relationships are brought into existence between the participants, which model ideal relationships as the participants imagine them to be.’

He reinforces his point by reffering to C. Geertz (1973), who reiterates, ‘the lived in order emerges with the dreamed in order.’

Small’s article discusses other interesting aspects of what it means to musick and how musicking allows us to form ideal sets of relationships but i think he gets his point across most effectively when he says we are able to comprehend the complexity of relationships effortlessly through musicking.

‘In musicking, in taking part in any capacity in a musical performance, we are articulating (which is to say , we are exploring, affirming and celebrating) human relationships in  a way for which words are not only inadequate but also unneccessary.’

You think you know me (my mirror)

always wanted a song title with brackets in, makes the song appear more epic! Finished the lyrics for this song today. Started them last night at work and did a bit more when i got in. Theres a guitar part for the whole thing and hopefully be recording it at the weekend but just thought i’d share the words …

Feel it coming then it goes away, always seem to lose my way.

Never know never really can decide, what to show or what to hide

But i know when the curtain comes down im backstage

i’ll be learning more lines and penning them upon my page.

Playing my part got the starring role, all these scenes sure take their toll.

Bursting at the seams trying to break this seel, cus all this heat is burning my heels

but i know before the curtain comes down on my show.

i’ll be taking my time not waiting for the exit sign glow.

So i cover my eyes when i look in the mirror, knowing just what i’ll see and its so familiar

Its just a disguise and its in my hands to do what i can and make me a man

Its just a disguise but its so familiar, theres more to see beneath my mirror.

The think aloud method: the practical guide to modelling cognitive process. someren et al, 1994. Published by academic press, London.

Someren uses the example of an architect to offer an introduction into using cognitive thought process as a research method. To understand the design process of architects, he believes the most obvious thing to do would be to ask them how they design something. They are likely to explain this in terms of formal design methods which they acquired through professional training when in actually fact the real or final design will deviates from this immensely. They are also likely to build their explanation from memory which results in it being incomplete and incorrect. Someren says that a more direct process is needed in the ongoing thought processes during working on a design. information on how they arrive at the final product, what obstacles they come across and what they find easy can all be monitored effectively using the think aloud protocol. Recording what the participant is saying whilst they embark on the design process is a good method of human problem solving.

This protocol can most definately be related to my project. Trying to solve/ explore how my identity is created through logging the process of composing songs is something which i have thought about and discussed in my proposal. When writing songs i often sit with a guitar and a dictaphone to record the outcomes. it is very easy to quickly become unaware the session is being recorded and i can get lost in jam just singing and playing for a short time. Eventually i often have the basis for a song by the end of the tape. I then play the tape back, listening for guitar parts and melodies which i think maybe useful or effective for constructing the song. This indirectly allows me to understand my creative thought processes when writing songs.  Someren says that many architects believe that their reasoning process is an unstructured flow of idea that at some point emerges into a design. He carried out a study where he set architects the task of building a structure and thinking aloud whilst they did it. He uses verbatim protocol to begin analysing his findings. In my case i dont think the process i could use would be a verbal protocol but would be better labelled as a music or song making protocol.

someren states that there is an underlying structure in the thought process. Cycles of analysing the current problem, proposing a solution, implementing a solution, and evaluating the solution were clearly present in the protocols. So through recording music making sessions i am logging the process which becomes data that i am able to analyse. So as i use the framwork of musician using songs as symbolic of myself/ identity, i can also use the framework of songs to see how my thought process plays apart in constructing my identity.

Macdonald (2002) says our self perceptions develop through a perspective- taking process and that language provides labels that enable the self to distinguish between itself and other people and things. North and Hargreaves (1999) in Music and Adolescent identity, reaffirm this in a musical context by saying that a persons musical preference does influence the extent to which adoloscents percieve him/ her positively, which in turn suggests that music is a badge used by adolescents when judging others. They continue that it is then very likely that adolescents use music as a badge to tell others about themselves. North and Hargreaves (1999) refer to this as the self- to- prototype matching hypothesis and use it as a way of exploring musical preferences and self concepts in forming adolescent identities.

So people wear badges and labels to construct an identity and better position themselves in the world and the people around them.  People (or more to the point identities) are by their very nature polysemic so it could be said that they wear mulitple badges/ labels. Through logging my music making protocol, and analysing the data, or even just by being more conscious of the process, i can begin to become more aware of the labels i make and attach to myself.

songs and identity as story

Sarup in identity, culture and the postmodern world says, ‘we are who we are in specific places and specific times.’ Songs create images through lyrics and their musical accompanyment giving the listener and the performer a sense of escapism.  reffering to Bruner (2007) songs can act as a turning point in people lives/ autobiographies which represent a way they can free themselves from their histories and banal destinies. So songs allow the listener/ performer to transcend themselves to a different time or place.  Does this not create an awareness of an identity which isnt attainable? Connell(2007) in soundtracks: Popular music, identity and place says,

‘the classic rock lyric is supposed to describe fast cars, lost, found, elusive romantic love (perhaps with california girls) and drug induced highs, all of which transport listeners from hundrum suburbian and industrial worlds into worlds of excitement, recreation and pleasure.’

so songs allow us into an exciting, better world for a space of time. They also tease out ideas and ways of life which our selves recognise as unattainable, one which we can only experience through songs. On the other hand it creates a recognition of where we want to be and where we’re potentially going, depending on how we monitor ourselves. Ultimately they allow us to continue our stories and autobiographies.

Coincidentally after Connell’s comment above (or maybe not!) a lyric in one of my own composition is, ‘another night, nothing going on, nothing for ya, lets rip this joint just me and you, take a trip to california.’ 

So thinking about Sarup again, ‘the intepreter is no longer outside the act of interpretation: the subject is now part of the object.’…

When writing this song, the rhythm of the singing and guitar seemed to fit well. i had a melody in my head and began to write the words. At first they didnt seem to hold any implicit, sub conscious meaning to myself. Having thought about Sarups idea that as a looker i have the ability to not only look at some other but myself as some other, i thought harder about what these lyrics might uncover about my identity. They are creating an image of repitition and the mundane. leaving this place where ever it may be and for any other who is there, for an exotic foreign land. the sun always shines in california, or so i’m told, and maybe if i escape to this ’better’ place, (not necessarily California, almost anywhere but here) i will be happy and content. 

My songs tell others a story of who i am, but as Holland (1998) says, more importantly they tell myself who i am and in turn i then perform as this character i have created. Through trying to understanding what my songs mean from an other point of view, whether that be my other point of view or some other point of view, i hope to have a better understanding of my identity and how i manage my autobiography through the framework of musician and the symbolic interaction of songs.

Meads sybolic interactionism.

He says that we ‘take on’ aspects, ideas and views from others and in doing so we construct a sense of our own selves. So ideas in song lyrics, the beat or rythm allow one self to create parts of their identity.

through writing songs i feel as though i give the audience an insight into i. i open up showing my wants, needs and attitudes. i think that maybe know one else can ever really know the i except one self. So as much as i try to display my unsocialised self it will always be recieved as me.  on the other hand, because as people we have the capacity to think outside our selves and become subjective, my songs do reach an audience successfully and communciate with them in the way the i intended.