Music enables the holistic development and discovery of self: A phenomenological study of two Christian musicians

Phenomenological research and sampling

Phenomenology is a philosophical viewpoint that individual behaviour is determined by the experience gained out of one’s direct interaction with a phenomenon (Husserl, 1925/1977). Phenomenological research concerns how people make sense of their experiences (Kirkham, Smith, & Havsteen-Franklin, 2015; Smith, 2008). This study utilises hermeneutical phenomenology where the researcher interprets what the participant communicates about their worlds, with a pseudo-third-person as audience (Johnson & Christensen, 2004). This is termed triple hermeneutics (Smith, Flowers, & Larkins, 2009). Phenomenological research employs idiographic single case studies (Tellis, 1997) and usually involves small numbers of participants to enable in-depth exploration of personal stories. The purposive sample is carefully situated, seeking participants who experience the same phenomenon. The two participant musicians in this project satisfied the following sample criteria: “You are a bi/multilingual Chinese musician who is proficient in playing one instrument including voice. You are either studying music or engaging in musical activities regularly as a professional or amateur musician and/or music educator.” These two participants share similar familial backgrounds where they both experienced permissive parenting style as they grew up, which is rare among traditional Chinese families. Common themes emerged from both journeys; they are grouped together for discussion.

A longitudinal study: Data collection and analysis

With ethical approval, the two musicians (female tertiary student, male early-career professional) were interviewed independently over three years. This longitudinal approach to research is beneficial especially when the study focus is on transitional changes. Amanda was interviewed twice; each time for more than one hour with numerous subsequent emails. Simon only sat for one interview, but there were regular but informal chats across the timeframe because the researcher attends the same local church and sees Simon weekly. Member checks confirmed the accuracy of the transcriptions facilitating the co-construction of knowledge. The interviews sought details of the participants’ music learning, including success and failure, and their transitional experiences as developing professionals. The interview schedule included questions about the sociocultural, educational and occupational backgrounds of the participants’ extended families; the parenting beliefs, styles and practices they experienced at home; their learning attitudes at university; and memorable incidents.

Data were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA; Smith, 2008; Smith & Osborn, 2014). In-depth conversational interviews are the most appropriate method for data collection using IPA (Eatough & Smith, 2006). Data were analysed through the hermeneutic cycle of inductive reasoning: to understand the whole, I must look to the parts and vice versa. Epoché (bracketing) is crucial to the trustworthiness of the analysis. Since I share a similar upbringing as my participants, I kept a researcher journal to monitor my thoughts. I am aware of potential assumptions and remove prejudice that might lead to biased interpretation. Reflexivity is the essence of IPA because the investigator is trying to make sense of the participants trying to make sense of their lived experiences. IPA is thorough and systematic, and involves prolonged engagement with the data and external audits (other researchers) as part of the validation strategies (Creswell, 2013). The analysis included the initial noting of key words from the transcript, finding emergent themes from each narrative, and finally identifying the overarching themes across the two participants; these themes are reported with verbatim quotations from participants’ narratives (Smith, Flowers, & Larkin, 2012; Tzanidaki & Reynolds, 2011).

Research questions and participants’ sociocultural worlds

From birth, both Amanda and Simon (pseudonyms) were immersed in music, Chinese traditional values and Christian beliefs in their immediate environments. If human experience is social, situated, and informed by culture, then it is valid to investigate how the participants’ cultural context has influenced their identity constructions. The two research questions are: (1) How did music enable the holistic development and self-discovery of the participants? and (2) To what extent were their music engagements influenced by their interactions with their sociocultural environments? Confucian ESM and Maslow’s HHN offer conceptualising scaffolds to illuminate identity formation. The four aims of music education are projected onto these models to elaborate how music learning facilitates personal development.

Amanda and Simon attend different institutions for their music studies. They also have different roles as church musicians at two ethnic Chinese churches. Amanda, a tertiary music and education student, is currently in her mid-20s. Amanda majored in classical voice with piano as second instrument, and trained to become a secondary school music teacher. In the first interview, she was in her second year of studies. Amanda had a second interview during her third year, when she had started working as a freelance vocalist, and a choral director with a children’s choir. At the end of her fourth year, Amanda and I had a short talk after I attended her graduation musical where she sang a lead role. She was looking forward to beginning a new chapter of her life.

Currently, Simon is in his early 30s. At the time of the interview in 2013, Simon retired from being a performing violinist, and later detoured from studying, worked in Sports Management and became a theological college student. He began working part-time two years ago as a youth pastor while completing his Master of Divinity. Simon married in late 2015. He commenced full-time employment as a minister in 2016. Simon’s principal instrument is violin but he sings, plays the piano, drums and guitar competently. Both participants have ancestors originating from China. Amanda and Simon are second- and third-generation migrants, respectively. They both speak Cantonese at home with their extended families. Amanda and Simon remain closely linked to the culture and people of their motherland. Both participants were born into middle-class families with at least one parent being a professional, and only have one sibling each.

The roles of male and female in these families appear stereotypical of the Chinese. The four grandmothers of both participants were not educated and were happy to be homemakers, although they endured considerable hardship managing huge households. Coincidentally the mothers of both participants were taught by the grandmothers that after marriage a woman should become a homemaker. Simon’s mother became a trained nurse, and Amanda’s mother had an office job before marriage. After that both mothers followed their own mothers’ footsteps remaining home as housewives although Simon’s mother briefly worked part-time as a nurse. All the significant women surrounding both participants adhere to the traditional Chinese value of sacrificing a career for the sake of their husbands and children (Chao, 1994; Wang, 2009). Males financially supported the family. As in most Chinese families, the tie between members of these extended families is very close. All believe in the Chinese concept of “filial piety”, which is submitting to and respecting senior members of the family; they practise it for the sake of survival.

Both participants were born in Australia with a culture which advocates individualism instead of collectivism (putting the needs of others first, which is common in Chinese culture; Kim, 1994), but they both practise “filial piety” at home. Simon visited his grandmother weekly to help with chores. Amanda treated her older sister (6 years senior) as a “role model”, “anchor helper” and “kin co-parent” (Li, Holloway, Bempechat, & Loh, 2008). She began learning the piano because she was “inspired by her playing” and ended up emulating her sister by studying music at university. Apart from being lectured about Confucian teachings, both participants might have learned “filial piety” from witnessing how their parents interacted with their extended families. Simon and Amanda were also socialised into a world filled with music and Christian values. Early on, the parents of both participants practised “scaffolding”, where they spent considerable time accompanying Amanda and Simon to church and music lessons. They provided a musical environment and nurtured their children with the love of music. From adolescence, they trusted their children to manage their own learning.

Scaffolding of learning at early years, permissive parenting from adolescence

The parents of both participants were married in Christian churches. Amanda and Simon attended church since birth. Amanda’s earliest remembered music experience began at three years old:

My formal lessons began with piano, but I started singing early. I go to a Baptist church and I sang in the children’s choir. I like singing and I started doing the hand bells before piano.

Amanda reported that her mother monitored her practice and encouraged her to carry on when she experienced learning difficulties:

I didn’t think I liked piano as much as I started singing lessons at Year Eight. Grade 5/6 piano was a lot harder than singing. I enjoyed singing more, so I wanted to quit piano. But mum said, “you were doing Grade 6 already … just do two more grades?” So I continued to eighth grade … great sufferings, but I liked it more later on.

Amanda’s mother did not threaten to take away singing lessons if Amanda did not follow her recommendations. The mother pleaded with Amanda and practised permissive parenting that involved no corporal punishment. Amanda was free to make the final decision.

Simon’s musical journey began when his father gave him his first violin lesson:

My dad always loved the violin. When I was five, he taught me a piece; then we went to Suzuki. My mum bought me a small size violin from Hong Kong. She would take me to and sat in to support my lessons. Early on, they were more hands-on and told me to practise.

That Simon’s mother bought a violin suggests that she might have planned for her son to begin lessons. This act is consistent with Chinese cultural practice that the parents strategically plan their children’s education. Simon’s parents practised a fairly permissive parenting style:

If I didn’t practise, up to six months, I still got “A+” for exams. My parents never say, “you are grounded or anything.” At Year Nine, I practised on my own. They were very different from the culture we [Chinese people] live in. I am lucky to have parents like them. They approved of what I do, believed in me. They gave me freedom and knew that I was good at music, so I followed my dream. There was nothing like, “you can’t do this kind of thing” from them.

Simon’s parents allowed him to manage his own learning because Simon received a music scholarship to a privileged private college at 15. Simon’s parents adopted a liberal approach to parenting, which is a fusion of Christian faith, Confucian values and Western culture influenced perhaps by the field of psychology (Simon’s mother was trained in nursing and counselling). Simon realised that his parents are different from traditional Chinese families in which most parents exercise authoritarian and/or authoritative parenting (Chao, 1994; Chen, Dong, & Zhou, 1997; Eng, 2015).

While Simon’s parents could tolerate poor practice habits in Simon’s music learning, they could not ignore poor social behaviours in Simon. With most of their adult lives immersed in Western Christian culture as migrants, they disciplined Simon with mild physical punishments when his behaviour became harmful to others (“Spare the rod, spoil the child”, Proverbs 13:24; Barker, Stek, Youngblood, & Strauss, 2011). Simon recalled, “I did get some beatings, but it wasn’t for violin. I guess swearing, running around annoying everyone. I was a very active kid, I had no emotional scars.”

Five stages of transition in music learning and identity formation

Identity development includes processes that occur over time; students need to re-identify with their learning at each point of educational transition (Bennett, 2010). Five stages of transition for developing musicians have been identified by numerous researchers (Creech & Hallam, 2009; Creech et al., 2008; Ericsson, 1996; Ericsson & Charness, 1994; Ericsson, Krampe, & Tesch-Romer, 1993). Simon and Amanda’s learning experiences are captured in Table 1.

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Table 1.

Matching participants’ lived experiences with the five stages of transition.

Five stages of transition	Amanda	Simon
1. Spontaneous musical experience and playful exploration (from 3 years old)	Had fun in the children’s choir singing, playing handbells, observing older sister playing piano	Explored sound and movement by running around annoying people, had first violin lesson taught by dad
2. Guided instruction in optimal training conditions (from 5 years old)	Began piano lessons with parental scaffolding and sitting in on lessons	Began violin learning at Suzuki with mum sitting in on lessons
3. Goal-orientated commitment (6–13 years old)	Parents monitored practice→performance confidence, had role model sister at home to emulate	Parents monitored practice→performance confidence, began performing at orchestras, received a music scholarship
4. Musical midlife crisis for developing musicians (13–23 years old); acquire or disown musical interest: self-regulation	Had midlife crisis with piano learning (age 14) while learning singing but overcame it. Self-regulation was evident	Self-regulation was prominent, already performing as a soloist in his early 20s
5. State of expertise and eminent performance (from 23 years old)	Performed in different venues widely, had a website promoting her own performances	Was a first violinist in two prestigious orchestras touring locally and internationally

In the first stage, both participants had fun exploring sounds. In the second and third stages, both parents provided support inside and outside the home. Simon had become a soloist performer while Amanda experienced learning difficulties in the fourth stage; so her performing career began later than Simon.

Self-discovery: Performer, teacher or something else

Brought up by permissive parents, Simon grew to become a confident, free-spirited and adventurous risk-taker. Simon was regarded as one of Australia’s brightest violinists at graduation. Unfortunately, due to an injury to his left shoulder, Simon would have never recovered completely if he had continued to perform. He later remembered that he was interested in sports since childhood:

Music is in my blood, but I am an optimist, a risk-taker. I started teaching [violin] at my old college while I began my Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in sports management. In music, there is the intensity and a lot of uncertainty. I want direction and stability when I become more mature.

Simon decided to move into sports management based on understanding his personality and limitations. This was consistent with the Confucian saying: “When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached; don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps” (Kong-Zi, 2010). After graduation and working at Tennis Australia for two years, Simon recognised that his faith was significant, which caused another career change:

I was in a Hill Song Convention … quite a spiritual experience, the music spoke to me. I was challenged to study at Bible College, furthering my knowledge and applying my faith. I was involved in church music at 12, but deadlines, performances motivate me. I enjoy performing … love applause. But my perspectives have changed, using my knowledge and skills not for personal glory bring me satisfaction.

Simon was on the road to “self-actualisation” in which his interests focused on morality, creativity and problem solving. Simon had an “altruistic motivation” (Rockinson-Szapkiw, Spaulding, Swezey, & Wicks, 2014), which selflessly aims at bringing hope and peace to people through his vocation as a church minister.

Having established his identities in music as a professional performer-teacher, Simon used music as a resource for developing his role as a church minister:

For many people, they never reached the spotlight as a performing artist. For those who have done it, it is really not such a big deal; I am ready to give it up. Church ministers can perform too, perhaps not at centre stage. I play piano and violin with the worship team at chapel services. I never abandon music, I am using it differently now.

Pintrich (2000a) used the journey metaphor to emphasise the process of varying one’s focus from one type of goal orientation to another in accordance with situational demands. Simon’s journey involves a range of variables such as perceptions of his talent in music, so his initial goal was performing. Simon evolved from performing to his second goal of sports management due to his injury and the recognition of his personality characteristics. Later, Simon decided to apply his faith to life and adapt to new challenges. He used music functionally to cultivate morality, to promote spirituality and unity in worship services. Simon’s story is best framed within Maslow’s (1968) understanding of music and the formation of a unique self-identity: Maslow claimed that “his music, the music education and musical experiences had been his personal psychoanalysis: discovering his own identity, his own self.”

Amanda’s musical journey was different from Simon’s. In Amanda’s understanding, her parents have a traditional view about the role of the female within a society, the function of music and the career prospects of a musician:

My dad said, “if your sister was a boy, I would not allow him to do music”. My parents believe that girls have easier lives and think teaching is not a bad job. They thought we can always teach music … or we can find a husband! But mum is worried that we might not find husbands.

The beliefs held by Amanda’s parents are not uncommon among Chinese. They rely on the possibility that their daughters would find husbands to feed them; therefore, girls do not need to work hard to satisfy their basic needs. Amanda recalled:

I asked my parents, “What kind of jobs do you see me doing?” My dad said “teaching”; he said that during these two years [of my music studies] that I really like teaching. They don’t expect us to do medicine or law.

The parents’ low expectation of Amanda, coupled with a gender bias – “girls have easier lives than boys”, did affect her adversely. Amanda reported that she had a problem motivating herself to learn at university:

The most important thing I need is motivation. In university, you are independent. You kind of pick music like a hobby … but really need to force yourself to do it for academic [reasons]. Teachers are less inspiring. My teacher is old and very strict. They kind of expect you to come prepared. It was easier at high school.

Amanda experienced learning difficulties because the tertiary workload required her total commitment, which contradicted her assertion that “music is only a hobby”. Amanda attributed her difficulty to her teacher who failed to push her, unlike her private piano teacher, or the school music teachers who perhaps had been more supportive of her learning. When Amanda reached second year, she had adapted to university life. Amanda explained:

In first year, we tried to compare with others all the time. I am more relaxed in second year. When I was young, I teach my toys and I boss people around. Thinking back, I always like teaching, I am good at teaching Sunday school now.

In the first interview, Amanda reported having an issue with motivation. As she gradually came to greater self-knowledge about her interest in teaching, her motivation to achieve improved. Wolters (2003) defined meta-motivation as self-regulation of motivation with a conscious agenda of maintaining or enhancing motivation in order to complete a task or similar future tasks, and identifies strategies employed in this self-management, such as self-consequating, goal-oriented self-talk, and interest enhancement. By acknowledging that she has a gift in music and teaching, Amanda desired to use her talent in Gospel singing. Amanda explained:

With classical voice, I don’t see myself dressing up and doing opera! I am a Christian and want to use my voice to influence others and do it for God. I have been involved in the church worship team since my baptism and the music means a lot to me spiritually. I dream to be a Gospel singer.

In the second interview, when Amanda was in third-year, she reported that she was able to work effectively with the same vocal teacher and overcame her motivational difficulties:

I manage my own learning and want to make this hobby into a career. I have started teaching, work as a teacher’s assistant at a school to take the choir session. I do wedding singing, auto-promote my clips onto YouTube and link them back to my website. I want to do 4th year Honours in Music and finish my Education course later. I have to have good vocal results and be auditioned for it.

Amanda finally emerged as an active learner who took a mastery goal approach to learning, which focused on understanding the task and engaging in it; she regulated the process to ensure success (C. Ames, 1992; Pintrich, 2000b). Confucius asserted that, “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” (Kong-Zi, 2010). Not only had Amanda taken that first step to manage her future financial independence; she also wanted to refine her artistry. Abandoning a passive learning mode, Amanda had matured to have greater self-knowledge. Using Confucian ESM and Maslow’s HHN to interpret her story, she focused on the aspects of “self-perfection” and “self-actualisation” by utilising all her potentials to establish an identity in music, performing-teaching.

Table 2 shows how the ESM and HHN model and the four music education aims offer conceptual understanding to the holistic development of the two participants.

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Table 2.

Milestones achieved with references to ESM & HHN, and music education aims.

	Amanda	Simon
2013	ESM growth of self: 2nd year of study, treated music as a hobby; developing a self-concept about who she was and might become. HHN: experienced motivation/learning difficulty with vocal teacher; safety needs were prominent in establishing career through studies. Music education aim: had a spiritual experience in worship team after baptism; focused on musical and intrapersonal skill development to become a vocalist-teacher and a Gospel singer.	ESM growth of self: had a career/musical identity shift from performing/sports management, began studying a Master of Divinity at a theological college after having a spiritual encounter through music in a Hill Song convention → self-concept altered. HHN: followed an altruistic goal for social identity change as in self-actualisation, the focus was on others, not on self. Music education aim: developed intrapersonal skills through music, discovered one’s calling, took risk and followed the call.
2014	ESM growth of self, self in relation to society: was in 3rd year of study, established professional and artistic identity in music, taught a children’s choir, created a website to upload own performances on YouTube. HHN: physiological, safety and psychological needs satisfied, felt comfortable treating music as a career pathway, not a hobby. Music education aim: focused on intrapersonal and interpersonal skill development, self-knowledge increased and could work effectively with the same teacher.	ESM self in relation to society and family: began working part-time as a youth pastor, took on a role as worship team musician at college/work, had a steady girlfriend. HHN: all needs on the 5 hierarchies including physiological, psychological, safety, love/family and moral needs satisfied. Music education aim: acquired interpersonal skills to serve people at college/church as a pastor apprentice.
2015	ESM self in relation to society: was in 4th year of study, performing and teaching increased, had a lead role in her graduation musical production, completed teaching practice. HHN: physiological, psychological and safety needs satisfied, qualified as a secondary music teacher, social and musical identity established, self-concept consolidated. Music education aim: acquired musical skills, intrapersonal and interpersonal skills through music engagement.	ESM self in relation to family, society and world peace: Got married, completed studies, qualified and accepted a full-time job as a church minister beginning in 2016, new social identity consolidated. HHN: self-actualised, all needs fulfilled, continued to use music functionally to serve others and played as an amateur. Music education aim: as a societal moral role model, advocated for world peace, inclusion and justice; promoted spiritual well-being among the community he served.

The participants’ transitional changes in terms of self-concept, social identity and musical identity over three years are summarised thus: Amanda matured from viewing music as a hobby to a career while gradually overcoming all learning hurdles, and acquiring skills to become a professional. Simon went through spiritual metamorphosis to become a minister where his goal was to serve his faith community instead of focusing on being a soloist/ensemble performer.

Implications, limitations and future research direction

This study considered the interaction of various value systems – the fusion of Confucianism, Christian and psychological cultures in the musical development and identity formation of two musicians. It complements existing approaches to understanding the social contexts influencing the acquisition of musical skills and musicians’ dispositions. The current findings can advocate for music education because the spiritual aspects of musical experiences were perceived as a mirror/enabler in fostering the holistic development of both participants. This study adds insight to the sparsity of research literature in music psychology that uses gender, family structures, spirituality and ethnic origins as variables. The findings have important implications for music educators. Teachers need to be aware of Chinese cultural assumptions and biases regarding the roles of female/male and music in society. Such understanding can facilitate effective teaching and learning among Chinese students. Musical development is not necessarily linear because learners have different needs at each developmental stage. In an increasingly pluralistic world, it is no longer possible to assume a single identity in a hybridised society. Similarly, it is rare to pursue only one career across the lifespan. If learners stop learning/playing an instrument, it does not necessarily mean that they have quit music for life. Music is often used differently at a later stage for reasons of necessity or evolving maturity. While educators should reflect on the ceasing of music learning or playing of their students, they should not necessarily view that as a failure on their part. Finally, phenomenological research does not intend to draw generalisations from individuals, but to add insights to illuminate existing phenomena. Future research should consider the vital interplay of different educational philosophies among diverse cultures and identity as these impact on all teaching and learning, both of self and others, at different phases across the lifespan.