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Learning in a Teen Garage Band: A Relational Narrative Inquiry

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Narrative Soundings: An Anthology of Narrative Inquiry in Music Education

Abstract

The last two decades have seen a gradual awakening of the possibilities of informal modes of learning within Western education research. Informal learning in arts education, and music education in particular, has been the focus of a growing number of researchers. The following chapter provides a narrative account of the forms of learning within one of five teenage garage bands investigated within the author’s doctoral study, “Learning, identity work and music use in young garage bands.” The account also includes a discussion of my endeavour to negotiate reflexive, dialogical relationships of mutual trust with the young musicians, and some of the difficulties encountered within this process. The chapter concludes with a reflection upon the ways in which the band’s purposive, goal-driven approach to music learning challenged some of my initial, overly-simplistic understandings of such musical practices.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The Tasmanian public school system involves three distinct phases of pre-tertiary education, which generally take place in separately governed campuses: primary school (K–6); high school (grades 7–10); and college (grades 11–12).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, University of Tasmania, Launceston, TAS, Australia

    Jane Baker

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  1. Jane Baker
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Correspondence to Jane Baker .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Music, University of Queensland, Brisbane, 4072, Queensland, Australia

    Margaret S. Barrett

  2. School of Music, Arizona State University, Tempe, 85287-0405, Arizona, USA

    Sandra L. Stauffer

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Baker, J. (2012). Learning in a Teen Garage Band: A Relational Narrative Inquiry. In: Barrett, M., Stauffer, S. (eds) Narrative Soundings: An Anthology of Narrative Inquiry in Music Education. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0699-6_4

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