Becoming a musician : a longitudinal study investigating the career transitions of undergraduate music students.

Abstract

This thesis examines the nature of the transition between training as an undergraduate \nmusician and choosing whether or not to pursue a career as a professional performer. \nPrevious studies of musical development have focused on children's skill acquisition, but \nfew have considered the roles of motivation, practice, and the social environment in the \ntransition into the music profession. Musicians making early career choices are also \nprogressing through one of the most critical life-span changes - from adolescence to \nyoung adulthood - and little is known about how the psychological changes occurring \nduring this time influence a musician's development. \nA two-year longitudinal study was conducted with a group of 32 musicians who, at the \nbeginning of the study, were undergraduate music students attending either a British \nmusic college or university. Eight interviews were conducted with each of the \nparticipants. These were primarily qualitative in design, being either structured or semi \nstructured and the data were analysed using qualitative and quantitative analysis \ntechniques. The findings indicate that distinct characteristics defined the musicians who \nchose to pursue a professional performance career which differed from those for whom \nmusic became an amateur interest. The results suggest that the four factors of motivation, \nmusical identity, learning styles and coping strategies interact and influence the career \nchoices of the musicians. It is suggested that an individual's musical identity and his/her \ncoping strategies play an integral role in the process of becoming a professional or \namateur musician. A Dynamic Model of Musical Identity Formation and Career Choice \nis proposed in order to depict and explain the complex process of becoming a \nprofessional or amateur musician in adulthood.

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