Musical agency

Abstract

Rooted in a sociocultural perspective, this chapter focuses on musical agency and its development in learners. Drawing on social constructivist literature and literature from a variety of fields that inform our understanding of concepts of agency, the chapter offers an explanation of learner agency, personal agency, and musical agency and their roles in the music learning process. This is followed by a discussion of a range of examples drawn from music-learning settings and experiences in which music learners were actively engaged in performing, creating, or listening to music. Analysis of these instances produced common themes that provide a window into the nature, role, and core value of learner and musical agency in music learning, offering insight into music learners’ beliefs in their possible musical selves and capacity to act on this belief using the skills and knowledge they have developed through musical experience.

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