Bibliography ( so far)

Allsup, R. E,  ‘Mutual learning and democratic action in instrumental music education’,  Journal of Research in Music Education,(2003) 51(1), 24–37

Allsup, R. E,  Crossing over: Mutual learning and democratic action in instrumental music education (Lincoln, University of Nabraska Press, 2002)

Bray, John N., Collaborative Inquiry in Practice: Action, Reflection, and Making Meaning, London, SAGE, 2000

Bruckman, Amy, Ethical  Guidelines  for  Research  Online ( Georgia Institute  of  Technology, 2002)

Campbell, P.S, ‘Of garage bands and song-getting: The musical development of young rock musicians’. Research Studies in Music Education,( 1995) 4, 12–20

Cope, Peter, ‘Informal Learning of Musical Instruments: The importance of social context’, Music Education Research, vol. 4, issue 1 (2002)

Green, L, How popular musicians learn.  Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2002

Greenhow, Christine, Robelia, Beth, and  . Hughes, Joan E, ‘Learning, Teaching, and Scholarship in a Digital Age, Web  2.0  and  Classroom  Research:  What  Path  Should  We  Take  Now?’, EDUCATIONAL RESEARCHER vol. 38 no. 4 ( 2009)

Hine, Christine, Virtual  Ethnography, ( London, Sage Publications Ltd, 2000)

Finnegan, Ruth,  The hidden musicians: music-making in an English town, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007

Folkestad, Goran, ‘Formal and informal learning situations or practices vs formal and informal ways of learning’, British Journal of Music Education, (2006), 23,  135-145

Jaffurs, S, ‘The impact of informal music learning practices in the classroom, or how I learned how to teach from a garage band’, International Journal of Music Education,(2004)  vol. 22, 3: pp. 189-200

Jeffrey, Bob, Bradshaw, Pete, Twining, Peter, Walsh, Chris, ‘Ethnography,  education  and  on-line  research’, European Conference of Educational Research  (2010)

Leu, Donald J , O’Byrne, W. Ian, Zawilinski, Lisa , McVerry, J. Greg, and Everett-Cacopardo,  Heidi, ‘Comments on Greenhow, Robelia, and Hughes: Expanding the New Literacies Conversation’, Educational Research ,vol. 38 no. 4 ( 2009)

O  Flynn, J, ‘Vernacular music-making and education’ – International Journal of Music Education,(2006)  24: 140

Olson, Kevin, ‘Music for community education and emancipatory learning’, New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, vol. 2005, Issue 107, 55-64 (2005)

Waldron, Janice, ‘Locating Narratives in Postmodern Spaces: A Cyber Ethnographic Field Study of Informal Music Learning in Online Community’,  Action, Criticism & Theory for Music Education, (2011), Vol 10, No. 2

Waldron, Janice, ‘YouTube, fanvids, forums, vlogs and blogs: Informal music learning in a convergent on- and offline music community’, International Journal of Music Education, (2012)

Westerlund, H, ‘Garage rock bands: a future model for developing musical expertise?’ International Journal of Music Education, ( 2006) 24(2): 119–125

Questionnaire

Here’s a copy of the questionnaire that I’ve sent out to people

Learning within an online environment questionnaire

 

Basic info:

Name or alias:

Location (country):

Sex:

Age:

What instrument(s) do you play?

Which site(s) do you use? Why?

How long have you been collaborating online?

What real life band experience, if any, do you have?

Online experiences

What would you characterise as the differences between working in an online music environment vs. a real life one?

Do you create many projects online or do you prefer to work on other members projects? Why?

How do you characterise your relationship with the members that you work with?

Do you find that a member of the band or collaboration takes control of the project? In what way, if any, do they provide leadership for the rest of the group?

In what way, if any, are you exposed to the experiences and ideas of the other members of the project? In what ways do you believe that this has improved your own musicianship?

When creating a project do you consciously pre-compose ( try create it with specifics in mind like form, tonality, style, instrumentation, tempo etc. ) before looking for collaborators?

How democratic is the creation of music on an online environment? Or is it a constant negotiation to create one persons vision?

Learning in an online environment

How would you characterise your experiences of online collaborations? How do you believe that you have grown both practically (ear training, ’getting’ chord progressions, song section organisation)   and artistically as a musician through these experiences?

Do you believe that you’re a better musician form collaborating on this site? In  what ways do you think your skills have been built?

What resources ( forums, blogs, software etc.), found on your music collaboration site, do you believe have helped improve the collaboration process for you? Why?

How do you believe that you have learnt from members of the site? Would you describe it as a process of discovery ( through creating together) or as a transmission of skills?

How do you believe ‘peer critique’ ( other members comments on your contribution) is used to better your musicianship?

Does the process of  self-actualisation ( becoming comfortable with those around you through interaction) allow you to better contribute artistically to a project?

Does the relationship which different musicians have while working within a group (the ‘playing off each other’ factor,  E.g. the close musical relationship that usually occurs between a drummer and a bassist) continue to exist in an online environment?

Is the loss of ‘doodling’ and ‘jamming’ (the sporadic and intermittent playing of musical ‘licks’ and ideas that had nothing to do with the music that the musicians were rehearsing’ and the informal playing of music together) change the nature of the relationship between members of the online band?

Further contact:

Would you be interested in Skype-Skype interviews or IM?

Band learning – How?

The main points of collaborative learning within a ‘traditional’ garage band :

The getting of songs: the learning of songs to fit the ensemble’s cohesive sound, mostly individual and private ‘tinkering’ with the  music (melody, progressions,  rhythms,  organisation  of  sections).

Analytic listening: concentrated specific listening or ‘ play it like….’, or ‘in the style of….’

The ‘leader’ or ‘on-site  transmitter’: the most experienced player in the group ( usually  a  guitarist) – prompts the novice player(s) to achieve higher levels of skill  development, can be seen as  an apprentice-like process

The immersion process: the relationship which different musicians have  while working within a group, the ‘playing off each other’ factor. E.g. the close relationship that usually occurs between a drummer and a bassist

Collaborative enquiry: democratic participation in the bands design and implementation – the band is a reflection and analysis of  experience by those involved

The self-actualisation process: the ‘becoming comfortable’ that comes from the constant interactive process, ‘if the band cares what I have to say then I care about what they say’

‘Doodling’ and ‘jamming’ : ‘the sporadic and intermittent playing of musical ‘licks’ and ideas that had nothing to do with the music that the musicians were rehearsing’ and the informal playing of music together. Both seen as learning techniques within a band.

To what extent are these found in a virtual band?

Bibliography

Allsup ( 2003) ‘Mutual learning and democratic action in instrumental music education. Journal of Research in Music Education, 51(1), 24–37

Campbell ( 1995) Of garage bands and song-getting: The musical development of young rock musicians. Research Studies in Music Education, 4, 12–20

Green (2002) How popular musicians learn. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing

Finnegan  (1989) The hidden musicians. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 

O  Flynn ( 2006), Vernacular music-making and education – International Journal of Music Education  24: 140

Jaffurs ( 2004) The impact of informal music learning practices in the classroom, or how I learned how to teach from a garage band – International Journal of Music Education,  vol. 22, 3: pp. 189-200

Westerlund ( 2006), Garage rock bands: a future model for developing musical expertise? 

BASIC RESEARCH IDEA

Here’s the basic idea for my work so far:

There  are  a  number  of  works  centered  around  the  learning  practices  that  take  place  within  a  typical  garage band.  How  collaboration and  group  democracy  as  well  as  a  constant  dialogue  is  used  in  an  effort  to  create  a  group’s music  and  music  identity.   Throughout  this  whole  process  the  members  of  the  band  are  seen  to  adhere  to    peer  directed  learning,  with  members  prompting  each  other  to  better  themselves  musically,  creating  forms  of  self-actualisation (‘if  the  community  cares what  I  have  to  say  then  I  care  about  what  they  say’)  as  well  as  a  kind  of  group  musical  discovery that  is  the  central  collaboration  and  learning  method  within  this  kind  of  community. Within  the  last  number  of  years  innumerable  online  music  collaboration  projects  have  been  created,  many  of  them  catering  for  purely  virtual  bands.  Do  these  same  bands  adhere  to  these  same  principles?  How  much  of  the  learning  is  still  democratic  or  dialogic,  or  does  it  adhere  to  a  different  set  of  learning  principles,  such  as  being  more  akin  to  classical  compositions-  where  concepts  are  pre-created  and  pre-formed? To  what  extent  are  the  skill  transmissions  inherent  within  a  ‘traditional’  garage  band  still  a  part  of  this  process?  In  what  way  does  the  collaboration  process  take  upon   a  new  form  in  one  of  these  online  learning  environments  and  how  do  members  transmit their  own  practices  and  experiences  to   other  members  in  an  effort  to  better  their  musicianship?

INTRODUCTION

I’ve always been a fan of the idea of online communities and collaborations, I’d count myself an excessive Wikipedia abuser, Youtube lurker and chronic comment viewer for the whole of my digital life. There’s something about the absolute freedom of opinion that can be found in the virtual world, how communities of interest come together, form there own groups and trade opinions that, to me at least, resembles the fundamentals of a true democracy of intent. But,in the years since my cyber cherry was popped ( the summer of 2004, you never forget your first time),  I never found myself able to make that inconsequential, tiny and above all simple transition of actually becoming involved in this world myself. Music collaborations? Yes, though I wont be talking about them here, but the sharing of opinions and discussing ideas?  Never, not so much as a frowny face  emoticon on an obscure thread that no one really cared about.

Well now I’m a college student doing research on music collaborations in virtual communities, particularly those websites created for just for that sort of thing (MyOnlineBand.com and Kompoz.com), places where musicians can get together and pool their musical resources and create songs. And to get to know these musicians I have to make myself available to be known, otherwise where’s the trust going to come from? So here it is, this is my introduction, the next post to follow will outline what I’m hoping to do in my research plus any other ideas I may have that are to do with it. If any online musicians have any thoughts please feel free to leave them, anything and everything is appreciated.

M