Study of Chinese family musical involvement (FMI) and musical identities
Abstract
Individuals’ musical identities are closely related to and manifested in their
musical behaviours. How people conceive of their music and themselves, and
how they make use of music can reflect their own distinctive values, attitudes and
views of the world, which is an important process in their identity construction. Previous studies have highlighted the significance of family factors (such as
parental musical behaviour and preferences) in one’s construction of musical
identities, and suggest that family musical activities are positively correlated with
family cohesion and emotional well-being. Despite the significance of both family
and music in individuals’ lives, few studies have focused on the function of music
within the family unit, and even fewer consider families in the very different
context of Chinese society. This study aims to address the gap in the literature relating to Chinese family
musical involvement (FMI) and musical identities. The research questions
investigated in this study are: 1) What is FMI and how can it be assessed? 2)
What is the relationship between FMI and musical identities? 3) What is the
relationship between FMI and interpersonal interactions and family
communication?
Participants were recruited from Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province. Six
Chinese families with 16 people in total participated in the investigation, and each
individual family member was interviewed separately. The interviews were
analysed using thematic analysis. The analysis of the participants’ narratives
identified three overarching themes, namely: ‘Describing FMI’, ‘Developing
identities in FMI’, and ‘Outcomes of FMI’. ‘Describing FMI’ presents information about participating families’ musical
activities, musical resources, their attitudes towards music, and their motivation
for FMI. In general, FMI in the participating Chinese families was highly
child-centred, as parents placed great importance on their children’s musical
development, regardless of their own level of interest in musical activities. Mothers and children had stronger musical identities than fathers. The
extracurricular music class was considered to be an important resource for
organising family musical activities. ‘Developing identities in FMI’ shows that the participants’ roles and identities are
dynamic in their interaction with FMI. The roles of family members are
interchangeable in many situations depending on parental and child ages. Engaging in music with family members could bring about transformations in
individuals’ musical identities. Most participants experienced a positive change in
their musical identities when engaging in FMI. However, unpleasant musical
experiences, such as listening to dispreferred music in the interaction of FMI
could harm the development of musical identities and even family relationships if
unresolved. ‘Outcomes of FMI’ examines participants’ experiences of FMI, and the influence
of FMI on family communication and relationships. FMI can have both positive
and negative influence on couple relationships and parent-child relationships. FMI
can play a significant role in the development of close family bonds. However
when family members’ preferences are not facilitated and balanced, FMI might
also be less interesting and enjoyable for the family members involved, and hence
an unpleasant musical experience might damage musical identities and adversely
affect family relationships. From a positive perspective, negative experiences in
FMI proved short-term such that family members often self-adjust their own
negative feelings; for example, they might maximise the positive aspect of their
experiences or put negative experiences aside. The findings of the study suggest that simply pulling family members together
might not achieve the goal of ‘families that play together, stay together’; instead, it can adversely affect individuals’ interests and motivation in FMI, as well as
their communication and relationships with family members. Perhaps music
educators, music therapists, and community workers could devise strategies to
help families see any problems as something other families come across, and how
they can overcome these or get more positive time from their musical interaction. The study also highlights gender bias in FMI and music culture in Chinese context. The absence of fathers in both FMI and family affairs should garner more
attention from all segments of society. Family activity organisers could inform
parents of both maternal and paternal involvement in family/musical activities.