Bring the world together one note at a time': a qualitative study of intercultural practice and identity development of musicians
Abstract
Musicians face particular communication and identity challenges when working with
music and people from other cultural groups. Those challenges impede efforts to
promote intergroup projects and rapport. Intercultural communication studies have
made significant contributions in understanding how people work and live across
cultures but do not explicate the unique ways in which professional musicians engage
internationally. Thus, there is a need to research musicians’ intercultural practice and
identity development. This qualitative study addresses the gap through three research
questions: 1) What aspects of intercultural communication and identity processes are
significant to musicians when they begin intercultural music practice? 2) What
challenges do musicians report during intercultural music projects? 3) What keeps
musicians engaged in intercultural music practice in the long term?
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 music professionals engaged in
intercultural music-making with questions about their projects and experiences. These
were complemented with field notes from observations of six respondents’ live
concerts. Recordings and written accounts relating to participants were also collected
from the internet to inform the analysis. Purposive sampling and theory-led thematic
analysis were guided by a priori themes developed from Young Yun Kim’s and
Etienne Wenger’s theoretical framework. Kim’s Integrative Theory of Communication
and Cross-cultural Adaptation and Wenger’s Communities of Practice theory place
individuals’ music careers into intercultural and social learning contexts. The
theoretical notion of boundaries - boundary crossing and boundary learning - has also
been used to address socio-cultural differences that result in discontinuities in
activities and interactions. Codes were arranged under a three-part dynamic
of encounter, stress, and learning, which describes how individuals cross groups and
work on differences perceived.
The findings delineate how musicians experience and learn at musical and cultural
boundaries mixedly. Music enabled them to coordinate temporarily by providing non-verbal routines, working arrangements, enjoyments, and promising identities
essential in motivating individuals to start intercultural music practice. However,
language proficiency, social communication, and cultural adaptations become more
critical as musicians work long-term across cultures, organise complicated projects,
and negotiate nuanced meanings. Although respondents may state cosmopolitan
ideals and intercultural objectives, their focus often gravitated back towards musical
issues that emerged in their performance and organising work.
Finally, respondents’ experiences suggest that organisers with intergroup mediation
objectives should consider arranging language training and designing for meaningful
intercultural experiences. It is beneficial for musicians to know what cross-cultural
communication and adaptation would be expected and how to seek cultural
informants’ help. The findings contribute to theory by offering a novel manifestation of
professional musicians’ intercultural activities as boundary phenomena. The diverse
cultural experiences told from the musicians’ perspectives enriches our social and
psychological understanding of intercultural challenges. These musicians’ projects
and words demonstrate how crossing boundaries, with mutual interest and creative
adaptation in musical activities, opens up possibilities for new intercultural
collaborations, rapport, ideas, and identities.