Increasing student engagement with a community college music curriculum

Park, Christine, Park, Christine and Park, Christine (2021) Increasing student engagement with a community college music curriculum. Doctor of Education thesis, University of Liverpool.

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Abstract

Abstract This case study is an examination of a cohort of 15 music majors at Los Angeles City College (LACC), a two-year, open-enrollment, public community college. The majority of students enter the music program having had limited exposure to classical music. Given these students low cultural capital, they start on the periphery of the theory and performance communities of music practice (CoMPs). As they gradually engage with the CoMPs and become legitimate peripheral participants through situated learning, students are able to learn to appreciate, value, acquire additional capital, and become more engaged with the Western classical music components of the curriculum. The theoretical basis for the study comes from Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital, which provides the foundation of the exploration of the relationship between LACC music student capital and the institutional capital of the music curriculum, and Lave and Wenger’s concepts of situated learning and communities of practice, which provide the foundation for exploring why the interviewed LACC music students appear to enter CoMPs at different rates and with different levels of engagement. The 15 participants in the study were a cohort of transfer-oriented students in their last semester of studies, selected through a purposeful sampling strategy to match the demographic characteristics of a typical cohort of music majors. Qualitative data were collected through individual semi-structured interviews with each of the participants, which allowed for a comparative analysis of student journeys through the music program. The data suggest that students increase their engagement with the music curriculum when they define their identity by engaging in CoMPs, recognize the connections between theory and performance, and value the curriculum as a whole in helping them reach their musical goals. A significant finding of the research is the influence of emotional experiences in helping students engage with and connect the theory and performance curriculum. Recommendations are that music programs should support the formation of CoMPs, engage students early on with performance classes, create opportunities for students to have emotional experiences in the classroom, and use faculty brokers to bridge the boundaries between the theory and performance curriculum.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctor of Education)
Divisions:	Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	28 Apr 2021 14:56
Last Modified:	18 Jan 2023 22:55
DOI:	10.17638/03117691
Supervisors:	Watts, Michael Gough, Martin
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3117691