The lived experiences of independent Western classical chamber musicians in the United Arab Emirates : a narrative inquiry

Abstract

The purpose of this narrative inquiry is to explore the stories that five independent Western classical chamber musicians tell about their lived experiences of practicing and performing Western classical music in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The research concerns the relationship between Western classical music and Arabian cultures in the UAE as experienced by independent classical chamber musicians. In this qualitative study I followed a narrative approach that constructs stories of the lived experiences of the participants. The five participants are all Western chamber instrumentalists: a pianist, two clarinettists and two violinists. After conducting three rounds of semi-structured interviews on their lived experiences of Western classical chamber music performances in the UAE, I constructed a story for each participant. These stories were centred on Clandinin’s (2006:46) three-dimensional criteria, namely the criterion of the participant’s interaction with their UAE environment, the continuity criterion that focuses on comparison experiences with their Western home countries and the situational criterion of lived experiences in the UAE. The cross-case analyses identified six emerging themes: 1) Indifferent Emirate audiences; 2) Limited choice in Western classical chamber musicians; 3) Transient Western expatriate community; 4) Inadequate Western classical chamber music performance opportunities; 5) Complicated UAE concert bureaucracy; 6) Restricted choice in performance venues. Although only limited links between scholarly literature and the emerging themes could be found, Berry’s (2005:667) acculturation theory strategies supported the findings. Since the themes centre on the cultural negotiation of Western music traditions in the UAE environment, the acculturation theory was used to evaluate the six emerging themes. In accordance with this theory the emerging themes showed a high degree of separation, a low degree of marginalization and integration, and no degree of assimilation. The study offers solutions for Western classical musicians based on integration acculturation strategies. The solutions provide musicians with a way to avoid compromising their Western music ideals and to have more fulfilling performance practices in the UAE in the long run. This research also exposed a unique untapped research field related to Western music traditions in the UAE.