Exploring student experiences of musicing at Friday funk sessions through the lens of critical hope

Abstract

This arts-based instrumental case study explores student participation in 'Friday funk sessions' as a site of critical hope in a South African context. The study examines the potential of musical engagement communities, such as 'Friday funk sessions', to stimulate critical hope. This study's premise is inspired by the Brazilian educator Paulo Freire's work. Freire (1970:47) states that the strife for critical hope begins when forms of oppression are acknowledged and resisted. Bozalek et al. (2013:1) describe critical hope as the ability to recognise an appropriate "antidote to conditions of inequality". Students face many struggles in higher music education and experience a lot of disparity (Bozalek & Boughey, 2012:708). According to Freire (1970:47), critical hope takes effect when there is an intentional effort toward finding a resolution for the disparity experienced in higher education. This study is within the transformative paradigm, which challenges the status quo of oppressive, hegemonic systems to bring about change (Mertens et al., 2011:231). Change is achieved through the collaborative as well as participatory nature of musicing. It also explores the shared understanding of the experience that making music together offers (Hirche, 2011:167). The purpose of this arts-based instrumental case study is to explore the student experiences of musicing at Friday funk sessions through the lens of critical hope. In this study, critical hope is defined as an insight into the possible and appropriate actions needed to address unjust conditions in higher music education. This study is an instrumental case study (Stake, 2010:20). I was interested in the theoretical framework of critical hope and the Friday funk sessions as a site that would help me facilitate my understanding of critical hope in practice. The instrumental case study used an applied research design. It allowed me to refine an existing framework for critical hope by making it specific to higher music education and its applications within such a context. Case study allowed me to use an interpretative and theoretical framework to investigate the meaning students ascribe to a social or human problem, social inequality, and other intersecting oppressions in higher education and higher music education (Creswell, 2013:44; Denzin & Lincoln, 2011:3). For this study, data were collected by conducting semi-structured interviews with five participants selected purposefully through the process of purposive sampling (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016:106; Guest et al., 2006:58). The interviews were transcribed and analysed by a coding method called dramaturgical coding, using ATLAS.ti computer software. Each interview transcript was analysed individually and participant write-ups were formulated from the analysis. The data analysis process resulted in monologues of each of the participants. The monologues served as the arts-based presentation pertinent to the research process. The results of the study showed that three elements influenced participant attendance in the Friday funk sessions, namely, (1) their relationship with music before tertiary music tuition; (2) a significant moment of conflict; (3) the need for a respite from the conflicts of their tertiary music tuition. Each phase serves as a build-up to a specific and necessary moment where critical hope must develop. The Friday funk sessions were effective because they opened up an opportunity for what Elliot (1995:168) calls a self-other dialogue, wherein participants reveal themselves to one another through music. In this way, the participants could have a dialogue and learn about the problems and struggles they face, the causes of these problems, and a meaningful search for a solution to these problems (Ayers, 2006:88).