Thinking across music learning contexts : developing a new research methodology framework by which to retrospectively examine musicians' cumulative learning strategies

Abstract

Musicians often learn music from combinations of available music learning contexts (MLCs). Little is understood about how musicians relate content from one MLC to content from another/others to form cohesive understandings of musical concepts. Research into the ways in which we combine learning from multiple MLCs is required, but first, groundwork to develop an appropriate methodology to investigate musicians' cumulative learning strategies is necessary. This propaedeutic study, framed by cumulative learning theory, implements constructivist grounded theory to refine a research framework for the retrospective investigation of music learning across contexts. Central to this framework is the use of mind maps and interviews as key forms of data collection. This study seeks the optimal combination of these two data sources to provide insights into the ways in which musicians relate content from one MLC to content from another/others. The research framework developed may be useful for application across a wide range of disciplines and, in music, understanding the learning strategies of musicians may facilitate further work into how to improve formal institutions' curricula as well as teaching strategies employed in various MLCs.

Date of Award	2019
Original language	English