Students’ experiences of their agency in whole-class playing

This is a self-archived version of an original article. This version may differ from the original in pagination and typographic details. Author(s): Title: Year: Version: Copyright: Rights: Rights url: Please cite the original version: CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Students’ experiences of their agency in whole-class playing © The Author(s) 2022 Published version Stolp, Eveliina; Moate, Josephine; Saarikallio, Suvi; Pakarinen, Eija; Lerkkanen, Marja-Kristiina Stolp, E., Moate, J., Saarikallio, S., Pakarinen, E., & Lerkkanen, M.-K. (2022). Students’ experiences of their agency in whole-class playing. International Journal of Music Education, Online first. https://doi.org/10.1177/02557614221130419 2022 https://doi.org/10.1177/02557614221130419 International Journal of Music Education 1 –14 © The Author(s) 2022 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/02557614221130419 journals.sagepub.com/home/ijm Students’ experiences of their agency in whole-class playing Eveliina Stolp Josephine Moate Department of Teacher Education, University of Jyväskylä, Finland Suvi Saarikallio Department of Music, Art and Culture Studies, University of Jyväskylä, Finland Eija Pakarinen Marja-Kristiina Lerkkanen Department of Teacher Education, University of Jyväskylä, Finland Abstract The agency of primary school students has been studied increasingly in recent years; yet, we know relatively little about student agency in music educational settings or how students experience their participation in joint musical action. This study explores sixth-grade students’ experiences of their agency in whole-class playing. Qualitative content analysis of 11 pair interviews identified vulnerability as an essential element of participating in whole-class playing, highlighting the intrinsically emotional nature of the process, the immediacy of the musically shared moment and the safe place of entrainment. This study elucidates the enactment of agency and the resources facilitating and limiting agency within the context of whole-class playing from the perspective of students themselves. Keywords Agency, music education, primary school, whole-class playing Introduction Music education can support growth and well-being in a variety of developmental areas, such as identity construction and social connection mediated by the presence of music in shared experiences (Saarikallio, 2019) and joint musical action (Juntunen et al., 2014). The importance of Corresponding author: Eveliina Stolp, Department of Teacher Education, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35, Jyväskylä, 40014, Finland. Email: [email protected] 1130419IJM0010.1177/02557614221130419International Journal of Music EducationStolp et al. research-article2022 Original Article 2 International Journal of Music Education 00(0) children’s active participation and agency has become increasingly acknowledged in 21st-century education (Niemi et al., 2015), even though student agency in music education has received little attention to date. Furthermore, listening to the experiences of students themselves to gain a deeper understanding of the teaching and learning processes is seen as a significant factor in fostering student agency and transforming practices in the classroom (Cook-Sather, 2020). Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore sixth-grade students’ perspectives of their experiences of whole-class music playing to deepen the understanding of the concept of agency in whole-class playing. Whole-class playing is an important method and a part of the timetabled curriculum in the Finnish music education which aims at involving every student, despite their skill levels, to play music as a group (Stolp et al., 2022). Gaining a better understanding of students’ experiences could bring to light the demands made on students and the commitment they have to make when they participate in whole-class music playing (Boeskov, 2018; Juntunen et al., 2014; Kompridis, 2011) and support the further development of pedagogical practice in music education. The study was conducted in Finland, where music is presented in the core curriculum as an opportunity for musical activities, such as whole-class playing, and cultural participation that promotes social skills, well-being, creativity, imagination and cultural understanding in addition to musical skills and the perception of music (Finnish National Agency for Education [EDUFI], 2016). While whole-class playing assumes that all students can be part of this activity, teachers cannot assume that all students are musically proficient as students come from a wide range of backgrounds. Whole-class playing is an important starting point as an environment with its resources, opportunities and limitations for the agency of a student when the teacher seeks to bring students together through music to experience entrainment in both its social and musical synchronisational dimensions (Clayton et al., 2020; Ilari, 2016), to explore new ways of being together collectively (Karlsen, 2011) and to gain a sense of themselves as music makers. While teachers can offer the opportunity, students must be willing agents to enter the exploration of ‘being the music’ (Juntunen et al., 2014), and little is known about students’ experiences as part of this process. Moreover, there is little empirical and theoretical knowledge on how agency is realised in a dynamic dialogue between the child and musical activity. Subject-centred sociocultural approach to student agency In recent years, there has been an increasing amount of research concerning primary-aged students’ agency in different learning environments (Kangas et al., 2017; Vaughn, 2020). Supporting the agency of students can advance the prospects of developing a responsible society that has the competence and motivation to advance equity, to make a difference and to be adaptable to changes (Adair, 2014; Vaughn, 2020). In this study, we draw on subject-centred sociocultural approach to agency (Eteläpelto et al., 2013) that considers the complex interplay between individual, social, cultural and material entities of agency. This approach sees subjects as individuals with not only their skills and competencies, but also their feelings and will, as subjects actively consider and choose what is worth pursuing. Hence, there is an accordance to socio-cognitive perspective where agency is often presented as an individual experience of motivation, determination, competence, self-esteem and self-management (Bandura, 1986). However, subject-centred sociocultural approach sees agency more like a process where agency is constantly evolving through social practices in environments and circumstances that constrain or resource agency. Furthermore, Eteläpelto et al. (2013) acknowledge the temporal dimension where agency in the present is argued to always be realised through past experiences, future orientation and the current context (Biesta & Stolp et al. 3 Tedder, 2007; Emirbayer & Mische, 1998). They also emphasise how agency should be analysed by focusing on both manifestations of agency and on subject’s interpretations, meanings and purposes as agency can manifest itself in various ways, like resisting or willing to maintain something that exists, and not for example only as events of actions. Although there is a wealth of research on student agency, the prerequisites for and the development of primary school student agency have received little attention to date. In tertiary educational research, student agency is defined as the experience of being empowered to act through relational, individual and participatory resources and engage in learning situations (Jääskelä et al., 2020). Moreover, previous studies have indicated how college students’ agency is crucially dependent on the experiences of trust and how an emotionally safe climate facilitates student agency (Jääskelä et al., 2020; Juutilainen et al., 2018). In their work, Slaby and Wüschner (2014) argued that emotions are closely linked to our agency and to the sense of what we ‘can’ or ‘cannot’ do, what we are capable of and the active sense of potential doings and potential happenings. In a way, emotions might limit or facilitate our active participation in social action and play a crucial role in how we reconstitute our worlds (Ruud, 2020). Even though agency is generally seen as a positive orientation and educational goal, Skinnari (2014) argued that students’ expressions of resistance, which are agentic, should be considered significant as they are signs of avoiding meaningless activity. Adair (2014) advocated education as an opportunity for children to have a broad set of learning experiences that expand what they have the potential to be and do, not only at the individual but also at the collective level. In this sense, teachers play a significant role in promoting students’ active roles, resulting in effective learning and an increased sense of agency (Niemi et al., 2014; Ruohotie-Lyhty & Moate, 2015). Nevertheless, while the appreciation of student agency is visible across research in education, it remains unclear how agency is constructed in different learning environments and how it can best be supported. Furthermore, it appears that current music education does not develop an understanding of how student agency can be conceptualised in the context of whole-class playing due to its multifaceted nature, where along with the various notions of agency, music itself is agentic and creates opportunities and new ways of relating to others (Ruud, 2020). Therefore, we chose to fill this gap by exploring students’ experiences and investigating how they reflect upon their own actions. Approaching agency through musical activity As participating and engaging in musical activities seem to play a significant role in understanding the nature of agency in the context of music education, it is important to focus on what characterises participatory music. The sociological approach to music (DeNora, 2000) considers music engagement as an act of emotional and aesthetic agency, and music education research recognises individual and social levels of musical agency in the context of musical learning (Karlsen, 2011). Juntunen et al. (2014) discussed the importance of building learning environments that would encourage students to participate, explore and experiment with music here and now to promote their personal agency, but also their social agency by emphasising the power of Small’s (1998) ideas of ‘musicking’ as a human encounter and its essence of exploring human relationships. However, Boeskov (2018) argues how social analyses of music educational practices many times overemphasise the positive effects and overlook their complex entanglement, neglecting the different experiences of those who are involved and thus, disregard the ambiguous effects and conflictual consequences of social music making. Ruud (2020) emphasised how the participatory aspect needs to be considered in the moment among the participants, where the degree of success is measured in the contribution of individuals 4 International Journal of Music Education 00(0) and democratic values in the musical interaction among the participants, instead of musical qualities. Turino (2008) described how a determined form of music, where learning the formulas through repetition opens the participatory musical forms that are favourable for the beginners, creates a sense of safety, the essence of which lies in the constant repetition and social synchrony. In the work of Clayton et al. (2020), interpersonal entrainment is understood as the interaction and coordination between human beings, and the ability to adapt one’s behaviour to social and musical entities by means of sound and movement. Musically spoken, this synchrony, or more precisely, interpersonal entrainment (Clayton et al., 2020), is the core focus for participatory forms of musicking, but it also involves the dense sounding musical texture, which makes it easier for participants to contribute at different skill levels without being obvious for playing ‘wrong’ (Ruud, 2020). The work of Ilari (2016) sheds the light to the prosocial behaviour and social competencies resulting from the rhythmic entrainment that has a potential to bond individuals and foster a sense of togetherness. In this sense, music itself carries a sort of agency as it creates possibilities for action and new ways of relating to others (Ruud, 2020). In this study, we use a subject-centred sociocultural approach (Eteläpelto et al., 2013) to explore the agency of students in relation to self, others and music in the context of whole-class playing. Aim of the study In the present study, we investigated students’ experiences of their agency in whole-class playing. Moreover, two sub-questions focused more specifically on (a) what kind of aspects of agency become highlighted in these experiences and (b) what kind of agency sixth-grade students demonstrate in whole-class playing. Methodology Participants and procedure The participants in this study were one class of sixth-grade students (N = 23, age 12–13) in primary school located in Central Finland. The participants’ (11 males and 12 females) backgrounds in music varied greatly, which meant that there were students who had music as a hobby and those who only engaged with music as a compulsory school subject. In Finland, research with human participants must comply the guidelines of the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity TENK. Since the focus of the study was on minors, we consulted our university’s Human Science Ethics Committee to find out if our study needed an ethical review to be carried out. However, collecting consents from our participants’ parents or guardians prior to gathering data was enough to comply the guidelines of TENK and no ethical review was required. Before contacting the participants, permission was obtained from the municipal’s school authorities. Participants were recruited by first asking for the principal’s permission, determining the music teacher’s interest and finally asking if the students were interested in the study. Participants and their parents were informed about the purpose of the study and its methods and ethical commitments, after which students gave their oral consent; the informed consents were signed by their guardians prior to the data collection. The students were interviewed in April 2021. Semi-structured interviews were conducted as they provide opportunities for understanding, reflection and elucidating subjectively lived experiences from the perspective of a respondent (Tracy, 2013). Interviews were guided by the subject-centred sociocultural approach to student agency (Jääskelä et al., 2020) and musical agency (Karlsen, 2011) outlined above, but they also provided space for the participants to share their perspectives and experiences of whole-class playing. Since our participants were sixth graders, we wanted to ask them very concrete and open Stolp et al. 5 questions about their relationship with music and instruments, whole-class playing processes and actions during whole-class playing, inviting them to describe their experiences in their own words, avoiding closed questions. For example, a typical question was as follows: When you begin to play a song with your class, what are the things leading you to participate? All the questions used in the interviews are presented in the Appendix. The class teacher was asked to divide students into pairs and one triad prior to the interviews by allowing the students to freely choose their pairs. This free choice was evident in the data in the form of honest opinions and openly shared experiences, but also as inner circle humour and occasions where students began to stray from the topic. The interviews (lasting from 6 to 15 minutes) were conducted as a pair interview (with one triad) in a small room by the first author during the regular lessons of a class. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and anonymised. The final dataset included 103 pages of transcribed text (double-spaced, 12-point font). Data analysis An inductive approach was used in the qualitative content analysis of the transcribed interviews, adapting Vaismoradi et al.’s (2016) theory of theme development process (see Figure 1). The goal of the qualitative content analysis was to understand how the students described their experiences of agency in whole-class playing. The first analytical step was to familiarise ourselves with the data, search all the manifestations of agency in the transcribed text and utilise them as In Vivo codes, which results in rich data in research (Rogers, 2018; Vaismoradi et al., 2016). The second step was to work with the dataset and sort the In Vivo codes for conceptual codes, cluster the codes into categories that might become sub-themes and then further sort them into main themes (see Figure 2). Next, distancing from the data and discussions among the co-authors enabled self-correcting, after which all the codes were revisited throughout the dataset to ensure that all the participants were represented in the dataset (Vaismoradi et al., 2016). In the final phase of the analysis, the findings were linked to existing theories and literature, thus facilitating a deeper understanding of the phenomenon (Vaismoradi et al., 2016). 1: When everyone concentrates and participates and succeeds it makesyou very happy. 5: It sounds better if everyone playsinthe same rhythm instead of notplaying in the same rhythm. Concentration, active participation, success Safe feeling, togetherness 12:And it is notso scarywhenweare theretogetherand youdon’t have to be alone. SoundEntrainment In Vivo code Sub-theme Main theme Good sound, same rhythm Conceptual code Focus Safeness Figure 1. Phases of coding and theme development. 6 International Journal of Music Education 00(0) Findings The analysis led to the identification of three intermeshed main themes of the students’ experienced agency in the context of whole-class playing, which are presented in their own sections. Openness illustrates the very personal level of agency; Entrainment involves the understanding of the collective aspect and finally Relational and individual resources of agency points to the limitative or supportive resources or conditions in the here and now. Together, these themes provide insights into the rich and complex nature of student agency in the context of whole-class playing. The synthesis of the final themes and sub-themes is presented in Figure 3a. The relationship among the themes and the implications this has for how agency can be conceptualised are addressed in the Discussion section. Relational a l and d individual R e l a t i o n a resources a a l a s s s of i n n d i v i d a n d d a o o o o f f f agency Perceivedskills FamiliarityMusicaltaste Necessary conditions Supportive resources Safety SoundFocus Agency in wholeclassplaying (a) Figure 3a. (a) Synthesis of the aspects of student agency in whole-class playing from the perspective of students. 1. Initialization -Familiarising carefullywith data -Color-codingall themanifestations of agency -Forming In Vivo codes 2. Construction -Forming conceptual codes -Clustering codes into categories -Givingmeaning to categories -Forming subthemes and main themes 3. Rectification -Distancefrom data -Discussions with coauthors -Self-correcting -Revisitingthe codesthroughout thedataset 4. Finalization -Linking findings to existing theories and literature of the contents of themes -Facilitatingthe fuller understanding of thestudied phenomenon Figure 2. Theme development process adapted from Vaismoradi etal.’s (2016) theory. Stolp et al. 7 Openness: Perceived skills, musical taste and familiarity Openness in the interviews was connected to the interaction of aspects of perceived skills and musical taste and familiarity which seemed to some extent to determine individual relationships with music, willingness to engage in musical activity and resources to actively participate in joint musical action. The participants demonstrated that the sense of being competent seems to play a crucial role in whole-class playing and that the sense of one’s ability is connected to a strong emotional load. However, the findings indicate how competence alone is not enough to describe the phenomenon of what it means to be in the situation when you actually are the sound (or silence), the nature of which is in its immediacy, both to be shared and to be heard. In addition to perceived skills, openness includes not only individuals’ musical taste, that is, the experience of what instrument or music sounds good and what does not, but also the familiarity with the music or access to instruments and playing instruments as a hobby in free time. Students described how whole-class playing is enjoyable as long as the song to be played is not too difficult and the goal is achievable for them. Students described numerous ways of increasing their competence during whole-class playing when it comes to perceiving the music and concrete ways of learning to play an instrument, demonstrating active determined agency to be able to reach a certain goal. Those aspects included memorising the structure and lyrics of the song, perceiving different musical elements such as rhythm or melody and exercising motoric performance when playing an actual instrument. According to the students, feelings of success, motivation, self-efficacy and satisfaction come from moments when one finds that their own capacity meets the demands of the task, such as learning to play something new correctly, or being able to perceive music. Also, music and the sound itself were mentioned, as Student 23 explained: It sounds good when you learn it, and sounding good is the nicest thing once you learn it. There were students who emphasised that they would not take part in whole-class playing, demonstrating resistant agency as they actively withdrew from playing, if they felt it was too hard to play, if they did not know what the task was about or if they did not perceive the music easily. Feelings of disappointment, dislike and failure were present when students described experiencing low points. Students described how they hate an instrument because it is hard to play, how they lose their motivation if they cannot play and how it is possible to begin to ‘hate the song, like if there are difficult lyrics or rhythms’ (Student 11). There were students who ‘try to play but it never succeeds’ (Students 14 and 19), while Student 8 stated, ‘If I play something wrong, I notice it right away’. These aspects indicate how emotions are strongly linked to the perceived skills of an individual and how the music’s power is in its immediacy, the instant feedback of success or failure. Familiarity was described as involving the aspects of using music (listening or playing) inside and outside the school environment as well as the emotions involved and motivation as a result of familiarity manifested through musicking. In the interviews, students described how they have access to instruments at home or have music as a hobby, which seemed to connect with the instruments they like to play the most. Music lessons in those cases were activities in which to learn something that could be taken outside the school environment. A song was described as nice and easy to play if ‘you have listened to it before’ (Student 14) or ‘you have played it before’ (Student 11). Student 2 stated how ‘motivation increases if I get to play an instrument I like and if the song is familiar’, and Student 1 emphasised ‘how good it felt when I got to play my favourite instrument’ and ‘you notice if we sing loudly or silently if the song is nice or if it is more boring and no one knows it’. What we found interesting was that there were students who considered musical action an opportunity to manifest their personal preference and enjoyment of the music, as Student 9 noted: 8 International Journal of Music Education 00(0) I always vibe out when I play the music, because you enjoy more the music if you tap your feet or something like that. In addition to perceived skills and familiarity, musical taste is the last aspect that relates to the theme of openness. It speaks to the power of music and the relationship between the music and an individual as to how the music itself calls one to participate, as the statements below illustrate: Student 13: If the song sounds nice, you feel more like singing it. Student 7: If the song sounds nice, then I start to work. Student 10: If the song sounds good and fits your musical taste, then it is easy to start to play it. Interestingly, it seems that the amiable sound itself functions as a strong motive that contributes positively to the agentic participation of a student and makes one actually willing to participate. All these extracts point to the experiences, feelings, temporality and circumstances with resources or constrains (Eteläpelto et al., 2013) students are carrying with them when considering and choosing if entering into the musical action. The characteristics here suggest that student agency from a student’s point of view is temporally constructed ongoing negotiation between their perceived skills, familiarity and musical taste which together form their relationship with music and hence, create affordances for the practice of their agency. Entrainment: Focus, sound and safety Students described whole-class playing at its best as moments and an environment where everyone manages to aim at the same goal, concentrate and seriously take an active role in a group. Those moments were described as moments of intense focus, great team spirit and success, as Student 9 described: The moments when everyone is able to concentrate and is happy in what they do are precious moments. It feels like we have a good team spirit in those moments. Our findings highlight how a safe atmosphere and the musical aspect of entrainment often intertwine. Many times, the students described the musical aspects of how in the moments of success the students in the class ‘have a very good rhythm’ (Student 10) and how ‘we sound like a real band together’ (Student 17). Students emphasised that the end result sounds very good when everyone plays together in the same rhythm as well as how nice it is to play together in the same rhythm. The power of entrainment and the dense musical texture are in creating places of safety, as can be seen from the following comments: Student 21: When we play together, it is not scary to play wrong because there is rhythm that continues, and you can hop on more easily. Student 20: You don’t have to be scared if you say lyrics wrong or play a wrong chord. You are not alone, because we are together in it. These findings indicate how aiming for entrainment as well as the experience of entrainment can positively contribute to the agentic participation of students in whole-class playing, as the experience of entrainment seems to be a space that students are willing to actively maintain. Moreover, the findings provide insights into the ongoing interaction between subject and both social and material environments which can be analytically separate but constitute each other (Eteläpelto et al., 2013). As entrainment points to forming a collective whole, it is clear how