Using Music Elicitation to Research People's Relationship with Music

This toolkit describes the use of music elicitation in group research with Extreme Metal fans as a way of researching the music experiences and memories. The toolkit describes why and how music elicitation was used in the project and gives some useful practical and technical points to consider if you are thinking of using music elicitation yourself

Sounding Out: Using music elicitation in qualitative research

Drawing on various media for elicitation within qualitative social research may generate thick and rich descriptions and discussion. This article introduces music as a valuable research tool and argues that music can serve to elicit data in relation to areas, topics, and feelings that typically remain unspoken or that are difficult to uncover in a conventional qualitative interview. The article considers the existing use of music methods and presents the potential benefits of using music and, in particular, music elicitation for qualitative research. It then presents a practical example of music elicitation in use, through considering a piece of research conducted with Extreme Metal fans. In doing so, the article addresses key considerations and methodological issues that may arise from using the method

'Love's labours': extreme metal music and its feeling community

"'Love's Labours': Extreme Metal Music, and its Feeling Community" proposes an understanding of the nature of subcultural investments in music. It explores the distinct character of Extreme Metal music and the subcultural world that surrounds its fandom. In particular, it is concerned with the nature of attachments to and investments in subculture, investigating how fans feel part of a community, how identities are positioned and postured as 'Extreme Metal', and what processes and activities construct such identifications. Through qualitative research of a group of Extreme Metal fans, and drawing on a variety of theoretical concepts; it suggests that subcultural identities may be related to the processes of interaction and performance and the distinctive forms of subcultural habitus and expert labours linked to those activities. It further suggests that the fan/music relationship can be considered as a site of deep knowledges of 'self', performative labours and interpersonal relations in ways significantly more nuanced than previously theorised. It points to 'feeling' as a key feature of music fandom that provides the explanatory drive to take on, and embed oneself in, particular subcultural habitus, performances and kinship and thus subculture. It proposes that music subcultures can be understood as 'performative feeling communities' that anchor and forge forms of distinction

Playing projects: identifying flow in the 'lived experience'

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the 'lived experience' of projects discourse. The research study uses an arts-based research method (musical improvisation on a xylophone and/or glockenspiel) to access the participant's perception of their experience of managing a project. Participants are then asked to explain their improvisation and therefore their experience. Key findings were that participants described their 'lived experience' of project managing as having 'ups and downs', including challenges and issues, and as experiencing variations in emotions over the project lifecycle. Csikszentmihalyi's flow theory is used to show that these 'lived experience' findings support a Heideggerian paradigm and personal perspective of what a project is. Projectness is not a characteristic of the activity itself. A project is a personal phenomenon defined in terms of the relationship between the individual or organisation and activity. It is dependent on capability versus the challenge presented by the activity

Moving with risk: Forced displacement and vulnerability to hazards in Colombia

The paper examines the processes through which people forced from their homes by conflict can become exposed to heightened risk from environmental hazards in the places where they resettle. It reports on research undertaken with internally displaced people who moved to informal settlements in four locations in Colombia. With one of the world’s largest displaced populations and a high annual incidence of hazard events such as landslides and floods, enabling people to create a durable sense of security in their places of resettlement is a major development challenge for the country. However, as the testimonies from individual experiences and perspectives makes clear, this problem is not one that can or should be addressed simply by enforcing existing land use and tenure regulations. The study combined qualitative interview methods with arts-based elements designed to facilitate and open up dialogue with research participants. We found that creating a permanent home, however modest, has symbolic meaning that reflects both personal struggle and collective effort: it represents security and stability, even in sites people know are associated with hazards. In tracing how they have interacted with multiple forms of risk, our work shows how displaced people have had to weigh up the threats they face against limited resettlement options, in an ongoing context of marginalisation. For complex reasons, this is a population that tends to be excluded from formal disaster preparedness and mitigation. However, there are indications that this prevailing situation could be challenged, promoting greater flexibility on the part of governmental organisations and enabling communities to become more engaged in disaster risk reduction. In bringing empirical depth to a topic of global significance at the intersection of displacement, disaster and development, we support the call for adaptable approaches to disaster risk management that can support displaced people more effectively and equitably

How to research people's relationship with music

This session discusses the use of music elicitation and memory work in recurring semi-structured group interviews to uncover the relationship people have with music. Drawing on my research with Extreme Metal fans I consider the success of these methods in aiding the uncovering of memories, feelings and attachments