Intercultural Understanding Through the Intervention of a Culture Bearer: A Case Study

Abstract

Global music experts such as Campbell (Teaching music globally. Oxford University Press, Oxford, England, 2004) suggest a “culture-bearer” may be helpful in negotiating the challenges associated with learning and engaging with music from unfamiliar musical cultures and traditions. Burton (World musics and music education: Facing the issues. MENC, Reston, VA, pp. 161–186, 2002) describes a culture bearer as “one raised within the culture who is a recognized practitioner of the culture’s music” (p. 178). The culture bearer approach makes sense, but also raises concerns (Vaugeois in Exploring social justice: How music education might matter. Canadian Music Educators’ Association/L’Association canadienne des musiciens educateurs, Toronto, pp. 2–22, 2009). Will the culture bearer be able to effectively communicate with the musicians, and enable them to gain meaningful understanding of the music? Is it possible for one person, in a protracted period of time, to reasonably provide adequate knowledge of an entire musical tradition, let alone adequate knowledge of the entire culture in which the musical tradition developed? An Ontario adult community choir was recently visited by a guest conductor who taught and conducted music from the African-American Gospel tradition. This qualitative case study examines the impact on choir members of working with a culture bearer (the guest conductor) on repertoire from a particular musical tradition. Of primary interest is the intercultural understanding that choir members developed through their music making and learning in this context, and how any such development of intercultural understanding was facilitated. Qualitative data were collected through a focus group discussion and interviews with the choristers, and interviews with the guest conductor and regular conductor. Grounded theory practices informed data analysis: open coding followed by axial coding of emergent themes (Strauss and Corbin in Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques. Sage, Newbury Park, CA, 1990). Two broad categories of findings are presented: the understandings that choir members gained, including musical understandings, social-historical understandings and understandings of self, and details of the culture bearer’s “cultural immersion experience” approach that helped the choir members achieve those understandings.