Living with music: an ethnography of sessions in St. John's, Newfoundland

Abstract

This thesis offers an ethnographic account of the musical lives of musicians who play traditional Irish and Newfoundland music at sessions in St. John's, Newfoundland. Drawing on interviews and participant observation, I explore the significance of this music for musicians in terms of their self-definitions, social networks, senses of place and belonging, and livelihoods. I show how, in learning and playing this music, musicians also learn to become a particular type of person, with certain aesthetics, ethics, and behaviours associated with ideas of tradition, musicality, community, and place. I also explore the different ways that musicians express these ideas and the politics, hierarchies, and exclusions implicated in debates over what it means to be a traditional musician. I argue that, in becoming part of these negotiations, musicians establish their position within the St. John's music scene and organize their lives and construct their selves through the performance of this music.