Wybrane aspekty badań narracyjnych w kontekście analizy biografii muzycznych

Abstract

The article shows selected problems of contemporary narrative studies. They are a special type of qualitative analyses characteristic of many humanistic disciplines: e.g. sociology, psychology, or pedagogy. They may also apply to musical issues, inter alia biographical studies in the broad sense. In Polish literature on the subject there are many publications concerning different aspects of the life, creative work, and artistic and pedagogical activities of persons connected with art, culture, and music education. The article stresses that the specificity of the facts and phenomena learned in that way is the subjective character of their transmission. The experiences and reflection contained in the collected utterances and descriptions show an inner dialogue – the world of unspecifi ed, immeasurable and variable phenomena dependent not only on external conditions but also on inner, personal standards. This makes it possible to analyze musical biographies in a new way. In light of the theoretical and methodological discussion presented in the article, biography and narrative appear to be a special type of methodological approach that uses different kinds of relationships and covers many areas associated with the study of musicians, their activities, development, and career. The narrative approach is a valuable source of unique information on the biographies of musicians. It is also a worthwhile way of learning about socio-cultural changes concerning awareness of and thinking about the profession of musician and music education.