![[PDF]](/pb-assets/Icons/adobe-pdf-icon-1498649896243.png){kind=icon}
Abstract
We examined pedagogical strategies for facilitating and developing songwriting skills with 17 males incarcerated at a U.S. medium security prison. We also investigated the participants’ sense of self-worth, purpose, and social adjustment related to their participation in the songwriters’ workshops. The songwriting sessions spanned over two 13-week, 60-minute workshops and one nine-week 90-minute workshop, totaling 35 weeks. Using grounded theory procedures, we analyzed four types of data: 42 sets of original lyrics, written reflections from three instructors, transcriptions of four workshop sessions, and narrative data from participants, totaling 127 single-spaced pages. Our findings indicated that the collaborative and social nature of the songwriting workshops provided a supportive atmosphere where participants generated new songs for enjoyment and expression. Participants wrote about struggles and hardships, especially relationship problems, and our data suggested that the discussions about song topics helped them cope with their incarceration. Implications for music education are discussed.
References
Section:
|
Alexander, B. (2010). Is William Martinez not our brother? Twenty years of the prison creative arts project (The new public scholarship). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Cantor, J. (2006). Fearless innovation – songwriting for our lives: Inspiring learners with arts-based practices that support creativity. Multicultural Education, 14(2), 57–64. Google Scholar | |
|
Charmaz, K. (2006). Constructing grounded theory: A practical guide through qualitative analysis. London, UK: Sage. Google Scholar | |
|
Clemmer, D. (1940). The prison community. Boston, MA: Christopher. Google Scholar | |
|
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1975). Beyond boredom and anxiety. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Google Scholar | |
|
Dalton, T., Krout, R. (2006). The grief song-writing process with bereaved adolescents: An integrated grief model and music therapy protocol. Music Therapy Perspectives, 24(2), 94–107. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Elsila, M. (1995). Music behind bars: Liberatory musicology in two Michigan prisons (Unpublished master’s thesis). The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Google Scholar | |
|
Feierabend, J. (2001). Conversational solfege. Chicago, IL: GIA. Google Scholar | |
|
Gallagher, L., Steele, A. (2002). Music therapy with offenders in a substance abuse/mental illness treatment program. Music Therapy Perspectives, 20(2), 117–122. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Harer, M. D. (1995). Prison education programming participation and recidivism: A test of the normalization hypothesis. Washington, DC: Federal Bureau of Prisons, Office of Reference and Evaluation. Google Scholar | |
|
Higgins, L. (2008). Music participation and the safe space. International Journal of Community Music, 1(3), 391–400. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Higgins, L. (2012). Community music in theory and practice. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Hsieh, H., Shannon, S. E. (2005). Three approaches to qualitative content analysis. Qualitative Health Research, 15(9), 1277–1288. doi 10.1177/1049732305276687 Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Jurgensmeier, B. (2012). The effects of lyrics analysis and songwriting music therapy techniques on self-esteem and coping skills among homeless adolescents (Master’s thesis). Available from ProQuest Dissertation and Theses Global. (UMI No. 1532988) Google Scholar | |
|
Kratus, J. (2012). Nurturing the songcatchers: Philosophical issues in the teaching of music composition. In Bowman, W. D., Frega, A. L. (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of philosophy in music education (pp. 367–385). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Lerman, L., Borstel, J. (2003). Critical response process: A method for getting useful feedback on anything you make, from dance to dessert. Baltimore, MD: Liz Lerman Dance Exchange. Google Scholar | |
|
Maitland, A., Sluder, R. (1996). Victimization in prisons: A study of factors related to the general wellbeing of youthful inmates. Federal Probation, 60(2), 24–43. Google Scholar | |
|
McFerran, K., Baker, F., Patton, G., Sawyer, S. (2006). A retrospective lyrical analysis of songs written by adolescents with anorexia nervosa. European Eating Disorders Review, 14, 397–403. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Medonca, M. (2010). Gamelan in prisons in England and Scotland: Narratives of transformation and “good vibrations” of educational rhetoric. Ethnomusicology, 54(3), 369–394. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Miles, R. (1993). I’ve got a song to sing. Elementary School Guidance and Counseling, 28(1), 71–75. Google Scholar | |
|
Neal, J. (2007). Narrative paradigms, musical signifiers, and form as function in country music. Music Theory Spectrum, 29, 41–72. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Palidofsky, M., Stolbach, B. (2012). Dramatic healing: The evolution of a trauma-informed musical theatre program for incarcerated girls. Journal of Child and Adolescent Trauma, 5, 239–256. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Riley, P. E. (2012). Exploration of student development through songwriting. Visions of Research in Music Education, 22, 1–21. Google Scholar | |
|
Rio, R., Tenney, K. (2002). Music therapy for juvenile offenders in residential treatment. Music Therapy Perspectives, 20(2), 89–97. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Roma, C. (2010). Re-sounding: Refuge and reprise in a prison choral community. International Journal of Community Music, 3(1), 91–101. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Sena-Martinez, C. (2012). From inspiration to song: A heiristic inquiry of psychospiritual transformation through the creative process of songwriting. (Doctoral Dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses database (UMI No. 1024429793). Google Scholar | |
|
Skyllstad, K. (2008). Music behind bars: Testimonies of suffering, survival and transformation. In Urbain, O. (Ed.), Music and conflict transformation: Harmonies and dissonances in geopolitics (pp. 115–127). London, UK: I.B. Tauris & Co. Google Scholar | |
|
Smith, J. A. (2000). Teaching reading. The Reading Teacher, 53(8), 646–649. Google Scholar | |
|
Strauss, A. (1994). Qualitative analysis for social scientists. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar | |
|
Sunstein, B. S., Chiseri-Strater, E. (2011). Fieldworking: Reading and writing research (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s. Google Scholar | |
|
Vander Kooij, C . (2009). Themes in songs written by adults living with serious mental illnesses. Canadian Journal of Music Therapy, 15(1), 37–58. Google Scholar | |
|
Viega, M. (2013). “Loving me and my butterfly wings”: A study of hip-hop songs written by adolescents in music therapy (Doctoral dissertation). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (UMI No. 1294921884) Google Scholar | |
|
Wells, R. E. (2000). Education as prison reform: A meta-analysis (Doctoral dissertation). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (UMI No. 9964374) Google Scholar | |
|
Waterman, A. (1990). Personal expressiveness: Philosophical and psychological foundations. The Journal of Mind and Behavior, 11(1), 47–74. Google Scholar | |
|
Wolf, L., Wolf, D. (2012). May the songs that I have written speak for me: An exploration of the potential of music in juvenile justice. New York, NY: WolfBrown. Google Scholar |
