How Music Students in One High School Perceive a Valued Musical Composition

Abstract

Abstract Music students in the United States who reach later years in high school have developed musical preferences and grown to value music of their own choosing. In this descriptive phenomenology (Giorgi, 2009), I used written protocols to elicit long-form reflections written anonymously by 16- to 18-year-old participants (n  = 25) from one school to learn how they perceived a self-chosen musical composition, primarily contemporary songs with words, in the context of their lived experience. A three-step systematic analysis of the content of written reflections yielded three main findings. Participants valued a musical composition when (a) it impacted their emotions, (b) they related to the message of the lyrics, and (c) it connected to people, places, and events they cared about. The written reflections in this study show that participants wrote about the composition holistically, focusing on its perceived subject matter, personalized meaning, and the range of emotional responses it elicited. Providing spaces for students to reflect and share perceptions and impressions of significant and unfamiliar music compositions could inform how music educators guide learners to consider and value the role musical compositions can play in their lives and experiences.