• The Conference
  • Home
  • Programme
  • Venue & directions
  • Organizing Committee
  • Scientific Committee
  • Exhibitors & sponsors
  • Satellite events
  • Conference Party
• Past & future
  • Previous symposia
  • Finland 2014
  • Spain 2016
• About FU Berlin
  • University homepage
  • Humanities at FU

Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 1348

Part of General Paper Session (Other abstracts in this session)

"What's the difference between a melody and the bridge?" Exploring professional identity in ensemble music workshops

Authors: Veronesi, Daniela
Submitted by: Veronesi, Daniela (Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy)

Beyond essentialistic views of identity as an a priori in social interaction, studies in sociolinguistics and Conversation Analysis have highlighted how cultural, linguistic, professional or gender categorizations (Sacks 1972, 1992, Schegloff 2007) are neither given once and for all, nor are individual acts, but are jointly accomplished in interaction (Antaki & Widdicombe 1998, Zimmermann 1998, Mondada 1999 and 2004, Goodwin & Goodwin 2004, Auer 2005, De Fina 2006, Goodwin 2007, among others).

Against this background and adopting a Conversation Analysis approach, the paper explores the issue of professional identity in instructional music settings, specifically, in four ensemble music workshops held in Italy by a US composer/conductor with a) Italian music students and b) internationally acclaimed musicians from Italy and the US.

It is thereby looked at 1) how instrumentalists’ musicianship is made relevant in the way the conductor designs his explanations (Sacks, Schegloff & Jefferson 1974, Duranti & Burrell 2004, Haviland 2007 and 2011); 2) whether and how agreement on music action is negotiated differently with professional versus not professional groups (Weeks 1990, 1996a, 1996b, Keevallik 2010), and 3) what categories (“teacher/student”,  “conductor"/ "instrumentalist", etc., "fellow musician"/"fellow musician”, see Sacks 1974 & Torras & Gafaranga 2002) are invoked by participants and how such emerging categorizations intertwine with music action and the construction of the ensemble as a cohesive group (Faulkner 1973, Malhotra 1981).

The study aims at contributing to a growing body of literature devoted to interaction in music settings, which have shed light on group collaborative practices, apprenticeship, and the organisation of music action through a multeplicity of semiotic resources (see Berliner 1994, Monson 1996, Duranti 2009, Gritten & King 2006, Boyes Bräm & Bräm 2004, Feld et al. 2004, Poggi 2006, Rahaim 2008, Gibson 2010, Parton 2010, Streeck & Henderson 2010, Black 2011, Veronesi 2011). By looking at naturally occuring interactions among participants at different stages of their careers, furthermore, it has the objective of investigating the notion of professional competence (Goodwin 1994) as socially situated, co-operative action (Goodwin forthcoming).