INSTRUMENTAL EXPLORATION WITH PREVIOUSLY

INCARCERATED MEN:
How Community Music Encourages Engagement, Improvisation, and Self-Expression
ABSTRACT:
From January to April 2018, a collaboration took place between James Madison University and Gemeinschaft Home, a
residentialA transitional facility for individuals who have
special lecture series on ocean conservation been released from incarceration. Pre-service music education and
social work professionals taught both an instrumental workshop and a songwriting course. In this poster, we describe
experiences and perspectives of Elmer, Bertha, Cletus, Francesca, Gomer, and Horatio, six pre-service music educators who
worked with recently incarcerated men in this project. This project is supported in part by an award from the National
Endowment for the Arts.
METHODOLOGY: COMMUNITY MUSIC:
Community music is multifaceted. Higgins
Role of Researchers: Participant/Researchers (Pre-service broad descriptors for community music as, “(1) music of a (2012) gives
music teachers) community, (2) communal music making, and (3) an active
Data Generation: intervention between a music leader or facilitator and
-interviews with participants participants” (p.3). This experience  connected with each of
-participants’  written reflections these categories in meaningful ways. Recently incarcerated
-experience designs from both instrumental and men: (a) wrote original music that is a byproduct of their
songwriting sessions neighborhoods, culture, upbringing, and past experiences;
(b) created music both in groups and individually; and (c)
Research Questions: interacted with facilitators who helped them document their
-What did experiences facilitating songwriting and stories into songs.
instrumental learning within the Gemeinschaft Project help
pre-service teachers learn?
-In what ways did residents engage with instruments within
the sessions?
FINDINGS
Responsiveness (Q1) : Exploring Improvisation (Q2) :
Winding back content became a critical tool for the Observations from the instrumental sessions suggested
teachers (Hammel, Hickox & Hourigan, 2016) . With an that the participation with electronic instruments (Ableton
end goal of helping residents develop their abilities to Push, turntables, iPads) led to a larger amount of men
make music and create songs, there was a balance that engaging in creative improvisation. “When engaging with
had to be found in regards to facilitating the songwriting acoustic instruments residents expressed more
process, without totally writing the song for them. preconceptions of what they thought was supposed to
sound 'good.' When engaging with electronic instruments,
Student of your Students (Q1) : (Ayers & Graves, 2018, n. p.) however; residents explored their curiosities more freely
Almost all of the instruments taught during the instrumental and weren’t as afraid to take risks when improvising.”
sessions were not the teachers' primary or even secondary shared Francesca.
instruments, and they found it intimidating at first to show
musical vulnerability. “I learned that being honest and open
about my mistakes, my lack of knowledge at times, and my Performance
personality was the best way for them to open up about
themselves as well.” Horatio stated. These approaches not
only contributed to open sharing between pre-service
References
professionals and residents, but, it also established the pre-
service professionals as students as well, helping to further
the honesty of the environment even more.

SOPHIE HARRISON & ERIN DIXON | JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY