Louise Anderson

International Conference on Community Music, New York City, NY

Dr. Louise Anderson, Assistant Professor of Music and the Coordinator for Music Education at Salisbury University Dr. Jill Reese, Associate Professor of Music Education at The State University of New York at Fredonia. Community music is characterized as “music making that occurs outside formalized institutions” (Lagrimas, 2009, p. 6). These community music practices have the potential to “inform, inspire, and transform lives and communities” (Lagrimas, 2009, p. 7). In addition, these experiences seem to increase participants’ quality of life: emotional, cognitive, physical, social well-being (e.g, Coffman, 2002; Sacks, 2007; Schellenberg, 2006). While much is known about the value of community music practices for participants, less is known about the ways in which community music practices affect the people who facilitate them. Therefore, the purpose of this autophenmenography was to explore our lived-experiences as music teacher educators facilitating community ukulele groups. The theoretical framework for this study was informed by Higgins’s (2007, 2012) concept of hospitality in community music practice and Veblen’s (2004) five dimensions of community music. The methodology was informed by autophenomenography (Grupetta, 2004), often used to explore embodied lived-experiences in sports research (Allen-Collinson, 2013). Autophenomenography is “capable of producing the rich, finely textured, ‘thick descriptions’ of first-person experience, and bringing to life the felt, lived, corporeal experience” (Allen-Collinson, 2013, p. 24). Data included written reflections (post jam session) collected over 12 months, a reflective prompt completed at the end of the 12 months, and a follow-up collaborative interview. Data was analyzed collaboratively using an inductive process during which our goal was to describe “the meaning, structure, and essence” (Patton, 2002, p. 104) of our lived-experiences as music teacher educators facilitating community ukulele groups. Therefore, we embraced a phenomenological approach to analysis. We followed the multi-step process described by Moustakas (1994). To address trustworthiness we employed multiple forms of triangulation (data and analysis). The essence of the experience was the formation of a new part of our identities: community music facilitators and the transformation of our music teacher and music teacher educator identities. Suggestions and implications for practice include considering community music facilitation as service for music teacher educators, examining the role of higher education in community music practices, and exploring community music experiences as opportunities to reconcile tensions between musician, music teacher, and music teacher educator identities. Future researchers should consider exploring a variety of autobiographical forms of research, as well as exploring music teacher educators’ experiences facilitating and participating in a variety of community music practices. Our research presentation will include a participatory “ukulele jam session” so the participants may experience the phenomena that is the focus of our project. Keywords: ukulele, autophenomenography, identities, music teacher education, Higgins, community music facilitator Biographies: Dr. Reese is Associate Professor of Music Education at The State University of New York at Fredonia. She teaches courses including early childhood music pedagogy and elementary and secondary general music methods. She presents and publishes research on topics including technology, improvisation, early childhood music development, professional development communities, and ukulele. She is the founder of Fredonia Ukulele and a YouTube channel that provides play-along videos for ukulele (https://www.youtube.com/user/DrJillReese). She was awarded the 2017 Fredonia College Council Award for Community Engagement for facilitating community ukulele and early childhood music experiences through community-university partnerships. She completed professional development levels in Orff-Schulwerk and Music Learning Theory and earned degrees in Music Education from Temple University (Ph.D.), University of Michigan (M.M), and Michigan State University (B.M.) and taught vocal/general music in the public schools of Michigan, and early childhood music in Michigan and Pennsylvania. Dr. Anderson is Assistant Professor of Music and the Coordinator for Music Education at Salisbury University. She teaches music education methods courses, technology for music education students, class piano, and several general education music courses. She is the founder of “Ukulele in Salisbury, MD” and hosts a YouTube channel that provides play-along videos for ukulele (https://www.youtube.com/DrAPlayUkuleleToday) She facilitates ukulele jam sessions in the Salisbury, MD area, provides professional development for teachers on adding ukulele to their curriculum, and has conducted ukulele workshops for businesses and agencies in her surrounding area. She is a National Board Certified Teacher with 30 years of teaching experience K-12 encompassing all areas of instruction. She has presented at international, national, state, and local conferences and provides professional development workshops for K-12 educators. She has earned degrees in Music Education from Temple University (Ph.D), Humanities from Penn State University (M.A.) and Music Education from Millersville University (B.S.).

Salisbury University Research Day, Salisbury, MD

Peter Dale Wimbrow was born in Whaleyville in 1895 and established himself as a prolific songwriter and lyricist of the 1920s. In addition to writing songs recorded by Louie Armstrong, Johnny Marvin, and Judy Garland, Wimbrow has a substantial catalog of tunes that capture the unique character of the Eastern Shore. A ukulele virtuose, he invented a 6-string ukulele called a Wimbrola, which was produced by the Favilla Brothers Guitar Company in New York City. A World War I veteran, his musical ambitions were cut short when the effects of a wartime gas attack degraded his vocal chords. In this lecture/performance the audience will see and hear a little known aspect of Delmarva History and be introduced to Dale Wimbrow’s collection of tunes that captures the early 20th century Eastern Shore.