Amateur and semi-amateur musical practicesEmpirical evidence from Poland

Katarzyna M. Wyrzykowska (Polish Music Council)katarzyna@wyrzykowska.net

Ziemowit Socha (University of Wroclaw)ziemowit.socha@uni.wroc.pl

Arts and creativity: working on identity and difference, The ESA Research Network Sociology of the Arts 9th midterm conferencePorto, Portugal, 8-10 September 2016

Plan of presentation● General information about our research

● Main findings

● Detailed analyses○ Musical practices versus other forms of leisure activities

○ Characteristics of playing instruments

○ Characteristics of singing

○ Playing and singing - general comparison

○ Education and family as determinants of music activities

● Conclusions

About our research: Musicking in Poland - a study of elementary musical activities of Poles

● Carried out by “Music is for everyone” Foundation in 2014 and cofinanced by Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage;

● After the pilot study on singing for babies ● The quantitative module consisted of two parts:

○ Nationwide Sample (NS): n=1200, CAWI&CATI, representative sampling.

○ Specific Groups (SG, ie. people who were assumed to be more active in musical practices, but music wasn’t their profession): n=745, CAWI, purposive sampling.

● The qualitative module: 50 In-Depth Interviews. Respondents: people, who engage in (semi-)amateur music activities (purposive case selection).

About our research...

● During our presentation → nationwide findings. Specific groups and IDI’s → supplementary data.

● Amateur and semi-amateur - who are they?○ Amateur → a person with no formal music education;

self-educated or non-formal education; music practices are not a part of his professional work.

○ Semi-amateur → a person with no formal (or incomplete) music education; music practices are not a part of his professional work; even if they make money on music (eg. winning competitions) it is not a significant component of their annual income.

Main findings● Polish music amators and semi-amators spend their leisure time in very different

way than most of Poles (less computer, TV and family; more: friends, reading, sports and culture).

● People aged 15-34 are the most musically active group. Pensioners are the second most active group.

● Women are more likely to engage in music practices with family members, and men in music practices with friends.

● Amateur musicking helps respondents to fullfil their personal needs, and social needs (ie. meeting with other people, sharing same hobby) are rather secondary.

● Social beliefs (the need to have an ear for music and be gifted) are blocking people from participation in amateur playing and singing.

● Family tradition of singing and playing instruments in Poland is poorly developed.

Musical practices against the other forms of leisure activities NS SG

N % N %

Using computer 1006 83,83 608 81,61

Watching television 799 66,58 228 30,60

Spending time with family 763 63,58 394 52,89

Meeting with friends 678 56,50 545 73,15

Music activities(playing, listening...) 650 54,17 696 93,42

Open-air activities (walking…) 609 50,75 362 48,59

Reading 493 41,08 454 60,94

Doing sports 331 27,58 268 35,97

Participation in culture (cinema...) 249 20,75 222 29,80

Community-oriented activities (NGOs) 159 13,25 120 16,11

“I’ve always treat musicking as a hobby and it’s just spending time with my friends. Doing things we liked. Talking and so on”

Man, 21 years old, plays on trumpet

“Musicking? I can say it’s being together and cearating sth. for fun, for relax”

Woman, 38 years old, plays folk music

Musical practices against the other forms of leisure activities

Women,N=612

MenN=588

SumN=1200

N % N % N %

Music activities (on general) 350 57,2 295 50,2 645 53,8

Music activities pointed as the most important leisure activities

116 18,9 90 15,3 206 17,2

Young (age 15-29 -> 61%) Adult (age 30-54 -> 44,3% [age 35-44 -> 36,55%])Seniors (age 55-75 -> 65,55%)

Women more often than men spend their leisure time on music activities.

Characteristics of playing instruments (general findings)Have you ever played music instruments in your

entire life? (NS)

Yes: 34,6%;

No, never: 65,4%.

● Only 15,9% of all respondents continues to play (OBOP 1986: 13%);

● The majority of respondents that never played instruments declared that music (and related to it activities) is important (41.7%) or very important (21.8%) for them in their daily life.

Playing instruments and sex (NS)

Women: 13,6% of all

Men: 18,4% of all

Playing instruments and age (NS)

Age groups Play instruments

15-19 16,8%20-24 15,3%25-34 26,8%35-44 16,8%45-59 18,5%60-75 5,8%

Main motives for playing instruments

(NS, n=350)

“Playing helps me escape from reality. When I am focused on

playing, I don’t think about what is happening around me. I’m immersed

in another reality.”

Man, 44 years old, plays guitar and sings in the choir

1. Playing is pleasant (when I play I feel happy)

45,1%

2. Playing relaxes me (it allows me to cope with

stressful situations) 35,4%

3. It allows me to express myself 14,9%

4. Playing instrument reinforces my general music perception

13,1%

5. Due to the fact that I play an instrument, it is easier for me to

maintain close ties with people (we meet more often, we share the

same hobby) 8,6%

Main motives for not playing instruments

(NS, n=850)

“I didn’t have strong enough motivation to start to play nor

enough time. For some time I even owned a guitar, but I haven’t learned

how to play.”

Man, 55 years old

Main motives TotalPeople who used to play

I just do not know how to play 48,7% 30,6%

It seems to me that I'm short of music abilities (I don't have an

ear for music)24,6% 19,1%

I don't know why I'm not playing 24,4% 41,5%

I don't have my own instrument (or access to someone else's)

17,8% 16,4%

I have no free time for that 14,7% 15,3%

Selected instruments (NS, n=677)

1. Guitar1 45,1%2. Keyboards instruments2 43,1%3. Flutes3 31,3%4. Bells and small percussion instruments 14%5. Accordion 12,4%

Woman: 1. Keyboards instruments 2. Flutes 3. Guitar n=345Man: 1. Guitar 2. Keyboards instruments 3. Flutes n=332

1. classical, acoustic, electric2. piano, keyboard, synthesizer3. recorder, tin whistle, pipe

Characteristics of singingHave you sing or hum in the last six months?

(NS)

Yes: 53,9% (647);

No: 30,6% (434);

● Singing is no correlated linearly with general importance of music in respondents daily life

● Most people (over 50%) who sings declared that music is rather important for them (not very important)

● None people who denied the importance of music sang during last six months

Singing and sex (NS):

Women: 59,5% (364) of all women

Men: 48,1% (238) of all men

Singing and age (NS):

Age groups Singing

15-19 65,9120-24 64,8125-34 58,835-44 54,245-59 50,060-75 42,57

Types of singing Women Men Sum

L % L % L %

Singing aloud 364 59,5 283 48,1 647 53,9

Echo listening to music 347 56,7 253 43,0 600 50,0

Religious service singing 258 42,2 175 29,8 433 36,1

Shower-singing 198 32,4 196 33,3 394 32,8

S. all together 192 31,4 176 29,9 368 30,7

S. for children 226 36,9 89 15,1 315 26,3

Echoing concerts 180 29,4 127 21,6 307 25,6

Mass event singing 109 17,8 81 13,8 190 15,8

Choir singing 16 2,6 7 1,2 23 1,9

Main motives for singing

1. Relaxes me (allows to cope with stressful situations) 77,0%

2. It’s pleasant (when I play I feel happy) 58,6%

3. S. helps me to manage various activities (cleaning…) 50,6%

4. S. substitutes me music when I don’t want to be in silence 20,9%

5. I sing for my children 18,7%

Top-3 for women and men is the same, but:

Women: more often sing for children (ab. 12 perc. pts.)

Men: more often sing against the silence (ab. 6 perc. pts.)

Main motives of not-singing

1. I just can’t sing (52,6%)2. I’m not good in singing

(49%)3. I don’t know (28,1%)4. It doesn’t satisficed me (24,5%)5. I have no time for it (22,4%)6. Once I tried, I wasn’t good enough (15,1%)7. I’m ashamed (15,1%)8. People doesn’t like when I sing (6,8%)

Women: I’m not good in singing (67,2%), I just can’t sing (53,1%), I don’t know (37,5%)

Men: I just can’t sing (52,3%), I’m not good in singing (39,8%), I don’t know (23,4%)

“It’s hard to convince me to sing at the party for instance. People knows I can sing very well and I have concerts, but [in informal situation - ] I just can’t do it. Mayby in karaokee or after 4-5 beers I can sing”

Man, 25 years old

Playing and singing “I just have to. I feel better when I’m playing on my own. I can do more. I don’t have to stick to some strict rules. I play

like I think is right.”

Woman, 28 years old, plays on guitar

”The greatest joy is only when you play music with someone and it moves

him/her emotionaly.”

Woman, 22 years old, plays violin solo and with the band

Types of musical practices chosen by respondents

NS (n=260) & SG (n=643) - respondent aged 15-45 (most musicly active group)

Which of these activities you performed at least once in the last six

months?NS SG

Individual musicking 29,6% 82,3%

Musicking with friends (during parties)

16,9% 45,6%

Spontaneous musicking with family 14,6% 30,6%

Creating music on electronic devices 10,0% 30.6%

Playing in a music band 6,2% 60,5%

Playing and singingTypes of music practices and sex - main

diferrences

Creating music on electronic devices

Men: NS → 15% ; SG → 46,7%

Women: NS → 2,8%; SG → 15,2%

Specific groups

Which of these activities you performed at least once in

the last six months?

Women n=328

Men n=315

Spontaneous musicking with family

35,1% 26,0%

Musicking with family during various festive occasion

43,3% 25,7%

Playing in a music band 47,0% 74,6%

Intended musicking meetings with friends

44,5% 63,5%

Playing and singing

Repertoire (NS & SG, n=447)

1. Christmas carols (and religious music) 19%2. My own compositions 17,2%3. Popular hits (eg. the old hits, songs from movies, covers) 11,4%4. Improvisations, spontaneously created compositions 6,3%5. Songs for children 4,5%

Education and family as determinants of music activities

Music lessons at school1986+

(N=287)1972-1985

(N=316)Before 1971

(N=597)

L % L % L %

Singing with whole class 137 60,1 153 57,3 375 71,2

History and theory of music (notes) 144 63,2 142 53,2 295 56,0

Singing solo (to assess) 106 46,5 125 46,8 221 41,9

Playing basic instruments (ex. flute, xylophone) 111 48,7 146 54,7 162 30,7

Listening to non-classical music (ex. popular) 34 14,9 28 10,5 58 11,0

Playing other instruments (ex. guitar, percussion, piano)

12 5,3 17 6,4 53 10,1

Słuchanie głównie muzyki klasycznej 24 10,5 15 5,6 42 8,0

“In elementary school we

were asked to buy flutes and

play them in school. We

were also singing during the

lessons, but it had nothing to

do with plasure or fun, it was

only a duty”

Man, 43 years old, plays on

guitar

Education

Education and family as determinants of music activities

Family

● The majority of Poles comes from families in which the musicking tradition was not present (70,9%).

● Musicking with family in childhood positively affects the current music practice of respondents:

○ The respondents from the Specific Group sample come from families

with the tradition of singing and / or playing instruments more often than those from Nationwide sample.

○ The results indicate that the role of the father is more important in this process.

Conclusions

● Findings from presented study reflect the state of music education in Poland - lack of understanding of the importance of musical activities for personal development and development of social skills

● BUT [!] we see great potential for the future development of amateur music practices:○ The need to overcome the social beliefs and stereotypes about musical talent

(regardless of age and sex, music is for everybody!).○ The need to change the ways of teaching music in schools (more playing and

singing, less lectures).○ The need for further development of non-formal education.