Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2009

Abstract

The stories of three high school boys about their experiences in school-based choral music provide the framework for a discussion of the role music educators can play in retaining male singers. The “possible selves” construct (Markus & Nurius, 1986) is explored alongside research-based implications about specific steps toward developing boys’ identities as choral musicians. Possible selves are future conceptions of the self that are either positive (hoped-for) or negative (feared). The changing adolescent male voice occurs at approximately the same time as major social, academic, and other physical changes. It is thought that these issues coincide in a manner that discourages boys from participation in choral music (Freer, 2007). Drawing upon a successful non-musical model, the author proposes a variant of the “Possible Selves Program” (Hock, Deshler, & Schumaker, 2006) for use in music settings.

Comments

Author accepted manuscript version of the article published in:

Freer, P. K. (2009).“I’ll Sing with My Buddies” – Fostering the Possible Selves of Male Choral Singers. International Journal of Music Education, 27(4), 341-355. doi: 10.1177/0255761409345918

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