Beyond the gender binary: a survey of gender marginalization and social boundaries in Australian jazz and improvisation.

Jazz and improvisation have typically been associated with ideals of freedom and liberty; however, in practice these genres are known to be constrained by entrenched patterns of male domination and gender discrimination. Despite a large number of qualitative accounts evidencing persistent sexism and gender exclusion in the field, there exists a lack of empirical data to assess the scale of this phenomenon and substantiate smaller-scale research on gender inequality. In this paper, we employ boundary theory to report on a quantitative investigation of gender marginalization in jazz and improvisation in the Australian context, positioning gender as a symbolic boundary resulting in the social exclusion and marginalization of gender diverse individuals and women. An anonymous survey (n=124) was run over a period of five months, to explore the beliefs, attitudes, and experiences concerning gender, of people participating in Australian jazz and improvisation. A means comparison found that gender was a statistically significant indicator (p ≤0.05) on almost all measures, with gender diverse respondents significantly more likely to report the effects of marginalization than their (cisgender) counterparts. Additionally, the results indicated contrasting forms of musical engagement and marginalization across gender groups, with women perceiving exclusion to a lesser extent than gender diverse practitioners, and differing in their opinions regarding work opportunities. Lastly, a widespread but historically unspoken awareness of sexual harassment in the Australian jazz and improvisation industry was reported by all genders. This paper concludes with three recommendations for future research, policy and practice: 1. Specific targeted strategies are needed to address the manifold and complex forms of marginalization experienced by gender diverse people; 2. Heightened institutional visibility for marginalized groups is needed to change gendered narratives and highlight awareness of inequities; and 3. Enhanced safety measures are critically needed to address sexual harassment throughout the industry.

Creative Collaboration and Collaborative Creativity: A Systematic Literature Review.

Studies of creativity emerging from cultural psychology and social psychology perspectives challenge individualist conceptions of creativity to argue that social interaction, communication, and collaboration are key elements in creativity. In recent work creative collaboration has been proposed to be "distributed" between audiences, materials, embodied actions, and the historico-socio-cultural affordances of the creative activity and environment, thus expanding the potentialities of creative collaboration beyond instances of direct human interaction and engagement. Music performance, improvisation and composition may be viewed as exemplary "laboratories" of creative collaboration through the combined elements of audiences, materials, embodied actions and historico-socio-cultural affordances and constraints. This article reports the findings of a systematic literature review of creative collaboration and collaborative creativity in music. We sought to identify what has been currently investigated in relation to these terms and concepts in music, with what methodologies and in what settings. Findings indicate that studies were undertaken in higher education, professional development and professional practice predominantly, leading to an emergent phenomenon of interest, collaborative creative learning. Musical genres were jazz, popular, western classical, contemporary and world musics across the musical processes of composing, improvising and performing. Studies in higher education and professional development settings focused on identifying those practices that supported learning rather than the nature of collaborative creative approaches or the outcomes of creative collaboration. Participants were primarily male, with small sample sizes. Methodologies were largely qualitative with an emphasis on case study using observation, interview and reflective diary methods. Further areas for research include: the investigation of gendered approaches to creative collaboration, collaborative creativity, and collaborative creative learning; the use of more diverse research methodologies and methods and techniques including large-scale quantitative studies and arts-based and arts-led approaches; and the investigation of more diverse music settings.

Beliefs and Values About Music in Early Childhood Education and Care: Perspectives From Practitioners.

This paper reports the findings of a study that aimed to identify the music beliefs and values of educators in early childhood education and care settings in Australia. The aims of the study were 2-fold: to adapt and pilot a survey of music beliefs and values which might be implemented subsequently nationally in childcare settings; and, secondly, to identify the music beliefs and values held by early childhood and care educators concerning music in children's learning. The research questions that guided this component of the study were: What is the profile of early childhood and care educators? What beliefs and values for music engagement are held by early childhood and care educators? What shapes early childhood and care educators' music beliefs and values? Findings indicated that educators' beliefs and values on all items are above the mid-point indicating overall positive attitudes toward music despite the majority having no formal qualifications in music or a history of instrumental performance and/or singing. Given the overall positive attitudes toward music we suggest there is enormous potential within this population for further professional learning and development targeted at music and its potential wider benefits in young children's learning and lives.

Injury and the orchestral environment: part III. the role of psychosocial factors in the experience of musicians undertaking rehabilitation.

Workplace rehabilitation in the orchestral setting poses a number of challenges that arise in part due to a poor fit between generic injury insurance and medical care and the elite performance requirements of professional musicians. Currently, the orchestral profession lacks information and strategies to best deal with the unique challenges of this complex rehabilitation environment. In order to inform future directions for research and suggest possible changes of practice, the researchers conducted a qualitative case-study aimed at understanding the injury and rehabilitation experiences of professional musicians. In-depth semi-structured interviews were undertaken with three chronically injured professional cellists from a single Australian orchestra. After initial data analysis, further interviews were undertaken with a set of five orchestral management staff as a means of data triangulation. All data were analysed using a themes-based analysis-of-narrative approach. The findings indicate that injury concealment played a considerable role in the development of chronic injuries for these musicians, and management staff felt that this concealment may be the norm amongst orchestral musicians. The musicians in this study suffered emotional and psychological trauma as the result of their injuries, and two participants felt socially marginalised. During rehabilitation, the musicians in this study encountered difficulties with medical staff not understanding the elite performance requirements of orchestral work. The article proposes recommendations that may assist in dealing with the complex challenges of injury rehabilitation in the orchestral environment.

Injury and the orchestral environment: part II. Organisational culture, behavioural norms, and attitudes to injury.

The organisational culture, behavioural norms, and attitudes of a workplace have a profound influence on levels of injury and illness amongst its workers. While this is well established in Work Health and Safety literature, very little research has attempted to understand the influence of organisational culture on injury risk in the orchestral profession. To address this, the current study aimed to investigate the influence of organisational culture on injury outcomes for orchestral musicians. Using a qualitative case study methodology, in-depth semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 10 professional orchestral cellists (2 freelance and 8 fulltime members) from a single Australian orchestra. After initial data analysis, further interviews were undertaken with a set of 5 orchestral management staff as a means of data triangulation. All data were analysed using a themes-based "analysis of narrative" approach. The findings indicate that an orchestral culture exists in which musicians see injury as a sign of weakness, failure, and poor musicianship. Such negative perceptions of injury influence musicians to play through considerable levels of pain and continue performing with injuries. Because of perceived judgment from the orchestral group, musicians were found to conceal injuries from colleagues and management staff. Freelance musicians felt that disclosing injuries may lead to decreased work opportunities, and both full-time and casual musicians felt that "opening up" about injury may subject them to group judgment about their technique or musicianship. The study suggests education measures which may be effective at influencing individual behaviours and attitudes as well as cultural change initiatives which could lead to long-term positive health outcomes in the orchestral workplace.

Injury and the orchestral environment: part I. The role of work organisation and psychosocial factors in injury risk.

That orchestral musicians are exposed to a high risk of playing-related injury is well established, but despite this, little is known about how work organisation and psychosocial factors may contribute to this risk. Lack of research in this area is surprising considering the importance of these factors in managing occupational health risks in a wide range of other working populations. To address this, we conducted a qualitative study with the following aims: to investigate orchestral musicians' and managers' perceptions of those workplace environmental factors that contribute to injury, and to investigate the potential influence of work organisation and psychosocial factors on injury risk for orchestral musicians. Using a qualitative case-study methodology, in-depth, semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 10 professional orchestral cellists (2 casual and 8 full-time members) from a single Australian orchestra. After initial data analysis, further interviews were undertaken with a set of 5 orchestral management staff as a means of data triangulation. All data were analysed using a "themes-based" analysis of narrative approach. The findings indicate that musicians perceive that stress in the orchestral environment increases injury risk. The perceived stressors were divided into two broad categories: psychosocial injury risks, which included performance stress and interpersonal relationships, and combined psychosocial/physical injury risks such as work organisation and lack of control. This article evaluates the findings in terms of existing literature and makes recommendations for better management of environmental injury risk for orchestral musicians.

The use of fine-wire EMG to investigate shoulder muscle recruitment patterns during cello bowing: the results of a pilot study.

The physical mechanics of music making is important both in the prevention of injuries and in guiding how music is performed and taught. Electromyography has potential as a resource in understanding the loads involved in instrumental playing; however, only a small number of projects have been undertaken, and little is understood on the muscle activity used during bowing on string instruments. This study aimed to measure the muscle activity at the bowing shoulder of a cellist during cello playing and to establish if fine-wire EMG is useful in understanding muscle recruitment in string players without interfering with normal playing ability. This project used a combination of fine-wire and surface EMG to evaluate the muscular load placed on the right shoulder of a professional cellist whilst playing a set of various bowing exercises. The results indicated that different bowing techniques produced statistically different muscle activity levels, with the supraspinatus muscle in particular maintaining higher mean contraction (20% MVC) during all bowing patterns tested. Fine-wire EMG was useful in measuring shoulder muscle load and did not interfere with normal playing technique of the subject. Overall, the study presents a working protocol from which future studies may be able conduct further research.