Browsing by Author "Kemp, Estelle"
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- ItemReflection in and on practice: a cellist’s search for meaning(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2022-12) Kemp, Estelle; Rennie-Salonen, Bridget; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences. Dept. of Music.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Recent studies on musicians’ individual practice habits have evaluated practice through the lens of self-determination theory, self-regulated learning, self-efficacy, and metacognition, to determine effective practice strategies. Considerable research has also been conducted in the field of musician’s health, focusing on the physical and psychological wellbeing aspects of practice and performance. Studies have been undertaken on musicians’ psychological health through the lens of Positive Psychology, which provides an ideal framework for assessing musicians’ health and wellbeing. It addresses multiple facets of musicians’ lives by utilising both the hedonic and eudaimonic perspectives of wellbeing (Ascenso, Williamon & Perkins, 2017). Within this framework, meaning forms an integral part of structuring musicians’ wellbeing (Ascenso, Perkins & Williamon, 2018). However, there is a need to explore the experience of meaning construction in musicians; in particular, to investigate the relation between musicians’ practice and meaning. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of Reflective Practice in cultivating and sustaining meaning in a cellist’s individual practice. The longitudinal, practice-led case study design was grounded in narrative inquiry and autoethnography. Reflective Practice was utilised as the method to explore the cellist’s perceptions, understanding and experience of meaning during individual practice. Journal entries, based on rigorous well-researched reflective frameworks by Moon (2006) and Walker (1985), were written during and after practice sessions to record the cellist’s experience. Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) structured the recursive data analysis process where the cellist, as researcher, engaged with the journal entries to induce themes pertaining to meaning. Meaning was approached as a component of the Positive Psychology PERMA model (Seligman, 2011), and as a construct grounded on coherence, purpose, and significance (Martela & Steger, 2016). The final thematic structure demonstrates the gradual progression from absence of meaning and its contributing factors (Entropy), to the search for meaning through reflection and inner change accompanying it (Search & Change), to the presence of meaning and the systems that sustain it (Flow Mindset). The results indicate how Reflective Practice enabled the cellist to develop psychological strengths that aided in her search for meaning, leading to her own unique and sustaining meaning framework, and better self-perceived psychological wellbeing. Reflection served as an effective medium through which meaning in practice could be enhanced and sustained. The study demonstrates the value of Reflective Practice in arts-based, practice-led research designs, to enable deeper insights into performing artists’ occupational, personal, artistic, emotional, and psychological wellbeing. The Reflective Practice framework could be applied to research in a range of performing arts populations and contexts, including research on pedagogical approaches and curriculum development, and to larger mixed-methods studies. Reflective Practice may hold potential as an effective tool to supplement educational, preventative, rehabilitative, and therapeutic approaches in performing arts health, to better understand and support artists’ learning, wellbeing, challenges, and recovery.