• Power and Hierarchy

Within these diverse contexts, one common feature discussed was an awareness of the tension of power relations experienced in the participatory music workshop setting, especially where they challenged assumptions about hierarchy and leadership, or where they were about facilitating the creative ideas of other people rather than one's own:

Allowing for a true democracy in the group is something I've been challenging myself with all through my career. If I compare projects I run now with that first project I participated in while studying, I can feel quite proud of how much I devolve creative decisions to the group. This comes with confidence of course but I think a leader needs to be conscious of this choice and I'm not sure it's something that is being taught in conservatoires too much. (Q-8)

There's a big difference in saying as a participatory music facilitator, I am going into this space with these people and whatever comes out of it, comes out of it; as opposed to going in as a leader or a teacher and [having] a really planned idea of what you're going to do. (FG-2)

These more dialogic approaches might be especially challenging epistemologically for musicians whose professional expertise is based on values of discipline, precision and acting on clear instructions from others, e.g., a conductor. However, being able to participate in situations where power is distributed more equally across a group can also be empowering:

If you remove hierarchy from a social situation, you can potentially get chaos. But I think if you remove hierarchy and power, you also encourage freedom. The settings that I've felt like I've learned the most from are settings where I've felt on a par with the people who are educating me. (FG-5)

There was also a recognition that engaging in these more dialogic ways of being musical was helpful in developing a collaborative set of values and mindset which would be of direct use within a chamber context:

As chamber musicians you eliminate a hierarchy. As soon as you make that [performing] group smaller or you remove a conductor to make it chamber or there's three or four, everyone is the conductor, everyone is responsible. If you're engaging with participatory music you're encountering different ways of negotiating power and hierarchy, and that's going to give you different insights that might help you work more collaboratively with peers in the chamber system. (FG-5)
