The purpose of this grounded theory study was to discover the process of social identity development for adolescent high school women’s choir participants. Purposive maximum variation sampling was used to identify three public high school women’s choirs where 54 interviews were conducted with 40 different public school singers. Three waves of data collection and analysis revealed a seven-step process beginning with coming in singing and ending with envisioning myself. The central phenomenon was identified as opening up my voice and me and emphasized singers’ increased self-confidence. Intervening conditions included competition, the absence of choral opportunities, and lack of understanding from those outside of the choral program. Amount of time in the choral program, number of groups, and community recognition were identified as contextual conditions. Dimensionalized properties, a temporal matrix, and propositional statements are presented.
AbramsD. (1989). Differential association: Gender identity and adolescence. In SkevingtonS.BakerD. (Eds.), Social identity of women (pp. 59–83). London, England: Sage Publications.
2.
AbrilC. (2013). A view of school band from the perspective of hardcore band kids. In CampbellP. S.WigginsT. (Eds.), Oxford handbook of children’s musical cultures (pp. 434–448). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
3.
AdderleyC.KennedyM.BerzW. (2003). “A home away from home”: The world of the high school music classroom. Journal of Research in Music Education, 51, 190–205. doi:10.2307/3345373
AzmitiaM. (2002). Self, self-esteem, conflicts, and best friendships in early adolescence. In BrinthauptT.LipkaR. (Eds.), Understanding early adolescent self and identity (pp. 167–192). Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
6.
BaronE.BellN.CorsonK.Kostina-RitcheyE.FrederickH. (2012). Girls discuss choice of an all-girl middle school: Narrative analysis of an early adolescent identity project. Journal of Early Adolescence, 32, 465–488. doi:10.1177/0272431611400312
7.
BartolomeS. (2013). “It’s like a whole bunch of me!”: The perceived values and benefits of the Seattle Girls’ Choir experience. Journal of Research in Music Education, 60, 395–418. doi:10.1177/0022429412464054
8.
ButlerJ. (1990). Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. New York, NY: Routledge.
9.
CarliL. L. (2010). Gender and group behavior. In ChrislerJ. C.McCrearyD. R. (Eds.), Handbook of gender research in psychology (pp. 337–358). New York, NY: Springer Publications.
10.
CorbinJ. M.StraussA. L. (2015). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
11.
CreswellJ. W. (2015). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
12.
DravesT. J. (2014, April). Molly and Rachel become band teachers: Identity construction during student teaching. Session presented at the Biennial Music Research and Teacher Education National Conference, St. Louis, MO.
13.
DurrantC. (2005). Shaping identity through choral activity: Singers’ and conductors’ perceptions. Research Studies in Music Education, 24, 88–98. doi:10.1177/1321103X050240010701
14.
EcclesJ.GootmanA. (Eds.). (2002). Community programs to promote youth development. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
15.
EckesT.TrautnerH.BehrendtR. (2005). Gender subgroups and intergroup perception: Adolescents’ views of own-gender and other-gender groups. The Journal of Social Psychology, 145, 85–112. doi:10.3200/ SOCP.145.1.85-112
16.
EllemersN.SpearsR.DoosjeB. (2002). Self and social identity. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 161–186. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.53.100901.135228
17.
EriksonE. (1968). Identity, youth, and crisis. New York, NY: Norton.
18.
FreerP. K.TanL. (2014). The self-perceptions of young men as singers in Singaporean pre-university schools. Research Studies in Music Education, 36, 165–178. doi:10.1177/1321103X14556575
19.
GackleL. (1991). The adolescent female voice: Characteristics of change and stages of development. Choral Journal, 31(8), 17–25.
20.
GackleL. (2006). Finding Ophelia’s voice: The female voice during adolescence. Choral Journal, 47(5), 28–37.
21.
GackleL. (2011). Finding Ophelia’s voice, opening Ophelia’s heart: Nurturing the adolescent female voice. Dayton, OH: Heritage Music Press.
22.
GauthierD. (2005). I’m only in Women’s Chorus: A need for positive image building. Choral Journal, 46(2), 42–47.
23.
GilliganC. (1982). In a different voice: Psychological theory and women’s development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
24.
GlaserB. G. (2007). Doing formal grounded theory: A proposal. Mill Valley, CA: Sociology Press.
25.
GlaserB. G.StraussA. L. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research. New York, NY: Aldine.
26.
HarterS. (1990). Causes, correlates and the functional role of global self-worth: A life-span perspective. In KolliganJ.SternbergR. (Eds.), Perceptions of competence and incompetence across the life span (pp. 67–98). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
27.
HarterS. (1999). The construction of the self. New York, NY: Wiley.
28.
HoggM. A.AbramsD. (1988). Social identifications: A social psychology of intergroup relations and group processes. London, England: Routledge.
29.
HopperM. (2012). Building community in the women’s choir. In SpurgeonD. (Ed.), Conducting women’s choirs: Strategies for success (pp. 118–131). Chicago, IL: GIA Publications.
30.
JonesJ. N.DeutschN. L. (2013). Social and identity development in an after-school program: Changing experiences and shifting adolescent needs. Journal of Early Adolescence, 33, 17–43. doi:10.1177/0272431612462628
31.
JosselsonR. (1996). Revising herself. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
32.
KeganG. (1982). The evolving self: Problem and process in human development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
33.
KennedyM. A. (2002). “It’s cool because we like to sing”: Junior high school boys’ experience of choral music as an elective. Research Studies in Music Education, 18, 26–36. doi:10.1177/1321103X020180010401
34.
KennedyM. A. (2004). “It’s a metamorphosis”: Guiding the voice change at the American Boychoir School. Journal of Research in Music Education, 52, 264–280. doi:10.2307/3345859
MajorM. L.DakonJ. M. (2016). Singers’ perceptions of mid-level choral experiences. Journal of Research in Music Education, 64, 108–127. doi:10.1177/0022429416639232
37.
McClellanE. (2014). Undergraduate music education major identity formation in the university music department. Action, Criticism, and Theory in Music Education, 13(1), 279–309. Retrieved from http://act.maydaygroup.org/articles/McClellan13_1.pdf
38.
MillsM. (2010). Being a musician: Musical identity and the adolescent singer. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 186, 43–54.
39.
NewmanP. R.NewmanB. M. (1976). Early adolescence and its conflict: Group identity versus alienation. Adolescence, 11, 261–274.
40.
O’TooleP. (1998). A missing chapter from choral methods books: How choirs neglect girls. Choral Journal, 39(5), 9–32.
41.
ParkerE. C. (2009). Understanding the process of social identity development in adolescent high school choral singers: A grounded theory (Doctoral dissertation, University of Nebraska-Lincoln). Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI3350454
42.
ParkerE. C. (2010). Exploring student experiences of belonging within an urban high school choral ensemble: An action research study. Music Education Research, 12, 339–352. doi:10.1080/14613808.2010.519379
43.
ParkerE. C. (2014). The process of social identity development in adolescent high school choral singers: A grounded theory. Journal of Research in Music Education, 62, 18–32. doi:10.1177/0022429413520009
44.
PattonM. Q. (2015). Qualitative research and evaluation methods (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
45.
SharmaS.SharmaM. (2010). Self, social identity and psychological well-being. Psychological Studies, 55, 118–136. doi:10.1007/s12646-010-0011-8
46.
ShepherdD.SiggN. (2015). Music preference, social identity, and self-esteem. Music Perception: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 32, 507–514. doi:10.1525/mp.2015.32.5.507
47.
SnowS. (2012). We sing ourselves: An essay about teaching and learning with women. In SpurgeonD. (Ed.), Conducting women’s choirs: Strategies for success (pp. 103–116). Chicago, IL: GIA Publications.
48.
SorellG. T.MontgomeryM. J. (2001). Feminist perspectives on Erikson’s theory: Their relevance for contemporary identity development research. Identity: An International Journal of Theory and Research, 1, 97–128. doi:10.1207/S1532706XID0102_01
49.
SpurgeonD. (2012a). The status of women’s choirs. In SpurgeonD. (Ed.), Conducting women’s choirs: Strategies for success (pp. 1–9). Chicago, IL: GIA Publications.
50.
SpurgeonD. (2012b). Understanding the young female singer: An interview with Lynne Gackle. In SpurgeonD. (Ed.), Conducting women’s choirs: Strategies for success (pp. 233–256). Chicago, IL: GIA Publications.
51.
SteinbergL.MorrisA. S. (2001). Adolescent development. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 83–110. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.52.1.83
52.
StraussA.CorbinJ. (1998). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
53.
SweetB. (2010). A case study: Middle school boys’ perceptions of singing and participation in choir. UPDATE: Applications of Research in Music Education, 28(2), 5–12. doi:10.1177/8755123310361770
54.
SweetB. (2015). The adolescent female changing voice: A phenomenological investigation. Journal of Research in Music Education, 63, 70–88. doi:10.1177/0022429415570755
55.
TajfelH. (1978). Social categorization, social identity and social comparison. In TajfelH. (Ed.), Differentiation between social groups (pp. 61–67). London, England: Academic Press.
56.
TajfelH.TurnerJ. (1978). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. In AustinW.WorschelS. (Eds.), The social psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 33–47). Monterey, CA: Brooks-Cole.
57.
TarrantM.NorthA.HargreavesD. (2004). Adolescents’ intergroup attributions: A comparison of two social identities. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 33, 177–185. doi:10.1023/B:JOYO.0000025317.96224.75
58.
WilsonJ. (2012). Preferences of and attitudes toward treble choral ensembles. Research & Issues in Music Education, 10. Retrieved from http://www.stthomas.edu/rimeonline/vol10/htm
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
