Can music serve as a “cultural immunogen”? An explorative study

The aim of this study is to explore how people in contemporary society may apply music in their everyday life to improve their health and well-being. Through a series of qualitative interviews, informants gave their narratives about how music had become a part of their health practice. Six narrative...

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Main Author: Even Ruud
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2013-08-01
Series:International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health & Well-Being
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.ijqhw.net/index.php/qhw/article/download/20597/29512
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author Even Ruud
author_facet Even Ruud
author_sort Even Ruud
collection DOAJ
description The aim of this study is to explore how people in contemporary society may apply music in their everyday life to improve their health and well-being. Through a series of qualitative interviews, informants gave their narratives about how music had become a part of their health practice. Six narratives concerning this type of everyday musical self-care are presented, and the following questions are sought to be answered: What kinds of musical practices do people apply in order to regulate their health and promote their sense of well-being? What kind of generative health mechanism can we observe or theorize when people use music to enhance their well-being? What kinds of rituals, contextual circumstances and personal health beliefs are operating in these situations? The findings suggests that some people may sing, participate in a choir, dance to music, compose songs, play precomposed music, or play in a band as part of a reflexive strategy to improve their health and well-being. Further analysis also identified six generative factors that may contribute to the immunogen functions of music: A pragmatic concept of music, music as a social and emotional resource, music as a supportive self object, musical competency, rituals, and locus of control. These findings may have implication for the field of music therapy as it will fill the gap between the clinical use of music done by professional music therapists and the everyday “musicking” performed by people outside the institutional practice.
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spelling doaj.art-ead19346bf8c4197877fb3d25ce845d92022-12-21T18:23:15ZengTaylor & Francis GroupInternational Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health & Well-Being1748-26231748-26312013-08-018011210.3402/qhw.v8i0.20597Can music serve as a “cultural immunogen”? An explorative studyEven RuudThe aim of this study is to explore how people in contemporary society may apply music in their everyday life to improve their health and well-being. Through a series of qualitative interviews, informants gave their narratives about how music had become a part of their health practice. Six narratives concerning this type of everyday musical self-care are presented, and the following questions are sought to be answered: What kinds of musical practices do people apply in order to regulate their health and promote their sense of well-being? What kind of generative health mechanism can we observe or theorize when people use music to enhance their well-being? What kinds of rituals, contextual circumstances and personal health beliefs are operating in these situations? The findings suggests that some people may sing, participate in a choir, dance to music, compose songs, play precomposed music, or play in a band as part of a reflexive strategy to improve their health and well-being. Further analysis also identified six generative factors that may contribute to the immunogen functions of music: A pragmatic concept of music, music as a social and emotional resource, music as a supportive self object, musical competency, rituals, and locus of control. These findings may have implication for the field of music therapy as it will fill the gap between the clinical use of music done by professional music therapists and the everyday “musicking” performed by people outside the institutional practice.www.ijqhw.net/index.php/qhw/article/download/20597/29512Musichealthnarrativesculturemusic therapyhealth musicking
spellingShingle Even Ruud
Can music serve as a “cultural immunogen”? An explorative study
International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health & Well-Being
Music
health
narratives
culture
music therapy
health musicking
title Can music serve as a “cultural immunogen”? An explorative study
title_full Can music serve as a “cultural immunogen”? An explorative study
title_fullStr Can music serve as a “cultural immunogen”? An explorative study
title_full_unstemmed Can music serve as a “cultural immunogen”? An explorative study
title_short Can music serve as a “cultural immunogen”? An explorative study
title_sort can music serve as a x201c cultural immunogen x201d an explorative study
topic Music
health
narratives
culture
music therapy
health musicking
url http://www.ijqhw.net/index.php/qhw/article/download/20597/29512
work_keys_str_mv AT evenruud canmusicserveasax201cculturalimmunogenx201danexplorativestudy