dc.description.abstract | Peak music experiences are those experiences involving music that stand out as especially
affecting, meaningful and memorable for the individuals involved. They are a common
topic in discussions of popular music, including in journalism, biography and fan culture,
where they are often credited as pivotal in people’s relationships with music and their
lives more generally. Examples of peak music experiences are apparent in some previous
scholarly studies of popular music cultures, however, this is the first dedicated
investigation of the phenomenon. By analysing this way of thinking and talking about
music, this thesis contributes to understandings of how music’s meaning and effects are
constructed, the role of musical experience in identity and sociality, and the discursive
structuring of individual and collective experience in music scenes.
The thesis draws on ethnographic research conducted in 2015 in the local music
scene of Brisbane, Australia, including participant observation in activities of music
consumption and production, reviews of secondary data sources including popular music
media, and in-depth interviews. Interviews were conducted with 44 women and men
between the ages of 23 and 58 who participated in Brisbane’s dance, hip hop, indie and
rock ‘n’ roll music scenes. This research provides the basis for a grounded exploration of
peak music experiences, as well as a contemporary ethnographic study of these scenes,
demonstrating the methodological value of peak music experiences for music scene
research.
The findings are broadly divided into themes of identity and belonging. In the first
part, peak music experiences are shown to be epiphanies through which self-narratives
are constructed. This involves common tropes including first encounters, gateway
experiences and conversion experiences, which offer discursive shape for the
construction of identity through popular music and highlight common and divergent
priorities between popular music cultures. In particular, these narratives enable and encourage people to present their relationship to music as personal, authentic, and aligned
with specific cultural values. It is common for music scene participants to credit peak
music experiences with inspiration and influence on their musical activities as well as
other aspects of their lives. Analysing these claims highlights the crucial importance of
affect in people’s responses to music and therefore its social agency. This analysis also
responds to the important but under-explored question of why some people grant music
a central status in their lives, as musicians, fans and in other roles, investing considerable
resources and organising their social lives around it. Peak music experiences provide
motivation to sustain social commitments and activities, as embodied experiences,
memories and sought-after ideals.
The second part considers the role of peak music experiences in belonging and
collective identity. At the micro-social level, peak music experiences can both reflect and
inform relationships between family, friends and romantic partners. At a larger scale, the
music scene participants interviewed attributed peak music experiences most often to live
and collective music events, reflecting the status accorded to these in both popular culture
and scholarly research. These specifically celebrated instances of live music reveal what
people value most in that context and how this differs between groups. Most notably, live
music enables the exploration and celebration of individual and collective identity,
including uncommon expressions of the self, resulting in especially affecting, memorable
and meaningful musical experiences. Thus peak music experiences help to account for
the special status of live music. Finally, the role of peak music experiences in music
scenes is considered. Individuals’ peak music experiences contribute to and are shaped
by collective memory in the Brisbane dance, hip hop, indie and rock ‘n’ roll music scenes.
This informs ongoing practices in the scenes, which are defined partly by the shared
priorities and ideals that are apparent in and reproduced by the peak music experiences of participants. | |