Symbolic Interactionist Methods for Studying Music

Symbolic interactionist methods for studying music are important for two reasons. First, these methods allow us to investigate numerous facets of the everyday life world of music, one of the more accessible areas of culture. Second, these methods can be applied to and translated for use in examining other realms of culture in the arts, communications, and language. In this chapter, I organize and evaluate symbolic interactionist-inspired research on music in terms of the concepts used to drive this research. These concepts include subculture, self, identity, community, scene, idioculture, interaction, and authenticity. This line of research highlights the value of team-oriented studies; true participant-observation; applied projects; and the application of findings from music research to interactionist theory.