Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

5-1997

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Education

Major Professor

Olga M. Welch

Committee Members

Faye V. Harrison, Joy T. DeSensi, Marvelene C. Moore, Clarence E. Roeske

Abstract

This study examined one deaf person's experience with music, focusing especially on the individual's construction of meaning in music and the possible relationship between it and aspects of dominance and control (e.g., hegemony, oppression and ideology) based on auditory skills. An important aspect of this study was the commitment of the researcher to present the perspective of a deaf person on music, a perspective that has seldom been either investigated or described in other studies. Using a phenomenological approach as a strategy to fit within the paradigm of critical theory, the deaf person's perspective is presented as a life history.

The data for the study were obtained through qualitative research methods and they encompass: (a) structured and unstructured interviews, (b) attendances to local concerts by the researcher and the participant, and (c) keyboard performances by the participant. The participant was a profoundly, congenitally deaf individual who was exposed to music during his childhood, does not perceive deafness to be a limiting factor, and who has never allowed deafness to define him.

Among the most important benefits of music identified by the participant were: (a) it is cleansing, (b) it is therapeutic, (c) it helps him to deal with his frustrations and emotions, (d) it is a tool for self-expression, and (e) it is of spiritual value.

The data presented in the study were divided into five themes. These themes were: (1) the participant and the hearing world, (2) the participant and his deafness, (3) the participant's "Anne Sullivan," (4) the participant and music, and (5) the participant constructing meaning in music.

The findings from the data suggested that the deaf participant in this study uses several different avenues to obtain information about music. These avenues are: (a) visualization, (b) feeling vibrations, (c) imitation, (d) imagining sounds, and (e) internalizing the sounds. The participant combines three different types of meaning in music depending on environmental conditions to construct meaning in music. These types of meaning are absolute meaning, referential meaning and absolute expressionism.

Furthermore, the way the participant uses the different types of meaning in music is not substantially different from the way a normally hearing person uses the different types of meaning in music. However, the participant's experience of dominance and control in music (based on auditory skills) has strongly influenced the role music plays for him.

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