The learning musician. A study about Military Musicians and their musical and educational development in a life-span musicianship

This study concerns the life-long musical and educational learning processes of retired military musicians, who all commenced their musical schooling and education in the 1940´s. They are today between 75 and 85 years old, and during their professional lives they made a considerable contribution to the development of music education and musical participation in the Swedish society.

The purpose of this study is to investigate factors for sustainable musicianship in a retrospective lens, and to identify the participants´ various professional role-identities as musicians, educators and militaries. A specific interest is the participants´ paths from entering the military service with no former musical experiences, to their development of becoming professional musicians. Learning and performing music gradually transformed into a higher, existential value for many of these musicians, and this discovery affected their ways of relating to their musicianship as an essential aspect of their lives.

The data collection consists of a series of in-depth interviews with former military musicians focusing on their life-histories. These narratives inform us about how musical and educational processes during a life-span operate. This, in turn, will have relevance for the contemporary discussion concerning the conditions for musical learning, music education and musical participation in today´s society.