Transposition (Nov 2023)
“Music school is behind me”: A case of “failed” musical socialisation
Abstract
This article proposes to study in depth the musical socialisation of a conservatory’s former student with a social profile that is not very well represented in this institution (working-class background from North African immigration). Structured as a sociological portrait, it retraces a path that starts out promising but ends with the student dropping out of the conservatory music curriculum. The analysis shows that the expected discipline (regular practice on the instrument) does not happen and explains the mode of appropriation of the musical playing that he develops. Experienced as a leisure activity, based on playing hic et nunc, this does not correspond to the school mode of musical appropriation centered on a distanced relationship to playing, both by the scriptural logic and by the establishment of a deferred satisfaction that is imposed. Focusing on a singular case, the article intends to contribute to the definition of the specific school mode of socialisation proposed in conservatories.
