General Survey on Music at DSC

Courtesy of arts.harvard.edu

            I recently conducted a general survey on music on Dixie State College campus. I asked several questions in it; a couple of demographic questions, questions about musical education in youth and what is important to my surveyees about music. My findings have supported what I am thinking about my paper thesis.
            All of the people surveyed were students and the majority of them were between the ages of 18-30. There were of course a couple of outliars in regards to age. My target audience was students because I wanted the opinions of young adults who already have children or who will have children in the next several years. I will use these specific opinions and answers of the students In my paper to establish the benefits of children being musically educated, especially appealing to pathos in regards to how most parents seem to want their children to have some sort of musical education because in their minds it will better the children.
            I also posed a questions asking surveyees to number factors when buying an instrument from one to four in terms of most important to least important. Almost all of the surveyees either had cost as the most important factor or second most important factor when buying an instrument.
            From these two points, I can, in my essay, introduce the viable option of buying a ukulele as an instrument in a household, for children or for adults to learn because you can get a good quality ukulele for a relatively cheap price (as far as instrument pricing goes) and they are child size.
            Overall, I feel the survey went very well and it will provide me with a lot of information and statistics which I will use to support my thesis.

Interview With a Musician

            I interviewed Neil Bradley Owen, a local songwriter/guitarist/musician for his music knowledge and opinions. He has been playing the guitar and singing since the age of 11, has produced and sold thousands of albums, and has won several musical competitions to which he has been invited.

Courtesy of www.neilbradleyowen.com

There were some interesting things that I learned during this interview. There are definitely good questions to ask and better questions to ask during an interview. One question that I really got some good info out of was, “What kind of effects has guitar playing and singing had on you?” to which he replied, “It’s allowed me to express my feelings, thoughts, and emotions. Writing out your emotions. It’s a form of expression.”

Neil continued that being a musician immediately makes you part of a specific community, which allows you to befriend others with like commonalities. I will use this in my research paper to the appeal of pathos, arguing that all children as well as adults desire to belong to communities in which they share camaraderie and friendship.

He cites multiple benefits, specifically social benefits from musical instrument playing because, “Everybody loves music, so it gives you recognition for a talent and you get to know others who appreciate your expression,” as well as intellectual benefits since, “…anytime you are expressing an art form, it expands your mind, motor coordination, hand-eye coordination, etc. …it’s a skill and it will simply improve yourself.”

This will be utilized in my paper as a logos/pathos appeal. Whether adults are considering learning an instrument themselves, or having their children learn, there are multiple benefits from the knowledge that will come (logos because it’s logical to do something if there are associated benefits and pathos because adults naturally want what is best for their children and what will make them well-rounded successful people). When I’ve gotten more research and thought out the ideas more, I will tie this into why the ukulele should definitely be considered as a starting point.