Young Musicians' Accounts of Significant Influences in their Early Lives. 1. The Family and the Musical Background

Abstract

This article reports qualitative findings of an interview study in which 42 students ( aged 10–18 ) from a specialist music school were encouraged to talk about various experiences in their lives which the individual children perceived as having been potentially significant influences on their progress in learning musical instruments. The parents of half the children were also interviewed. Observations concerning the following sources of influence are reported: the family background; sibling influences; listening to music. The insights of children and their parents, which complement and add depth to quantitative findings concerning the biographical precursors of musical excellence, help to provide a rich source of descriptive information about the circumstances in which children become competent young musicians.