jlwm - Posted - 06/08/2010:  09:41:01

Dear Banjo Hangout members,

My name is Dr. Janice Waldron and I am a music education professor/researcher at the University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Eric (the Banjo Hangout site owner) was kind enough to allow me to post this request on the BH forum. I am seeking prospective participants to be interviewed for a qualitative music education research study entitled: “Give Me That Good Old Time Music Virtually: A Cyber Ethnographic Study of Music Learning and Teaching in One Online Music Community.” The purpose of my research is to explore how members of the Old Time online community learn and teach Bluegrass and Old Time music using the Internet.

I will not contact you unless you first choose to contact me via my e-mail. If you would like, I can also forward you more information regarding my research while you consider my request.

If you choose to participate, contact me at jwaldron@uwindsor.ca and I will e-mail you back to arrange an interview with you via your preferred method of communication (Skype/e-mail/phone/chat room). The interview will take approximately 30 minutes-one hour of your time.

I will ask you: a) why and how you began learning Bluegrass (BG) or Old Time (OT) music b) have you developed their own self-teaching style to learn BG/OT music, including using resources found on the Internet (YouTube videos, TAB programs, software programs, electronic teaching books, MIDI, etc.) c) what teaching, learning and playing this music means to you, including issues related to learning BG/OT music via the Internet and d) what issues of belonging and identity you associate with being a member of the BG/OT online music community.

After I transcribe your interview, I will send you back your transcript via e-mail so that you may review and correct your transcript for any errors or misspoken words. You will also have the option of removing any of your own data from the study at that time if you so choose.

If you choose to participate, I will give you a pseudonym and any information that is obtained in connection with this research and that can be identified with you will remain confidential and will be disclosed only with your permission.

If you have any questions about my research, please feel free to contact the Research Ethics Coordinator at the University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario N9B 3P4; Telephone: 519-253-3000, ext. 3948; e mail: ethics@uwindsor.ca. Make sure to reference the name and REB number of my study in your e-mail, which is: “Give Me That Good Old Time Music Virtually: A Cyber Ethnographic Study of Music Learning and Teaching in One Online Music Community,” REB#10-091.

Thank you for your time and consideration!

Dr. Janice Waldron
Assistant Professor of Music Education
School of Music
The University of Windsor
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
jwaldron@uwindsor.ca

stanleytone - Posted - 06/08/2010:  10:14:16

Man, just the title of your project will scare most banjo players away!(lol)

Prof - Posted - 06/08/2010:  12:08:47

I suddenly have the urge for a piece of cheese....

Deaf David - Posted - 06/08/2010:  17:52:02

Great research topic. I have wondered about the transition from folk music as a community building activity to these kinds of on-line communities. Not that long ago the only way folk music was learned was by listening to family and neighbors. Now this strange phenomenon comes along.

rstieg - Posted - 06/09/2010:  11:50:45

Dr. Waldron, so just to clarify, are you looking for both players and teachers to interview? And if so, do you have any preference as to how long someone has been playing or teaching? Or what level player they are?

Also, are you specifically looking for people who use online lessons to either learn or teach, or people who use the Internet in some way to either learn or teach banjo?