Reflections on "Everyone Here is Going to Have Bright Futures", Chapter 3 in Class, Control & Classical Music (Anna Bull, 2019)
According to Anna Bull’s categorisation, I see myself in the ‘humble and hard-working’ group. Growing up in a musical family, classical music was always a part of my life. It was completely natural and normal to listen to classical music and learn an instrument. I worked extremely hard to develop my talents: I have invested countless hours of time, effort and money into nurturing my musical self. This has led to career opportunities in music, though I have not sought out full-time work. Music is my world, a crucial aspect of my identity. I cannot imagine finding fulfilment and joy in any other career path. In all of my musical pursuits, I have had no desire to hold a position of power, but just to continually improve myself and make a difference in the lives of others.
In saying that I come from a musical family, I have not previously considered this a statement of socioeconomic status. However, as Anna Bull clearly demonstrates from her research (Bull & Scharff, 2017), a musical family is essentially synonymous with the middle class. Thus, belonging to a middle-class family has given me the benefit of having parents who first exposed me to music, but who then went on to appreciate, encourage, value and support all of my musical endeavours. This is something that I have perhaps taken for granted at times. My children are now also beneficiaries of the “middle class culture of music education” (Ibid).
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Bull, A., & Scharff, C. (2017). ‘McDonalds’ music’ versus ‘serious music’: how production and consumption practices help to reproduce class inequality in the classical music profession. Cultural Sociology, 11(3), 283-301. https://doi.org/10.1177/1749975517711045