Mitä mieltä on pianonsoitossa? : 13-15 vuotiaiden pianonsoittajien kokemuksia musiikkiharrastuksestaan

The subject of this research is the minds and meanings for playing the piano in early adolescense. The theoretical framework is the existential phenomenology with holistic conception of man. The aim of this qualitative study is to analyse the experiences of young adolescent piano players and to find the essential meanings and motives for playing. The experiences I have gathered from interviews with 14 young piano players in Jyväskylä. This empirical material I have analysed using the method of descriptively oriented empirical hermeneutic psychology. Piano players are experiencing beings who have their own experimental ways to analyse their conceptions and relationship to music and piano playing as a part of their life situation. From the results of the analysis emerged 14 individual meaning networks and a general meaning network using three profiles of players constructed from the proposals of invidual meaning networks. The results indicate the most important meanings and motives for playing are rooted in the music. Experiences resulting from the music played and the different kinds of emotions and feeling of mastery you get from playing. Young players want to play mostly their own choice of classical and popular music. Classical music is usually covered by formal tuition, and popular music alone or with friends, on piano or singing. The three profiles of players are: piano students, who study classical piano in music school, music amateurs who enjoy mainly popular music making in many forms including piano playing with or without formal tuition. The third group, occasional players, have other more important interests or have experienced dissapointments in piano study thus reducing their interest in piano playing. Individual meanings arise as experiences in our consciousness that are connected with the social an cultural life and environment of the player. As a conclusion, the meaning network of piano playing can be explained by the musical competence, the aptitude and the ability to experience and to understand music.