Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Date

2022

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Counseling Psychology

Committee Chair

Sara Bridges

Committee Member

Elin Ovrebo

Committee Member

Susan Nordstrom

Committee Member

Allison Happel-Parkins

Abstract

Prior research has demonstrated that the highly competitive professional environment faced by musicians and music students can increase risk for a variety of mental health concerns. However, therapists know relatively little about this population, the stressors they face, or how musicians and music students navigate and make meaning of the diverse stressors they encounter personally and professionally. The present narrative inquiry (NI) study, explored the experiences of five advanced classical operatic trainees as they navigated diverse personal, professional, and mental health concerns while pursuing education and employment in this highly competitive discipline. Narrative analysis of collected interview data was grounded in constructivist theory and yielded five coherent narratives, each centered around the personal meaning-making process of its generating artist in order to afford clinicians insight and understanding related to the clinical needs of this under-studied population. All reference to “singers” in this article refers to singers in the field of art-music performance, more vernacularly known as “classical singers” or “opera singers.”

Comments

Data is provided by the student

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to ProQuest.

Notes

Open Access

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