Three Dimensions of Agency: Personal, Learner, and Musical

Learning is a socially constructive process. In other words, we construct meaning through both formal experiences (e.g., school and school-related) and informal experiences (e.g., out-of-school) by interacting with and building upon the ideas of others (Rogoff, 1990; Vygotsky, 1978; Wenger, 1998). Social constructivists believe that learning is, fundamentally, a socially situated process. The learning process is initiated when the learner chooses to engage with the activity at hand—employing their agency—and make meaning of the experience. Three types of agency must be present for learning to occur and are of particular interest for music education contexts: personal, learner, and musical.

Personal Agency. While there are differences across disciplines, scholars largely define personal agency as having the power to influence one’s life and control one’s circumstances during a particular situation or moment in time. Individuals are not “bystanders.” Rather, they influence their lives within contexts to which they have a vested interest in and contribute to the outcome (Bandura, 2006; Bruner, 1996; Dewey, 1916).

Albert Bandura, a psychologist who wrote extensively on the nature and function of agency in social cognitive theory, posited that personal agency is a dynamic force that is influenced by the interaction of behavioral, intrapersonal, and environmental determinants (Bandura, 1986). It is composed of four main factors (Bandura, 2006):

- Intentionality: having the intention to instigate change and be proactive by devising action plans and strategies to realize those plans.

- Forethought: using cognitive representation to visualize the future and provide motivation to be intentional with one’s action toward the manifestation of goals and provide forward momentum with one’s life.

- Self-reactiveness: having the ability to self-regulate and motivate oneself to follow through with action plans. Creating the action plan is not enough. The effectiveness of one’s personal agency is heavily dependent on self-efficacy, which Bandura (1989) defined as “capacity to exercise control over one’s own thought processes, motivation, and action” (p. 1175).

- Self-reflectiveness: having the ability to reflect on the appropriateness of one’s actions and thoughts vis-a-vis their action plans toward achieving goals and making adjustments as necessary.

Exercising personal agency plays a critical role in the development of student composers. Generating a work of art based on uniquely lived experiences is a deeply personal act. Students need to feel that they have freedom to exercise their personal agency and make artistic choices that have their compositions reflect who they are. This is not to say that music educators should not employ scaffolding practices to assist their students. This topic will be discussed throughout the chapter.

Learner Agency. A subset of personal agency, learner agency allows students to have the self-motivation to learn and feel that their ideas emanating from interactions with others are recognized and valued (Bruner, 1996; Wiggins, 2015 and 2016). Interactions situated within a caring learning community that values student choice (autonomy) and incorporates authentic learning tasks provide a catalyst for intrinsic motivation (Kohn, 1999), thus strengthening learner agency. Students’ intentional efforts with agency can lead to a sense of flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990), which occurs when the “body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to achieve something difficult and worthwhile” (p. 3, emphasis mine).

Lev Vygotsky’s (1978) zone of proximal development, defined as “the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance, or in collaboration with more capable peers” (p. 86), has particular significance for supporting learning agency. If one teaches above a learner’s zone of proximal development, the student does not possess the prerequisite skill or conceptual knowledge to execute or understand. Conversely, teaching below one’s zone of proximal development means that the learner already has the prerequisite skill or conceptual knowledge to execute or understand the topic at hand.

Vygotsky advocated for educators to plan for instruction to take place within the zone of proximal development: while the learner’s skill level or conceptual knowledge lies just below what is needed for execution or competency (i.e., working just outside one’s “comfort zone”), the learner can succeed with the support of a teacher or knowledgeable peer. Scaffolding is a key complementary concept. Teachers (or any other knowledgeable other, including a peer) can employ scaffolding practices, allowing them to support students by having them assume responsibilities for tasks that are within their reach with proper support (Bruner, 1986; Lave & Wenger, 1991). However, a crucial piece of this scenario is the willingness of the learner to believe in their capabilities and take risks in participating in a circumstance that requires working above their competence at that moment.

Learning involves risk taking, initiative, responsibility, and vulnerability. It cannot occur unless the student exercises personal agency (Rogoff, 2003). Therefore, it is incumbent upon music educators to help create a learning environment that encourages risk taking and fosters students’ personal and learning agency (Wiggins, 2011b).

Musical Agency. In her analysis of how musical agency is employed in music education contexts, Sidsel Karlsen (2011) noted that researchers largely share the belief that it can be conceived of as “an individual’s capacity for action in relation to music or in a music-related setting” (p. 110, Karlsen’s emphasis). Scholars across related fields, including ethnomusicology, psychology, philosophy, and sociology, have examined musical agency and the role that it plays in musical experiences and identity development (Barone, 2000; DeNora, 2000; Green, 2008a; Hargreaves et al., 2002; Woodford, 2005). David Hargreaves, Dorothy Miell, and Raymond MacDonald (2002) posited that musical agency can be employed as part of the expression of one’s self-identity (the overall view that we have of ourselves), as the agent uses their choice of musical material to communicate their membership to cultural sub-groups. Furthermore, employing musical agency through interactions with music (e.g., singing, playing, listening, creating, movement to music by oneself or with others) empowers individuals and helps to create and express individual and collective identities (Green, 2011; Westerlund, 2002). Musical agency influences not only actions, but also future behaviors (DeNora, 2000; Karlsen, 2013).

In regard to music education contexts, several researchers have encouraged educators to facilitate learning experiences in which students employ their agency as a means of building musical skills and extending their understandings about music. Students then can feel empowered to engage in self-directed music learning and performance outside of the formal music classroom and throughout their lifetimes (Blair, 2009; Green, 2008a; Karlsen, 2009; O’Neill, 2012).