Place for Hearing, Essay Example

Small, C. (1998). Prelude: Music and musicking. Musicking: The Meanings of Performing and Listening. Hanover: Wesleyan University Press.

In listing the variety of songs, sounds, and noise which can impact on our everyday lives, Small (1998) mentions a young man whose experience with recorded music is “isolating him from his surroundings” (p.1).  Does such isolation have negative ramifications for the young man in question, and can music act as a barrier for meaningful human communication?

Small, C. (1998). A Place for hearing. Musicking: The Meanings of Performing and Listening. Hanover: Wesleyan University Press.

Small (1998) argues that the act of musicking does not require specialized buildings such as concert halls, given that “human beings have been musicking for as long as there have been humans” (p.21).  Given his discussion of the manner in which assumptions regarding behavior influence activities within purpose-built structures, how might the grandness of concert halls effect our ability to both listen to music and engage in active musicking?

Swartz, D.L. (2002). The sociology of habit: The perspective of Pierre Bourdieu. The Occupational Therapy Journal of Research, Supplement.

Building on Bourdieu’s discussion of habitus, Swartz (2002) suggests that our early socialization plays a pivotal role in conditioning our habits as adults.  How might the “internalization process by which habitus is formed” (Swartz, 2002, p.63) impact on our ability to find constructive and meaningful occupations as adults?

Rowles, G. (2000). Habituation and being in place. The Occupational Therapy Journal of Research, 20.

In “Habituation and Being in Place,” Rowles (2000) discusses how the addition of a picture window to 68-year-old Peggy’s home enabled this widow to “live a lifestyle in which she was involved and engaged” (p.54).  How can such ostensibly small changes transform the lives of the elderly, and how can occupational therapists support clients to alter their ingrained habits?

Clark, F., Sanders, K., Carlson, M., Blanche, E., & Jackson, J. (2007). Synthesis of habit theory. OTJR: Occupation, Participation, and Health, 27.

In Clark and colleagues (2007) discussion of the nine ways in which habit can be defined, they note that when habit is part of a learned response, it can be counterproductive to physical and mental rehabilitation.  Have you had experiences in your own working or professional life where the positive aspects of habit have been undermined by conditioned responses?