"Throughness": A Story About Songwriting as Auto/Ethnography. (March 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Carless, David
• Is Part Of: Qualitative inquiry. Volume 24:Number 3(2018)
• Page Start: 227
• Page End: 232
• Publication Date: 2018-03
• Subjects: autoethnography -- lyrical inquiry -- music -- narrative -- reflexivity -- songwriting as research; Social sciences -- Methodology -- Periodicals; Social sciences -- Research -- Periodicals; 300.72
• DOI: 10.1177/1077800417704465
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1077-8004

Abstract

A recent special issue of Qualitative Inquiry (December 2016) throws a welcome spotlight on the place of songs within qualitative research. In this essay, I share a story that contributes to the gathering conversation around music and songs as a (perhaps unique) form of qualitative inquiry. My contribution focuses specifically on song writing as a form of research, which has received limited attention to date within the qualitative inquiry literature. The story is inspired by recent explorations of songwriting as reflexive practice, and I share it with the aim of expanding understanding and inviting further dialogue on the processes of writing (songs as) qualitative research.