935208

research-article2020
RSM0010.1177/1321103X20935208Research Studies in Music EducationHogle

Research Article

Research Studies in Music Education

1­–14
Inclusion of a music learner © The Author(s) 2020
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DOI: 10.1177/1321103X20935208
https://doi.org/10.1177/1321103X20935208
intersubjectivity journals.sagepub.com/home/rsm

Lauri A Hogle
Oakland University, USA

Abstract
Through a case study of Jad (pseudonym), a music learner with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), I sought
to understand his experiences as he engaged in peer scaffolding activities of a choral ensemble. The study
illuminated the role of intersubjectivity (or shared understanding) in socially mediated music learning
within an environment of inclusion. Through inclusive, play-full, intersubjective attunement of younger
children to Jad, he increasingly took on a role as an empathetic teacher-helper, initially with his younger
sister, then with other young children, then with the entire ensemble. Jad also increasingly displayed
musical agency through physical movement during music-making, contributing to others’ understanding
and musical agency. The findings describe intersections of play with intersubjectivity, focusing on learner
attunement to affect and emotion in fostering an inclusive music education experience. Making space for
peer scaffolding and playfulness within this music learning environment fostered shared understanding
and empathy among all learners, including one with ASD.

Keywords
autism spectrum disorder, choral music education, empathy, inclusion, intersubjectivity

To foster inclusivity in music-learning settings, teachers endeavor to provide safe, welcoming

environments through which all learners may interact with peers, enabling musical abilities of
all to grow (Fuelberth & Todd, 2017). In a social constructivist vision of learning and teaching
(Rogoff, 1990; Vygotsky, 1978; Wenger, 1998; Wiggins, 2015), teachers foster these environ-
ments by offering learning experiences in which peers may mediate understanding through
goal-directed solving of meaningful problems as they scaffold one another. Within these inten-
tionally musical and socially interactive contexts, social constructivist music educators seek to
empower learners to make choices as learners take responsibility for and share ownership of
collaborative learning processes and outcomes. Adults and peers then adapt to individual
learner success through scaffolded musical interactions (Hogle, 2018a; Darrow & Adamek,
2016). Learners who have disabilities that affect social communication or interaction, such as

Corresponding author:
Lauri A Hogle, Oakland University, Rochester, MI 48309-4401, USA.
Email: laurihogle@oakland.edu
2 Research Studies in Music Education 00(0)

autism spectrum disorder (ASD), can benefit from a welcoming environment in which peer
scaffolding flourishes. Let us consider the experiences of Jad,1 a learner with ASD, as he engaged
in a multiage community choral ensemble for which I served as teacher.

Jad
I first met Jad as his ninth-grade choral teacher in a community choir setting. I cherished the
richness of his baritone voice . . . when he chose to sing. After our first rehearsal, his grandmother
instructed me to let her know of any behavioral concerns I might note, as Jad had ASD. I discovered
that Jad fluently sight-sang, vocally leading others. Yet, he often withdrew after a few minutes,
moving to a corner, participating but pulling a hood over his face. Sometimes, he left to briefly sit
with his grandmother in the hall. I told him he was always welcome to sing with us when he was
ready. I noticed he had difficulty making and maintaining eye contact and engaging in conversation,
along with challenges in understanding the perspectives of others, resulting in occasional
aggression. At one point, he had an emotionally explosive moment with another chorister, just
before a performance. It scared the chaperones who wanted me to remove him from the group. One
chaperone expressed fear: “He is a dangerous monster. I don’t care how well he can sing”. Yet, choral
singing could be his place to shine. (Teacher-researcher journal)

ASD and intersubjectivity in a choral music classroom

Learners with ASD “demonstrate persistent deficits in social communication and . . . display
restricted or repetitive patterns of behavior” (Adamek & Darrow, 2018, p. 262). Like Jad, learn-
ers with Level 1 ASD diagnoses (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders–5th ed.;
DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013) might experience difficulty in understanding
the perceptions of others (Adamek & Darrow, 2018), although they can engage in conversa-
tion. Moyes (2001) suggests that other possible challenges include rigidity in adherence to
rules, bland facial affect or difficulty in displaying nonverbal communication, limited eye gaze
or eye contact, differences in reading nonverbal gestures and cues in others, and inability to
self-regulate emotions, anxieties, and responses to others. Describing lack of childhood devel-
opment of social play in people with ASD, Jordan (2003) offers, “The failure to experience spon-
taneous, affect-driven and collaborative patterns of behaviour leads to difficulties in
self-awareness, motivation, memory, socialization and self-control” (p. 356).
However, verbal, nonverbal, and musical communication within social interactions is inher-
ently essential for peer scaffolding experiences in a choral ensemble (Hogle, 2018a, 2018b),
potentially creating obstacles for those with ASD. Within and prior to music-making with oth-
ers, learners with ASD may not engage in joint attention: “a shared interest in an object of
activity” (Hourigan, 2016, p. 71). Without joint attention, intersubjectivity could be chal-
lenged. Wiggins (1999/2000) describes intersubjectivity as “shared understanding” (p. 67)
between individuals who collaboratively work together as they teach and learn from and with
one another. Intersubjectivity requires social communication about an “object of joint focus”
(Rogoff, 1990, p. 195), achieved when learners adjust to others’ perspectives while working
toward a common goal (Berk & Winsler, 1995; Vygotsky, 1978; Wertsch, 1984). Beals (1998)
links intersubjectivity to Bakhtin’s (1981) concept of appropriation, as the mind is “shared
across the barriers of individual lives through our interaction with others” (p. 12). Bruner
(1986) connects intersubjectivity with communicative purpose between people, as “somebody
has knowledge that I do not possess or that I have knowledge that they do not possess, and that
such imbalance can be dealt with by any act of talking or “telling”” (p. 125). Therefore, trust-
ing, reliable, and accessible relationships are necessary for any intersubjectivity to occur (Clark
& Chalmers, 1998).
Hogle 3

Authors describe both cognitive and affective aspects of intersubjectivity. Stone et al. (2012)
see intersubjectivity “as the communicative mechanism that fosters learning and development
as individuals negotiate a shared understanding of their social, emotional, cognitive and cul-
tural world” (p. 65). Intersubjectivity requires cognitively shared goals and motivation
(Matusov, 2001), agreement, or growing mutual understanding (Matusov, 2011) in problem-
solving experiences with others while using tools and artifacts created by people (Karasavvidis,
2002). Intersubjectivity also includes affective aspects, requiring a shared “feeling state or
mental state” in a “psychological relationship between people” (Birnbaum, 2014, p. 31).
Matusov (2015) describes this affective relationship as one that requires interest in another,
with “the ability to pay attention to what another person is doing and to understand his or her
intention” (p. 392). Rogoff (1990) concurs: “There is more to intersubjectivity than just think-
ing – thinking, feeling, and emotion are all part of it” (p. 9). Therefore, intersubjectivity neces-
sitates socially communicative elements such as physical joint attention and eye gaze, shared
focus of attention toward a shared goal or task, and emotional investment in another (Rogoff,
1990; Wertsch, 1984). As learners engage in music learning experiences, intersubjectivity is
needed as they actively attune to and unconsciously communicate with others through cogni-
tive and affective musical responses (Birnbaum, 2014; MacDonald & Miell, 2000).
Related to intersubjectivity, empathy also incorporates both cognitive and affective elements.
To display empathy, we require cognitive empathy: an awareness, understanding, and identifi-
cation of emotion or an ability to understand another’s perspective. Affective empathy is an
ability to share another’s emotions with our embodied, unconscious, affective response to the
emotional state of another (Acho, 2020; Rabinowitch et al., 2013). People with ASD can expe-
rience an overload of affective empathy in social settings, without balanced cognitive empathy
(Acho, 2020). In learning environments, people with ASD can experience challenges in learn-
ing due to challenged empathic development (Hourigan, 2016; Moyes, 2001).
Is it possible that musical ensembles might serve as contexts for development of intersub-
jectivity and related empathy? As ensemble musicians attend to one another, coordinating
and synchronizing physical movements in rhythmic interaction, affective states mutually
adjust and align empathetically (Rabinowitch et al., 2013). Badone et al. (2016) suggest that,
within groups, people who accept and recognize neurodiversity help those with ASD to develop
empathy and intersubjectivity. Perhaps a particular type of inclusive music education com-
munity could facilitate development of intersubjectivity and empathy in learners with ASD.
Hourigan (2014) calls to researchers: “Music teachers and music teacher educators must
have case study research from which to generalize potential strategies for these disabilities or
that might be generalized for all children within an inclusive music classroom” (p. 536).
Although the findings of the study shared in this article are not generalizable, the purpose of
the study was to contribute to this body of research by seeking to understand the intersubjec-
tive experience of one learner with ASD as he engaged in peer scaffolding activities in a par-
ticular choral ensemble setting.

Methodology
With institutional IRB approval, data for this study were collected from videotapes of 14
rehearsals and two concert performances of a non-auditioned, multiage choral ensemble of
14 singers, aged 6–16, of which Jad was a member. I also kept a teacher-researcher journal of
my reflections throughout the teaching interactions with the learners, data collection, and
analysis processes. These data were used in a previous study (Hogle, 2018a, 2018b) that
investigated the nature of the choir participants’ musical learning in this multiage ensemble.
4 Research Studies in Music Education 00(0)

In the present study, I reanalyzed these data to see what I could understand about his experi-
ences of learning in this ensemble that might resonate with and inform music educators who
work with learners with ASD.
Through repeated observations of videos and taking screenshots of video stills, I initially
employed descriptive and in vivo coding (Saldaña, 2009) of Jad’s musical and verbal sounds
along with nonverbal and social behaviors, including eye contact, proximity, facial expression,
appearance, gesture, touch, and posture (Robinson, 1994). I then systematically transcribed
my observations of Jad’s verbal and nonverbal interactions between and during musical
moments through timestamps and sequential charts (Patton, 2002) to determine possible
emerging themes (Bogdan & Biklen, 2007). I also engaged in recursive negative case analysis to
seek possible opposing instances of phenomena (Lincoln & Guba, 1985) and in peer debriefing
with a qualitative researcher in the field of music education (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000). It was in
the temporal analysis of Jad’s narrative that I began to notice antecedent and consequential
changes in Jad over time (Thomas, 2011). Because my understanding of the phenomena of
Jad’s experience became clear to me primarily through temporal analysis, I share my findings
as a “Teacher’s Story” (Connelly & Clandinin, 1990), a form of narrative analysis in which I
drew together and integrated actions, happenings, and events in temporal emplotment to pro-
vide potential narrative meanings (Polkinghorne, 1995).

Emplotted emergent themes

In my data analysis, I noted that Jad’s physical expressions and social interactions seemed to
foster intersubjectivity in a symmetrical, collaborative learning environment. Through Jad’s
verbal and nonverbal interactions, other learners increasingly displayed musical agency,
defined by Wiggins (2016) as the “belief in one’s capacity to engage musically, initiate musical
ideas, and intentionally influence one’s musical life circumstances” (pp. 103–104). Heightened
musical agency seemed to coincide with Jad’s heightened offerings of play and humor. In
Session 5, as Jad and other learners described the ensemble as they created marketing materi-
als, they used the words fun and family, descriptors they reified further in subsequent rehears-
als. Temporal analysis of Jad’s verbal and nonverbal interactions yielded three emergent themes:
the pervasive presence of (a) fun through play and humor; (b) a feeling of family that created
comfort, fostering empathetic responses; and (c) musical agency within music-making.

Fun through outward play and humor: From older brother to teacher-helper
The choral ensemble included Jad (aged 16) and his sister Mya (aged 6). Jad had previously
sung in another choral ensemble with Ann (11) who began to attend rehearsals of this choir in
Session 4. Jad had not previously met the others. Initially, Jad approached only his little sister
Mya, playfully and voluntarily offering to “guide and support . . . so that the [song] could pro-
gress to a successful culmination without interruption” (Marsh, 2008, p. 148). In the first
three sessions, he seemed to empathetically attune to Mya’s musical agency. Session 4 began in
the same way:

Jad addressed Mya as he heard and saw her struggle: “Listen”, modeling her vocal line in falsetto, using
Curwen hand signs to show pitch, leaning down to her mouth. As others worked out their parts
together, he faced Mya and guided her through rote learning of her vocal line, quietly emerging in the
background of musical working-outs and problem-solving.
Hogle 5

Then Ann, his former choral peer, arrived. Her agentive and energetic responses during warmup
sessions included her playful interactions with Jad. In transitions, he leaned over to Mya or Ann and,
for the first time, initiated joking dialogue, with laughter. After ten minutes, he interacted exclusively
with Ann in transitions. Ann’s arrival had changed the learning environment.

In this heightened social environment, Jad began to initiate his musical agency by assuming a teacher-
helper role (Hogle, 2018a, 2018b) with others, initially only with two other six-year-olds. “I can help
you with yours, Zoe!” smiling at her. “Yea!” cried Zoe, smiling at Jad. He then smiled at Zoe and made
eye contact. Jad then began to monitor needs of young children, offering his changed voice in falsetto
as he peer-scaffolded, which prompted warm laughter from younger learners and served to encourage
his subsequent use of falsetto.

Ann and Mya offered to sing a descant part. But Mya was two feet shorter than Ann, making it hard to
hear. Jad had an idea. He lifted Mya up and put her on top of a stool next to Ann. Rollicking laughter
permeated the ensemble. “You’re tall now!” (Session 4)

Zoe looked up at Jad, smiling, Ann giggled. He smiled and made eye contact with Zoe, lip-syncing the
soprano part as they sang. Zoe laughed at him, making continuous eye contact with him. (Session 6)

In the next vignette from Session 8, Jad’s jovial and playful leadership, his self-appointed role
as teacher, infused with musical and personal agency, encouraged each ensemble member to
freely share his or her unique voice. He brought forth safety through his jokes, smiles, and
musical playfulness along with musical unity and an intuitive scaffolding of success. I felt a
lovely moment of sharing that welcomed, embraced, and cherished differences:

I told Jad he was welcome to sing in his bass range, rather than falsetto. He began to try a bit as an
example and several of the girls started to sing with him, singing as low as they could. He grinned and
looked away with a smile. Giggles filled the room. Later, Jad chose to begin his singing in falsetto as part
of one of the groups. Although laughter interspersed along with the initial singing, the choristers sang
successfully. (Session 8)

After the last session, Jad and I mused informally about his experiences in the group. Jad shared:

It was much more fun to have a sibling of mine being part of my choir. It felt like I was bringing her up,
like I was making her feel comfortable. It felt different than other choirs I’ve been in, when kids were all
around my own age. I guess I felt more like a leader with the younger kids there. I just wanted to help
them. (Jad’s comment after Session 14)

Family creates inward comfort: Fostering empathetic responses

In Session 10, 12-year-old Pam shared: “It feels like singing with family. We have a special
togetherness”. Family became another of the children’s reified terms. Family interactions can
be comfortable, accepting, and understanding, shared through behaviors of laughing, smiling,
and playful response to others (M. S. Barrett & Smigiel, 2007; Blair, 2009; Kenny, 2014). As in
Gray and Feldman’s (2004) description of multiage learners, each of the learners often func-
tioned like siblings as peer learning dialogues increased throughout rehearsals. Jellison et al.
(2017) explain that very young children instinctively cooperate, help, and teach one another,
engaging in prosocial behaviors through positive peer-assisted learning activities. Within this
familial multiage context, younger and less-experienced learners initially and immediately
attuned to Jad, seeking scaffolding when they felt they needed assistance in working toward
shared performance goals.
6 Research Studies in Music Education 00(0)

In the first two sessions, multiple learners initiated and maintained continual eye gaze
toward Jad as a perceived more knowledgeable other (Vygotsky, 1978), even though he did
not initially reciprocate. In Session 3, he began to respond to others with brief eye contact,
first with his 6-year-old sister Mya, then with other 6-year-olds, the youngest of the partici-
pants. In this session, multiple learners began to listen to and observe Jad as legitimate
peripheral participants (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Marsh, 2008), facing or locating their bod-
ies in closer proximity to him, imitating his body movements, or displaying challenged
pitch through hand signs while seeking musically intersubjective congruence with him. It
seemed that their intersubjective attunement as learner-helpers drew Jad out as teacher-
helper (Hogle, 2018a, 2018b), agentively reorganizing the intersubjective field as they
made meaning:

As Zoe worked with manipulatives to create a rhythmic composition, she made continual eye contact
with Jad, looking to him as her teacher, within a small group of learners. When it became time to enact
the rhythm, Jad began to point to the rhythms she had chosen, setting a tempo appropriate for her
success. He had developed into a teacher-helper, a scaffolder of learning (Session 6).

Jad asked Mya, “Do you want to practice your verse with Zoe just one more time?” Mya nodded to Jad
and the two six-year-olds faced one another to practice a cappella. Jad mouthed the words as he listened
and corrected (Session 7).

Later, we began to sight-sing a new piece from staff notation. Jad agentively taught three six-year-olds
as he sought intersubjectivity with the six-year olds.

Jad: So, then what’s the next one?

Zoe
(shouts): Do!
Jad: What’s this note after fa? (gesturing to the score for a peer)
Mya: Mi!
Zoe: Why are there extra lines and notes?
Me: Why do you think?
Jad: Aren’t those extra lines like for instruments? The piano?
Zoe: Oh, wow.
Jad: Yeah, and those extra words are like 2nd and 3rd verses.

The small ensemble successfully sang the first verse, as Jad joined the younger children in his falsetto,
assisting them in a unison pitch.

Me: Let’s try the second verse. Do you see where we are?
Tom: No.
Jad: It’s right here, under “do not fear”.
Me: Yup. (We sing verse two.) Do you see verse three?
Jad: The word is “peace”.Jad stepped forward and leaned over to the three small children. “Do you
see it?”
Tom: We’re ready! (All sang).
Zoe: Why are the notes connected?
Jad: Where? Right here, after the second verse? (sang a phrase and Zoe nodded). There are two
quarter notes, but you would like hold it together and not take a breath between them ‘cause
of the words (he modeled). (Session 7)
Hogle 7

Jad is continually jumping in, initiating social contact and interaction by explicitly becoming a teacher,
often using Socratic dialogue and modeling, leading younger beginners. (Teacher-researcher journal).

In Session 8, instead of conducting, I played the piano. Jad grabbed Mya’s hands as they sang, helping
her with choreography. At first, he continually leaned down to hear her, smiling. Then, he moved to
face the choir. Eyes turned to Jad. . .as director. At one point, he forgot a particular gesture, made a face,
and laughed as four choristers joined his laughter. Mya began to drift to another part. Jad immediately
leaned over and used Curwen hand signs to scaffold her part as her eyes fixed on him. Then, he grabbed
her hands, swaying on the beat hand in hand as the ensemble sang. He reacted afterward with a bow,
sat down, and all smiled.

I remember when I conducted the group. I felt really comfortable, so I felt like I was good at that. But I
never did that in other choirs. (Jad’s comment after Session 14)

Later, Jad began to figure out his vocal part.

Jad: I’m good at this.

Ann
(teasing): You’re going to mess up this.
Jad: I’ve got this. (He continued to figure out intervallic leaps aloud as others wrote solfege into
their scores).
Jad began to show his pitches with Curwen hand signs, slowing his singing down. Ann,
Mya, and Zoe begin to sing along with him. (Session 8)

Jad: It’s going to be all right, Zoe. It’s OK. I understand how that feels. You ARE learning. (Zoe
jumped up toward his face, giggled, and he wiggled back, smiling). (Session 9)

In Session 10, we needed to review the concept behind the notation of a dotted half note before looking
at the next piece, as six-year-old Tom had been absent when we talked about this. I had put notation for
our upcoming piece on the whiteboard. Jad remarked, “Yeah, let’s help Tom out”. The learners tapped
and counted. Jad stepped back and gestured to the younger children with his hands to welcome their
answer, “How many taps did this one get?” Tom looked at Jad and then at the board. Jad spoke up,
“Want me to answer?”

I quickly offered, “Want to try it again and see if you can figure it out?” Zoe jumped up and down,
shouting, “Yeah!” Mya joined her and grabbed her hands. Jad offered, “Listen, ta-a-a” and tapped his
foot three times as he sang. The younger children imitated him. Tom proclaimed, “Three!” Jad said,
“Right! How about these guys?” as he gestured to half notes. Zoe shouted, “Two!” Jad was clearly the
teacher at the moment.

In Session 11, Mya was missing, yet Jad initiated eye contact and communication with others. 13-year-
old Pam exclaimed, “I have a LOT of work!” Jad tilted forward in front of her face, hands still in pockets,
making eye contact. She smiled and bowed also, smirking at him. He then gestured to Tom to stand with
the rest of the choir, smiled, then squatted low and smiled again, maintaining eye contact with him.

It was a smaller group than my other choirs and there was a different kind of pressure to it. It felt like
it wasn’t a structured pace and you could go with the flow of things. It felt different, it felt less
stressful. We could just learn as we go. I was way, way more comfortable. I know I made everyone
laugh. It honestly just happened. I think I want to do music therapy or maybe be a music teacher. I
might think about working with kids because having younger kids in this choir was a really fun time
for me. (Jad’s comment after Session 14)
8 Research Studies in Music Education 00(0)

Musical agency within music-making

Because Jad often sang a bass part alone and he read notation fluently, Jad frequently found
himself with rehearsal time to make choices about his own self-regulated activity. He often
maintained his own agentic flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990), quietly fitting in his own part while
others were singing, either audibly improvising harmonic ideas or his own part quietly. He ver-
bally expressed his musical agency by volunteering for a solo after multiple instances of being
peer-assigned or initiating a teacher-helper role. Learners responded with enthusiastic applause
for both his volunteering and subsequent solo (Session 6).
In nearly every singing moment, Jad swayed to the beat. He rarely made eye contact with me
as conductor, but matched his movement in response to tempo, regulating his interpersonal,
emotional, relational synchronization through his rhythmic movement to the music. This
movement became intersubjective, communicative movement as a learner-helper (Hogle,
2018b). Jad frequently represented pitch iconically, using Curwen hand signs in rhythm, or
approximating conducting beat patterns, aiding younger peers. Jad’s movement as expression
of musical agency contagiously spread to other members of the ensemble, fostering their own
musical agency and accurate singing.
At times, Jad engaged in similar “hiding” behaviors I had witnessed in our earlier shared
high-school choral learning context. Interestingly, they each took place in Sessions 7–9, at
the height of his teacher-helper activity. In these sessions, he occasionally left the room to
blow his nose or check his phone. In three instances, he put his hood over his face as he had
done in the high-school choir setting, but immediately followed this short moment with pull-
ing it off and actively engaging in peer scaffolding. In Session 7, self-evaluative group discus-
sion that included his loud, emotional response preceded his “hiding”. In Sessions 8 and 9,
multiple learners had initiated humorous and playful verbal interactions with Jad, making
him the focus of their social attention. It seemed that his need to self-regulate a socio-emo-
tional role of teacher-helper required him to occasionally remove himself from heightened
social interaction.

Findings
In this case study, I sought to understand the intersubjective experience of one learner with ASD
as he engaged in peer scaffolding activities in a multiage community choral ensemble setting.
Three themes initially emerged through data analysis: (a) fun through play and humor; (b) a feel-
ing of family that created comfort, fostering empathetic responses; and (c) musical agency within
music-making. As themes emerged, I sought to understand “the nature or essence of the experi-
ence of learning (so that I can now better understand what this particular learning experience is
like for these children)?” (van Manen, 2015, p. 10). Van Manen (2015) further suggests, “Essence
asks for what something is, and without which it would no longer be what it is. . ..aware of con-
text” (p. xv). Kvale and Brinkmann (2009) also suggest that qualitative researchers search for
common essence and essential meanings, within a specific context. Two broader findings emerged
as I sought essence; first, Jad’s experience was situated in a play-full learning context; and second,
musical synchronization of peers toward Jad fostered empathy and intersubjectivity.

Play-full learning context

In the social constructivist learning context of this study, the multiage nature of the ensemble
fostered peer scaffolding, which flourished and became central to the culture of the ensemble
Hogle 9

(Hogle, 2018a, 2018b). Adamek and Darrow (2018) suggest that learners with ASD should be
offered choices and flexible outcomes, with chances to serve as leaders and follow leads of oth-
ers in interactive peer learning activities. These ideas align with social constructivist music edu-
cation practices utilized within the ensemble.
Perhaps Jad described his experience as fun because much of what happened in this music
education context could be compared with what children naturally do when they teach one
another music on playgrounds or in other settings where adults are not present (e.g., Harwood
& Marsh, 2012; Kullenberg & Pramling, 2016; Marsh, 2008; Salvador & Corbett, 2016). Many
of the social constructivist experiences shared by participants resembled those of play: agentive
personal goal setting, spontaneous, active, and voluntary engagement, and attention to a
dynamic and flexible process rather than a rigid outcome or product. Although social play
development is typically affected by ASD, learners with this exceptionality can develop agency
and motivation from these types of experiences with play-full and enjoyable characteristics
(Jordan, 2003).
Within play-like music learning experiences, learners often laughed as Jad used sporadic
humor in interactions; he increasingly sought further positive responses with humorous verbal
and nonverbal communication. He then voluntarily enacted his role as teacher-helper, out-
wardly focused and empathetically attuned to the learning needs of others, usually within
playful expressions toward very young and responsive learners. As he did so, I noticed cyclically
increased playground behavior across the ensemble, as Campbell (2010) describes: emotional
responses of “smiles, laughs, “arms around”, and animated, buoyant expressions” (p. 29) and
what Davis (2013) observed: “laughter, spontaneous dancing and physical engagement. . .
intensified through expressive singing and visual connection with classmates to sing and move
together in unison” (p. 34).
The ensemble classroom became a playground of working out musical problems within
largely nonverbal peer scaffolding moments as learners sang. Functioning as a community of
learners (Collins, 2006; Green, 2009), all participants shifted and varied their roles as resources
to others, depending on their understanding of activities (Lai & Law, 2006; Rogoff et al., 1996).
As in a healthy family environment, learners immediately accepted Jad, physically and meta-
phorically looking to him as a competent leader. In the first sessions, children initially and per-
vasively looked to Jad for assistance while, simultaneously, he outwardly attuned only to his
little sister. By Session 4, Jad had become comfortable enough to respond to children other than
his sister, initially communicating only with very young children and Ann, a friendly peer col-
league who joined the ensemble. Jad described this ensemble environment as “comfortable”
and “less stressful”, indicating his perceived comparison with his other choral ensemble experi-
ences, repeatedly acknowledging that it was his “comfort” that enabled him to engage differ-
ently in this multiage choral setting.

Intersubjectivity and empathy: Musical synchronization to another

In this study, participants immediately attuned to Jad in the first two sessions, aiming to accu-
rately synchronize their musical sound and physical movement with his as they worked toward
shared musical goals, seeking cognitive and affective intersubjectivity with Jad during singing
experiences. In addition, participants mirrored Jad’s facial expressions, gestures, and musical
expressions between music-making interactions. By initiating and seeking musical, cognitive,
and affective intersubjectivity with Jad, children seemed to intuitively and empathetically
respond to Jad’s neurodiversity with acceptance and welcome, seeing him as a more knowl-
edgeable other (Vygotsky, 1978) rather than a deficient peer. They seemed to create a secure,
10 Research Studies in Music Education 00(0)

welcoming, and supportive environment in which Jad could feel “comfortable”. He then began
to take on the role of teacher-helper with participants other than his little sister. By Session 4,
Jad had responded to each participant with eye contact and humorous, play-full interactions,
both verbal and nonverbal.
Within peer scaffolding experiences, Jad increasingly and empathetically attuned to the musical
agency of each child, first with his sister, then with young children, then with each participant in
the ensemble. As a teacher-helper, his heightened cognitive empathy and intersubjectivity sur-
rounding shared musical goals included affective intersubjectivity as he attuned to affective
responses of other children, particularly as they made mistakes or displayed learning needs.
Attuning to their musical agency, Jad seemed to experience a balanced empathy toward other chil-
dren, with emotional awareness of their needs as he responded with learning assistance or emo-
tional encouragement, once his comfort had been established through playful peer scaffolding
experiences in which they looked to him for assistance and responded positively to his
communication.
J. R. Barrett (2014) suggests that “case study reports can aptly convey the multifaceted ecol-
ogies of life in music classrooms” (p. 114). Jad’s story offers an opportunity for readers to con-
sider environments and experiences in which musical learners with ASD might flourish. As
others (Green, 2009; Marsh, 2008; Wiggins, 2016) have also found, inclusive approaches that
enable playful, collaborative small group learning experiences with flexible outcomes, abun-
dant choices, and opportunity for peer scaffolding can aid with social communication skills and
self-efficacy, areas of desired improvement for many learners with ASD. Because peer-to-peer
learning requires attuned synchronicity in nonverbal and musical communication for musical
success, these typical social constructivist music education experiences can help create sup-
portive, safe learning environments for all to feel valued and honored. In learners with ASD,
anxiety can be curtailed within this type of environment, as relationships develop through
scaffolded interactions that facilitate musical attunement and empathy (Geretsegger et al.,
2015). In Jad’s case, improvisatory and flexible learning outcomes, a characteristic of musical
play (M. S. Barrett, 2016), also contributed to his less stressful feeling of an inclusive learning
environment, fostering growth of his empathy and intersubjectivity.
Although Jad’s experience in the earlier high-school setting included similar small group
learning opportunities, peers seemed to attune to musical accuracy within performance
deadlines with a focus on cognitive intersubjectivity alone, disregarding one another’s affec-
tive states or needs for affective intersubjectivity. To Jad, this felt more stressful, perhaps
overwhelmed by unconscious empathic responses toward stress of others, and he frequently
hid from others in the ensemble, even removing himself from the room. In contrast, it
appeared that Jad’s anxiety lessened as younger children initially engaged with him as a
knowledgeable teacher-helper in the multiage ensemble, through play, humor, emotional
regard, and honor.
Therefore, perhaps when like-aged peers interact in a symmetrical family of learners, fun
must dominate in play-full learning experiences, enhancing musical agency in the process. In
this study, musical products were rarely improvisational, but musical learning interactions
became highly improvisational and play-oriented through learner choices and flexible
rehearsal outcomes, as younger peers fostered continual interaction with a learner with ASD
by functioning as learner-helpers, seeking his help. As learners unite in co-creating shared
musical goals within repertoire learning experiences, sharing attunement to both musical
products and affect with musical and movement-based intersubjective communication, col-
laborative learning may become improvisational space in which learners with ASD might
flourish in musical ways.
Hogle 11

Implications
Music educators might consider the important roles of affective intersubjectivity and affective
empathy in addition to cognitive musical intersubjectivity and cognitive empathy.
Although it is inappropriate to generalize from a single case, music educators might consider
releasing parts of rehearsals to learners to create an inclusive ensemble environment, specifi-
cally inviting and modeling play-full learning that allows for intersubjective interaction with
varied peers as teacher-helpers who share responsibility for musical learning. This social con-
structivist idea could foster joint meaning-making through peer-created musical experiences in
which learners co-construct action, expression, engagement, understanding, and musical
expressions as they work out problems inherent in scores. As in the classroom of this study,
music learners might further their own independent musicianship, skills, and competencies
through peer scaffolding processes, enabling outcomes of heightened musical products in per-
formance and flourishing music-making. Space for interdependent, care-filled learning inter-
actions among all persons in this type of inclusive music learning environment might also
foster individual agency for each, within an interrelational musical and pedagogical dialogue.
As learners empathetically attune to one another’s cognitive and emotional needs, intersubjec-
tivity may develop for all, including those with exceptionalities. Perhaps a collaboratively cre-
ated core of musical intersubjectivity might foster empathetic interpersonal understanding of
others in a truly inclusive learning environment and ultimately, society.

Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this
article.

ORCID iD
Lauri A Hogle https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7895-7206

Note
1. All names are pseudonyms.

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Author biography
Lauri A Hogle was appointed to the music education faculty of Oakland University in 2018, where she
teaches undergraduate, masters, and doctoral students in music education. Dr. Hogle has presented
papers at international and national music education research and education conferences and has pub-
lished her work in the Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, International Journal of Education
& the Arts, and Research Studies in Music Education. Her current research interests include constructivist
practice in music education (particularly in choral ensemble contexts), the role of singing agency in music
education settings, and music teacher agency.