NARRATOR:
You will hear a student discussing her previous psychology research with her supervisor.
NARRATOR:
First, you have some time to look at questions 21 to 26.
NARRATOR:
Now listen carefully and answer questions 21 to 26.
SUPERVISOR:
Hello, Joanna.
SUPERVISOR:
It's good to see you.
SUPERVISOR:
Before we consider your new project, I'd like to hear about the psychology study you completed for your masters last year.
SUPERVISOR:
So how did you select the participants?
JOANNA:
I worked with six professional female musicians.
JOANNA:
They included violinists, a cellist, a pianist and a flautist.
JOANNA:
All were highly respected and each had toured extensively across several continents.
JOANNA:
A number had also received prizes in competitions.
SUPERVISOR:
They were fairly young, weren't they?
JOANNA:
Yeah, they ranged from 25 to 29 years old.
JOANNA:
The mean was 27.8. I didn't deliberately recruit performers who had released recordings, but that is almost expected nowadays and every participant had done so.
SUPERVISOR:
You gathered the information through telephone interviews, correct?
JOANNA:
Because I wanted leading musicians who had very busy schedules, interviewing them by telephone was the only practical option.
JOANNA:
I used an adapter to record each call.
JOANNA:
I'd been concerned about sound quality, but there were no technical difficulties.
JOANNA:
Every interview lasted at least 30 minutes and some were longer.
SUPERVISOR:
Did the telephone create a stressful atmosphere?
JOANNA:
I expected that possibility, but the discussions were informal and the musicians were eager to speak.
JOANNA:
The method certainly didn't reduce the richness of the data.
JOANNA:
If anything, it produced more detailed responses.
SUPERVISOR:
Your subject was performers' clothing at concerts?
JOANNA:
The eventual study examined how musicians understood their professional role and how that influenced what they wore.
JOANNA:
But that focus developed gradually.
JOANNA:
Initially, I intended to investigate how audiences reacted to performers' clothing and whether the instrument played, for example violin, flute or trumpet, was connected to the style selected.
SUPERVISOR:
It's notable that performers normally decide for themselves what to wear.
JOANNA:
You might expect orchestras to impose formal rules, but they rarely do.
NARRATOR:
Before you hear the rest of the discussion, you have some time to look at questions 27 to 30.
NARRATOR:
Now listen and answer questions 27 to 30.
SUPERVISOR:
Your participants were all women.
SUPERVISOR:
Was that because men care less about fashion?
JOANNA:
Many male musicians follow fashion closely.
JOANNA:
Socially, however, they have a much narrower range of acceptable clothing and audiences would react badly if they moved beyond those limits.
SUPERVISOR:
Popular music follows different conventions.
SUPERVISOR:
Have you read Mike Frost's article on female performers' clothes in popular music?
SUPERVISOR:
He observes that many female singers and instrumentalists dress informally and choose less traditionally feminine items, such as jeans rather than skirts.
SUPERVISOR:
His explanation is that otherwise people may dismiss them as trivial rather than take their work seriously.
JOANNA:
Practicality might also explain it.
JOANNA:
Popular music concerts are often extremely energetic.
SUPERVISOR:
He doesn't discuss that, although I think you may be right.
SUPERVISOR:
I was interested in the audience's influence on clothing choices.
JOANNA:
The musicians I interviewed considered the audience very important.
JOANNA:
They viewed a performance as a public occasion with certain expectations.
JOANNA:
Meeting those expectations through their choice of clothing was a way of showing respect for the audience.
SUPERVISOR:
So they didn't mind appearing to have made an effort.
JOANNA:
In the past, audience members probably had similar expectations of one another, but that is less true today, at least in the UK.
JOANNA:
I also became interested in sports scientists' research on clothing.
SUPERVISOR:
Musicians face physical risks because their movements are intensive and highly repetitive.
SUPERVISOR:
Some features used in sportswear might therefore protect performers from injuries caused by those movements.
JOANNA:
Yes, but musicians seldom consider that.
JOANNA:
They avoid obviously restrictive clothes, but generally go no further.
SUPERVISOR:
Returning to your own research, have you decided what to do next?
JOANNA:
I was considering a study involving an audience, including...
NARRATOR:
That is the end of part three.
NARRATOR:
You now have one minute to check your answers to part three.
