DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21216#0013
I Starting Points
This work has as its focus a Single figure, Joan Baez. From its title, "A Trou-
badour as Teacher" one can see that my concern is to put the famed singer-song-
writer and her activities in pedagogical perspective. I have sought to understand
Baez in the light of her views on "Youth", her critique of formal education, her
description of her own schooling and learning, and her founding of two educa-
tional institutions, as well as through an analysis of certain images associated
with her and through consideration of her role as an identification figure for a
number of young people. To enable the reader to better follow and judge this
endeavour and its grounding in the biographical method I shall give, here at the
outset, a review of: when this work was conceived, how I went about gathering
my sources, the ränge of those sources, the methodological issues involved, as
well as reflections on what has been called "the researchers frame of mind".*
Answering the question of how and when this work began is no clear cut
matter. There are a variety of possible starting points. One is the time when I
was first Struck by the correspondence between the Situation of a solo folk-
protest singer ("der Liedermacher") singing in a concert hall before rows of
young people facing the stage, and the teacher standing in front of a class during
a lesson ("Frontal-Unterricht"). I became interested in the similarities and dif-
ferences between these two settings. This notion became part of a plan for a
masters thesis which was to deal mainly with Baez. Around this time I spoke
with her of my intention to write such a work. It was backstage at a concert of
hers in Frankfurt in November, 1977. This was the first time I had spoken with
her at any length since 1973, having met her to speak to first in December,
1971. She agreed to be of help, and consequently I spent a whole day interview-
ing her at her home in Woodside, California, (February 19, 1978). Somewhat
later, due to having been advised that the materials I had already collected over
the years were too extensive for a masters thesis, I chose another topic but
continued on this work with an eye to writing it as a doctorate. My doctoral
research proposal was approved in January 1980. (Collecting data before writing
*Bogdan and Taylor use this phrase as part of a list of "What You Should Teil Your Rea-
ders" (pp. 142-143 in their Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods (1975). I have
used their criteria for this introduction. Another exceilent text, particularly pertinent here
is Bogdan and Biklen's Qualitative Research For Education: An Introduction to Theory
and Methods (1982).
8
This work has as its focus a Single figure, Joan Baez. From its title, "A Trou-
badour as Teacher" one can see that my concern is to put the famed singer-song-
writer and her activities in pedagogical perspective. I have sought to understand
Baez in the light of her views on "Youth", her critique of formal education, her
description of her own schooling and learning, and her founding of two educa-
tional institutions, as well as through an analysis of certain images associated
with her and through consideration of her role as an identification figure for a
number of young people. To enable the reader to better follow and judge this
endeavour and its grounding in the biographical method I shall give, here at the
outset, a review of: when this work was conceived, how I went about gathering
my sources, the ränge of those sources, the methodological issues involved, as
well as reflections on what has been called "the researchers frame of mind".*
Answering the question of how and when this work began is no clear cut
matter. There are a variety of possible starting points. One is the time when I
was first Struck by the correspondence between the Situation of a solo folk-
protest singer ("der Liedermacher") singing in a concert hall before rows of
young people facing the stage, and the teacher standing in front of a class during
a lesson ("Frontal-Unterricht"). I became interested in the similarities and dif-
ferences between these two settings. This notion became part of a plan for a
masters thesis which was to deal mainly with Baez. Around this time I spoke
with her of my intention to write such a work. It was backstage at a concert of
hers in Frankfurt in November, 1977. This was the first time I had spoken with
her at any length since 1973, having met her to speak to first in December,
1971. She agreed to be of help, and consequently I spent a whole day interview-
ing her at her home in Woodside, California, (February 19, 1978). Somewhat
later, due to having been advised that the materials I had already collected over
the years were too extensive for a masters thesis, I chose another topic but
continued on this work with an eye to writing it as a doctorate. My doctoral
research proposal was approved in January 1980. (Collecting data before writing
*Bogdan and Taylor use this phrase as part of a list of "What You Should Teil Your Rea-
ders" (pp. 142-143 in their Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods (1975). I have
used their criteria for this introduction. Another exceilent text, particularly pertinent here
is Bogdan and Biklen's Qualitative Research For Education: An Introduction to Theory
and Methods (1982).
8