Traviata : locating contemporary classical music in subculture studies

Abstract

This dissertation explores if Contemporary Classical Musicians form a subculture. From my personal experience, Contemporary Classical Musicians in Malta, that is, people who perform, conduct and compose this particular type of music, have a different lifestyle and value system from the mainstream. This study also has a strong autobiographical aspect as music is something very at heart. It is a constant companion of mine as my life rotates around music all the time. Through the use of qualitative research methods of data collection I studied musicians' way of living and how they behave in society. The type of method used is intense interviewing and participant observation. The interviewees were chosen from personal acquaintance. The study shows that musician in Malta do form a subculture. This result is a contribution to subculture studies as they have rarely considered Contemporary Classical Music in this framework. The major contribution of this dissertation is to re-articulate the notion of subculture, as in most studies, it has been more based on deviance. I have emerged from a subculture related to deviance, to studying subculture which has nothing to do with deviancy.