Music connects us all! The journey of using music elicitation as a research and intervention tool in Albania
“Music is an emotional state. You might not like it or accept it, but music moves you, it moves the child inside us, the artist inside us”.
Over the past 1.5 years we have been piloting the use of music elicitation as both a research and intervention tool with young people at risk of involvement in serious and organised crime (SOC) in Albania. Music elicitation is the use of music to create a bridge of understanding between people from diverse groups. As a research technique it works by asking participants to bring along a series of music tracks which help people tell stories about their lives. It enables a co-productive listening space, whereby participants can select music tracks which have had meaning in their lives, which helps them communicate. Participants are then free to draw on their memories of the tracks, the lyrics, or the music videos, to help tell their stories.
By using music in this way, a collaborative space is created, which enables researchers to tune in to the lives of marginalised people. This technique has been used by the lead, Dr Jade Levell, in work with ex-gang involved men in the UK.
In the first phase of the music elicitation work we conducted a range of capacity building training to professionals and researchers in Albania in the technique of music elicitation. An online training day was held in 2021 which brought the technique to life with a range of stakeholders. From this pool, a small group of researchers were recruited, who used this technique with young men in Albania who were in prison, as well as some who were being supervised by probation services. In this research we found music to be an effective tool to articulate difficult and painful memories in a sensitive way.
Participants shared their in-depth life stories, outlining the adversities and challenges which had led them on the path they found themselves in. The open-ness of the technique meant that voices were heard in a new way, with one group in prison joining to sing songs, and one community participant who shared his own rap music. Men in prison particularly enjoyed the opportunity to collaboratively listen to music, as it is otherwise denied to them in this environment. We heard a range of tracks across diverse genres, in both the Albanian and English language.
In analysing the data, we were able to begin to understand the diverse pressures on marginalised Albanian youth who find themselves in conflict with the law. We homed in on experiences of masculinity to explore the ways in which some young men view themselves and their opportunities as they grow up.
In the second phase of the project, we worked to explore the potentials of music elicitation as an intervention tool through the training of professionals who work with vulnerable and ‘at risk’ young people. This was supported by the creation of a bespoke handbook in the Albanian language, which serves as a manual and a support tool for professionals to use long after the project closes.
In June 2022 60 professionals from the regions of Shkodër, Kukës, and Elbasan, took part in face-to-face training which focused on music elicitation, gender-equality, and childhood adversity. Reflecting the method this training was also focused on the professionals sharing their own music choices, which many participants noted as being emotional and meaningful. Through using music to communicate with one another, the method was brought to life.
One professional noted that, “Music is an emotional state. You might not like it or accept it, but music moves you, it moves the child inside us, the artist inside us”. Music as a medium of communication allows individuals from diverse backgrounds understand one-another, and this disrupts the hierarchies which otherwise affect us. Indeed, we noticed that there was a rich intergenerational and multi-agency understanding inspired in the training with the use of music. Some participants noted how they opened their hearts and minds to the others in the room.
“Thank you for being part of this activity. We are your mothers, we belong to an old generation, but we are happy to listen to your views and how you articulate them. Your vocabulary has evolved very much, and we can learn a lot from your way of thinking, and expressing your opinions, emotions, feelings, and thoughts. Thank you for giving us this opportunity to reflect in a more constructive way”
The training days were observed by RAYS MERL Manager, who said that this activity created a friendly and collaborative environment, encouraged a fruitful atmosphere of learning and sharing, and showed the power of this method as a communication bridge to understand someone’s past and explain someone’s present. Music paved the road of constructive communication about gender roles, gender equality, motherhood, and mattering where age gap in socio-emotional perceptions was not a blocker but a bridge of understanding and reflection.
The training ended with professionals planning for how they may adapt the technique in their professional practice. We are now evaluating the use of music elicitation by the participants over the next six months. We are keen for the method to be developed in a way which suits local sensibilities. We are excited to see this next phase unfold.
Dr Jade Levell is a Senior Lecturer in Social and Public Policy (Criminology and Gender Violence) at the University of Bristol. Research interests include adverse childhood experiences, childhood domestic violence, on-road and gang subcultures, organised crime, masculinity theory, DVA perpetrators, feminist praxis. Expert in Music Elicitation as both a social research tool and an innovative way of listening and working with marginalised groups. She is a co-editor of the Journal of Gender-Based Violence and has published widely on issues related to GBV. Her book, ‘Boys, Childhood Domestic Abuse, and Gang Involvement: Violence at Home, Violence On-Road’ was published in June 2022 with Policy Press.
Connect via twitter: @JadeLevell
Amalia Koleka was the local research assistant to Dr. Jade Levell during RAYS Music Elicitation program. She holds a Master’s Degree in Conflict Studies and Human Rights from Utrecht University and a B.A in Psychology from Maastricht University. She has worked with several national and international NGOs and institutions such as: GLOBSEC, BIIRN, UNMIK and Manifesta Biennal.
