At the university’s graduation ceremony on 24 October, Dr Carli D’Alebout (DMus) [above, 2nd from left] and Dr Leon van Dyk (PhD) [middle] completed the journey and received their doctoral degrees. The promotor for Dr D’Alebout’s thesis, Prof Liesl van der Merwe [left] was also in attendance, as well as MASARA Research Director, Prof Chris van Rhyn [2nd from right], and Director of the School of Music, Prof Conroy Cupido [right].

Flow experiences

In her doctoral study — “Exploring five professional violinists’ flow experiences during solo and chamber music performances: An interpretative phenomenological analysis” — Dr D’Alebout explored how five professional violinists who teach and perform in South Africa make sense of their lived flow experiences during solo and chamber music performances, and to what extent Csikszentmihalyi’s nine conditions for flow explain the inhibiting and promoting conditions of flow for the participants. She expanded flow theory for violinists, creating a better understanding of flow during performance and contributing to improving practice for performers and teachers.

As a DMus performance candidate, she also had to perform four public recitals, with Prof Piet Koornhof as her promotor. Examiners praised her technical dexterity, beautiful musical moments, and her ability to create memorable performances.

Nomadic music teachers

Dr van Dyk’s doctoral thesis — “Competence nomads in music education: The experiences of five teachers” — explores the experiences of music teachers who work part-time and travel between work settings in Johannesburg. While nomadic teachers form the core of many music departments, this ever-expanding workforce operates with severe operational complexities and precarity. A theoretical framework was developed which describes their experiences through the themes of managing change, structuring instability, chasing freedom, developing non-musical skills and attributes, and balancing optimism and humility. This study is the first of its kind in South Africa and contributes to a deeper understanding of the nature of precarity in this career trajectory. As a result, support mechanisms to enable these competence nomads to flourish are being developed. Former colleague and extraordinary professor in MASARA, Prof Albi Odendaal, was the promotor for this thesis.