Emerging Adult Women's Experiences of Music and Nature at a Music Festival

Abstract

This study explored how engagement with music and nature in a Canadian outdoor music festival setting benefits emerging adult females, a population reported to experience ever-growing demands, pressures, and expectations in their everyday lives. Recent empirical accounts highlight the psychologically restorative effects of engagement with music for music festival attendees. However, no studies have yet directly examined (a) the benefits of the natural wilderness setting of the outdoor music festival for attendees' wellbeing, and (b) the interconnection of nature and music to facilitate health and wellbeing as conceptualized within a bio-psycho-social-spiritual framework. A purposeful sample was recruited based on age (18-29 years old); past festival attendance (2 or more); and the belief that attending music festivals was beneficial to their health and wellbeing. Recruitment and data collection occurred on-site during a 2018 summer music festival. Four women participated, each one individually interviewed for a period of 45 to 75 minutes in a semi-structured manner. Interviews were taped, fully transcribed, and then analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Findings suggested that the wellbeing dimensions of (a) positive emotion, (b) engagement, (c) positive relationships, (d) meaning, and (e) accomplishment are optimized when engaging with music and nature in a Canadian outdoor music festival setting, a particularly beneficial and life-enhancing experience for young women negotiating emergent adulthood. Implications for practice and further research are noted.