Communicating the language of music: professional (young) pianists beliefs in linguistic and music education, development and wellbeing

This research paper explores the beliefs in linguistic education and pedagogical interconnections between language and music learning in the lives of professional young pianists. The theoretical problematization of the topic was approached from an interdisciplinary point of view, uniting pedagogical and andragogical-musicological competencies. In that sense, the paper elaborates and supplements the existing theoretical and empirical research on beliefs in language education, with concrete examples, that is, interview narrative testimonies as possible research case studies. The corpus data includes 10 live-streamed interviews in the form of a video podcast (total of over two hundred minutes) entitled “Chopin Talk” published on the “Chopin Institute” YouTube channel. This digital media recorded material captures the post-pandemic era focusing on the important narratives of young international pianists and their life stories. The qualitative method of analysis was used, while the techniques applied included: 1) notetaking of specific information, 2) transcription and paraphrasing of English language discourse, 3) coding of the information included from the interviews into thematic categories (general information, languages spoken, role of classical music and Chopin’s music in education, career and participation in the competition, role of digital and social media in communication and education, and lifestyles in the pre-pandemic and pandemic time issues of relocation, physical isolation and wellbeing). The qualitative results obtained from the research, suggest that languages, music and media had an overall positive impact on the wellbeing of young professional pianists’ and their preparedness for the competition. Thus, the effects of continual linguistic, academic and musical engagement had an important role in their identity formation. In the following period, the aim is to further research the pedagogical intersections of language and music learning on personal linguistic wellbeing, perceived through musical behavior (music performance and/or music listening), in different arts-oriented contexts of education. Keywords: digital media, language education, pandemic, parental engagement and support, the Fryderyk Chopin piano competition, wellbeing, young professional pianists.