Belonging and Family Connections Across Generations

In discussing the importance of music for the mothers I interviewed, I show how music acts as a social connection and creates a sense of family belonging. I return to the notion of ‘family feeling’ (Atkinson, Acta Sociologica, 57(3), 223–235, 2014, p. 340; Bourdieu, Practical reason, Polity, 1998, p. 68) that is engendered when families participate in music together. This thoroughly human activity is a means to generate family bonding and love and transmit cultural heritage and intergenerational traditions. I show not only how grandmothers and mothers transmit music to children but how children influence the musical choices and repertoires of families too. Mothers’ achievements are acknowledged through their children’s engagement and love of music that they share. The ongoing intergenerational nature of music that is transmitted from mothers to children is articulated as well as the influence of children on the musical repertoires and experiences of mothers and grandmothers, creating family cultures and ways of being.