Guro Høimyr: School revues and public health

Field of study: Music Therapy

The significance of Norwegian youth's involvement in high school revues (shows) is a little-explored field of research- even though this is a widespread activity. The project has an overarching public health perspective, where the research interest lies in understanding young people's experiences of being involved in a revue and in what ways the activity can be seen as related to their quality of life. This will be explored by applying a qualitative, ethnographic approach to two school revues at high schools in the counties of Oslo and Akershus. The research design involves participant observation, individual interviews, and questionnaires. Data is generated throughout the academic year 2023-24, where the process is followed from start to finish. School revue is understood as musicking (Small, 1998), where revue participation is not limited to performing on stage. Therefore, the informants include stage performers and students who work with e.g. PR, props, and cooking. The discussions will primarily focus on the results from a sociological perspective, especially Hartmut Rosa's resonance theory (2019). The project aims to investigate adolescents' views on their participation in school revues and provide public health knowledge.