Metacognition in Filipino electronic musicians

• Main Authors: Fabian, Miriam T., Fabian, Frederick Antonio
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2011
• Subjects: Metacognition; Electronic music; Musicians—Psychology; Cognition and Perception; Music
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/5002
• Institution: De La Salle University

Music defines a culture. Although the concept of electronic music is a Western import, Filipino electronic music artists, while on the fringe, have established themselves to be quite distinct in style and aesthetics from their European counterparts. While appropriating the musical form, Filipino musicians have created a separate and original take on electronic music and its various subgenres. Electronic music in the Philippines, while already present in some parts of mainstream media, still has not been fully discussed and defined as a serious subject of interest outside subcultural scenes, and even less as a means of crafting national identity. The outputs of the mind are and should be considered a nation's resource. Thus, studies of thought processes is a forward-thinking method that contributes to nation building and social progress. One reason why the Philippines is lethargic in terms of social and economic growth is due to massive brain drain and untapped, unaddressed, and undeveloped human potential, among others. Metacognition is knowing about knowing and thinking about thinking (Flavell, 1979). In other words, metacognition deals with monitoring and controlling the thinking and learning process. This research aims to investigate the metacognition processes of Filipino electronic musicians. As metacongition is hard to directly observe, some standard tests were developed to assess it. Countinho (2007) cited the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory or MAI test developed by Schrawand Dennison (1994) as a means to measure metacognition. The MAI is a 52-item test to measure mental skills like planning, organizing, comprehension, debugging and evaluation, among others. A revised MAI test will be tweaked to fit the context of musicians. The research expects that electronic musicians will score fairly well on the MAI, proving that they utilize various modes of planning, organizing, comprehension, debugging, and evaluation skills in their music creation and performance. This research acknowledges the support of Filipino electronic musicians from the Synthicide and Electronica Manila in Facebook.