Motivation: Why college students like to join music festival
According to Bissell and Dolan (2011, p. 63), music festivals are very popular among the Chinese college students. It is important to understand the reasons that make these festivals popular among these students.
Aquinas (2006, p. 67) says that one of the reasons why music festivals are popular among the students is because they offer them the opportunity to express their feelings. Music is an art that enables one to describe the feelings about things and people in a way that is unique (Harris 2009, p. 12).
Strong emotional feelings such as love, sadness, and disappointment can best be expressed through music. The music festivals offer them the opportunity to do this. These festivals also offer the students an opportunity to express their feelings towards various issues within their immediate environment.
It may be an appreciation to the administration on the positive things done to the students or complain to the authorities on what has been ignored or not done right. Adetule (2011, p. 45) says that this is the only forum that students are empowered to speak their mind to their schools’ administration and the nation at large.
The presence of media at such events makes it possible for these students to speak to the nation.
Flint (2012, p. 38) says that another reason why students like to join music festivals is to entertain themselves. After spending a lot of time in class, the music festival offers time for the students to destruct themselves away from books. They get to entertain themselves in such forums as active participants.
As DuBrin (2011, p. 90) notes, sometimes a student may have a talent in music. Not every student can be an academic giant. Others may be very good at acting, singing or dancing. In the current Chinese society, these are the careers that should not be ignored anymore.
In the past, such careers were considered a preserve for those who failed to excel academically (Yee 2006, p. 62). However, this is far from being the truth. Some of the best musicians in the world are individuals who excelled in their academics.
Moreover, music is turning out to be one of the best careers not only in China but also in the rest of the world. Some of the richest people in the world are musicians. According to Dwivedi (2006, p. 538), parents are also accepting careers in music.
During these festivals, these get to exploit their talents in music. It helps them to determine if they may have a future in the field of music.
Music festivals also help in creating new friendships and strengthening the existing bonds (Liu & Woo 2005, p. 84). Music festivals bring together students from various parts of China. At such festivals, they get to interact and share the social lives with students from all over the country.
Through this, they get to develop strong bonds that help in enhancing national cohesion. Given that most of the college students are youths, the idea of meeting new friends is always thrilling (Kline 2010, p. 47). Others attend such festivals due to the desire to gain publicity.
As mentioned before, in such festivals, especially at the national levels, there is always a heavy media presence. Some of the students join the festivals to gain publicity for various reasons. Others want this publicity to act as their launch to the music career given that they will have an audience of close to one billion people.
Others do it out of the peer pressure (Suryadinata 2012, p. 47). These are the major factors that have made music festivals very popular among the Chinese students.
Satisfaction: Are they satisfied
The level of satisfaction of the Chinese college students with the music festivals may be looked at by analyzing how well their interests are met. According to Ferch and Spears (2011, p. 44), one area where the interests of the students are fully met during such festivals is the need to interact with other students.
During such forums, students are always given the mandate to integrate with other students, share their personal views and understand one another despite their diversified background.
As Annabelle (2006, p. 855) notes, in such forums, teachers always avoid limiting the movement of students or the people they interact with as long as they stay within the confined places and do not engage in untoward activities. These music festivals are competitive forums where every participant seeks to emerge the winner (Floyd 2011, p. 37).
The ultimate satisfaction would, therefore, be when a participant or group of participants emerges the top or one of the top competitors. However, being a competition, only one participant or group of participants can occupy position one at any given time.
When basing the level of satisfaction on their performance, these college students will have varying feelings (Rees 2009, p. 117). Those who emerge the top in such forums come out highly satisfied. Those who performed dismally may be dissatisfied.
Some may feel that the process of selecting the best performers was unfair while others may feel that their opponents had an unfair advantage over them.
For those who want publicity in such forums, their satisfaction will be based on whether they got the attention of the media or not. Miller (2012, p. 48) says that other students are only interested in the social interactions in such forums.
This category of students is easily satisfied as long as they are able to meet new friends or interact with the old friends learning in other colleges.
Relationship between Motivation and Satisfaction
According to Schuttler and Burdick (2010, p. 60), there is a close relationship between motivation and satisfaction. As mentioned above, these college students have specific motivational factors that make them to be interested in the music festivals.
For satisfaction to be experienced there must be objectives that are to be met. In the sections above, these factors have been discussed. For instance, these college students are motivated to go to the festivals to win awards (Mittler 1997, p. 38).
They will be satisfied if they emerge winners and get the awards that motivated them to participate in the forum. Conversely, if they fail to win the much coveted award, then they will be dissatisfied (Liu & Mason 2010). For some students, their motivation is to make new friends from different parts of this republic.
Their satisfaction will only result from an enabling environment where learners are allowed to interact freely without any restrictions or close control from the relevant authorities. A section of the students feel that they have a career in music (Harper & Eimer 2010, p. 54).
They go beyond winning awards at these forums. For such students, their satisfaction will be seen when they succeed in getting a clear picture of what their future in music entails. Satisfaction only exists if the motivational factor is met.
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