Engaging in Community Music

An Introduction

Lee Higgins, Lee Willingham

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781317269571
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Éducation
• Subtopic: Enseignement des arts et des sciences humaines

Engaging in Community Music: An Introduction focuses on the processes involved in designing, initiating, executing and evaluating community music practices. Designed for both undergraduate and graduate students, in community music programmes and related fields of study alike, this co-authored textbook provides explanations, case examples and 'how-to' activities supported by a rich research base.

The authors have also interviewed key practitioners in this distinctive field, encouraging interviewees to reflect on aspects of their work in order to illuminate best practices within their specialisations and thereby establishing a comprehensive narrative of case study illustrations.

Features:

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• a thorough exploration and description of the emerging field of community music;

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• succinctly and accessibly written, in a way in which students can relate;

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• interviews with 26 practitioners in the US, UK, Australia, Europe, Canada, Scandinavia and South Africa, where non-formal education settings with a music leader, or facilitator, have experienced success;

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• case studies from many cultural groups of all ages and abilities;

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• research on life-long learning, music in prisons, music and ritual, community music therapy, popular musics, leisure and recreation, business and marketing strategies, online communities – all components of community music.

Chapter 1
Music and Meaning in Community Contexts

[…] music can never be a thing in itself, and [that] all music is folk music, in the sense that music cannot be transmitted or have meaning without associations between people.

John Blacking¹

If everyone is born musical, then everyone’s musical experience is valid.

Christopher Small²

Perhaps now, more than ever before, we can consider ourselves to be living in a musical society. We can also assert that virtually everyone is, to some degree, musically educated by means of a variety of community-based contributors along with the ever-increasing role that media plays informally in individual musical lives (Willingham & Bartel, 2008). Studies reveal clearly that citizens who claim to have some musical understanding or experience did not become musical primarily in school.³ We ask then, what is the role of music in peoples’ lives, where and how do they derive meaning from those musical experiences and to what degree does meaning with, in and through music making inform self-identity? Most importantly, what is the role of music in community music practice?

A Musical Society; How Meaning Is Constructed

Ethnographic research on the ways humans make sense of musical life ex periences provides clues as to how both an individual and social construction of meaning occurs (DeNora, T. 2000, Green, L. 2002, Finnegan, R., 2007).

There are many shades to the concept of meaning, and especially when that concept is contextualised within the dimensions of community music engagement and practice. Some have defined meaning as construing or interpreting experience or ‘to give it coherence’ (Mezirow, 1991, p. 4). Music and its relationship to memory is the focus of much neuroscience research with studies on how music influences memory, the hypothesis being that the very act of listening to and playing music may strengthen one or more of our memory systems (Jensen, 2000; Zatorre, Evans, & Meyer, 1994). Music education philosopher Bennett Reimer (2003) suggests experiences in music offer an alternative reality and an alternative way of being. Music can bring an intuitive and emotional sense of human experiences to a conscious level, opening possibilities to alternative ways of knowing (Brookfield, 2002).

Constructivist theorists support the notion that individuals construct meaning as the result of prior experiences, interests, social connections and where they are situated. The social and cultural experiences contribute to the construction of meaning where it is not necessarily inherently found in the music itself (Froehlich, 2007). From a constructivist perspective, music leadership is viewed as a shared process between facilitators and musicians. The organizational structure is flattened and integrated, and participants share common values and purposes. The interactive nature of a community promotes continuous improvement, built on the theoretical constructs of human relations and systems theory and ecological thought (Lambert et al., 2002). It is assumed that knowledge, or in this case innate musicianship, exists within the participant and in emphasizing the social nature of learning in a community music setting, multiple outcomes are encouraged and human growth is an imperative. Constructivist theory is touched on briefly in Chapter 2 where connections to informal and non-formal learning practices are made.

Among the various perspectives in the discussion of music and meaning is the notion that musical works and musical participation have the capacity to ‘engage people’s beliefs about deeply important matters: about culturally shared expressions of emotion, culture-specific traditions of artistry, community values, or musical characterizations of socially shared events, personalities, or issues’ (Elliott, 1995, p. 205). Further, it is suggested that while such experiences are unique to each individual, there is a ‘kind of magnetic field that brings people or different musical understanding […] together’ (Elliott, 1995, p. 205). This leads to the concept of music and meaning in a socially inclusive community context.

Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1990) reminds us that

we have conceived of individual human beings as separate from one another. We have invented abstraction and analysis- … it is this differentiation that has produced science, technology and the unprecedented power of mankind [sic] to build up and to destroy its environment (p. 240).

However, the integration into accepting a cooperative role, rather than a competitive individualised one, is to realise that community-based societies are built with systems dependent upon shared values and guidelines. It is in this context that we are reminded that ‘the problem of meaning will then be resolved as the individual’s purpose merges with the universal flow’ (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990, p. 240). Community music, then, offers a space where ideas and practices may grow from the bottom up, where there is a democratic and inclusive culture that listens, respects and acts on the individual voices of those who make up that community.

Authentic Self-Identity within the Music Community Collective

Community music practice is built on the premise that everybody has the right and inherent ability to create and participate in music. There is an emphasis on a variety of musical genres and cultural practices that reflect the uniqueness and/or diversity of the community makeup. People are inexorably linked to their music. Lee Willingham’s (2001) ethnographic study of a community of singers revealed that personal identity is a large part of personal meaning making and is often linked to a musical practice. The nature of the relationship and identifying with the music must be an authentic one, one that is true to self (Trilling, 1972).

There is no space here to delve deeply into the various forms of authenticity as addressed by scholars, however philosopher Søren Kierkegaard’s three levels of aesthetic, ethical and religious ethics, where he derives from these the concept of the universal rule of ethics (Miller, 1993), are germane to this discussion. In this perspective, an authentic existence involves looking directly at one’s life while not evading the universal rules of ethical practice, that is, community expectations and norms. One who is holistically authentic (Emerson, 1965) is one who acknowledges the link between the inner life and other beings.

The larger discussion around authenticity and self, then, considers the group and how one is authentically true to self while adhering to the values and expected norms of the society or community (Taylor, 1991). Based on he influential thinking of philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, this notion of authenticity can be thought of as listening to one’s inner voice. Taylor goes on to describe the idea of authentic self according to Charles Rousseau as the inner voice or an inner virtue that speaks to us in the language of nature; a voice of reason that emerges to one who understands their identity within society. The voice can be drowned out by all sorts of interferences, especially when influenced and dominated by the opinions of others.⁴ True authenticity calls on us to be true to ourselves, our very special and original selves, an aspect that is interwoven and connected to our creative aesthetic life, and that would include our relationship with music (Taylor, 1991). And it is here, within the shared values of community in a music context, that individuals can find common ground.

The focus of this book is on community music engagement, on developing a practice that is true to one’s authentic self and grounded in foundational principles. Educator and activist Parker Palmer (2007) suggests that a true sign that one is following an authentic vocational call is deep gladness. When one devotes one’s self to something that does not flow from within, from the person’s very nature, it is not integral or true. It does not enhance the community or build social cohesion. This does not exclude the challenges or the difficult days, but to be true to self is to be in a place where even the challenges will gladden, since they pose the kinds of problems that bring personal growth and deepen understanding. In fact, the only means by which we can wholly participate in community is to work from the voice within, the voice that ‘invites me to honour the nature of my true self’ (Palmer, 2007, p. 30).

Music Meaning, Perception and Mediation

As we embark on this journey of community music engagement, it is useful in the interest of meaning making to address how we perceive music and its value. In western (often referred to as ‘classical’) traditions, the practice is to honour what is transportable with notation providing a storage and retrieval system. What is not readily transportable is the context. Previously composed music can be retrieved and presented without contextual aspects, creating an arbitrated or mediated meaning.

Classical music is highly mediated. Consider this: In 1835, Chopin plays an idea on the piano (unmediated other than by the technology of the piano itself), he notates his idea with pencil and paper (storage system), the notated idea is re-created (score serves as retrieval system) by a young pianist in Canada in 2015, now mediated by 180 years of time, by historical study of performance practice, by more advanced piano technology and by interpretation through the human expression of a person influenced by twenty-first century culture. Our modern understanding of the context in which the idea was germinated and developed can only be inferred through historical writings and more recently various interpretations through recorded performances. There is a further mediation, that of the listener. Composers are the creators, musician performers and the audience listeners. (Of course, composers and performers are also intentional listeners, but for different reasons than audiences). From the idea pouring out of Chopin through his fingers on the piano, to the re-enacting of these ideas in modern time, the ideas themselves are exposed to a myriad of other influences and distractions. The sound in and of itself is not the whole package, and without the cultural context, the meaning is obfuscated or possibly even lost (Takemitsu, 1995). Perhaps this is one of the keys to the endurance of significant composed musical works where, to a great extent, the meaning of the music is often determined by complexities of formal structures and internal references rather than the one-to-one relationship between creator and listener.

By contrast, community music practice often takes place with a single person (facilitator) intervening with a group where the active music making includes shared listening, shared improvising and performing where leadership roles are semi-mediated, rather than autocratically directed. The facilitator evokes, engages, provides ideas and imagines with the musicians. In this context, roles become fluid, and the sharing is deeply personal rather than ritualised.

Unmediated music is embodied within the music makers and transmitted or shared directly with co-music makers or listeners. For example, an improvised piece is essentially untransportable. It is created in and for the place, the time, the individuals involved and the precise venue where it is shared. Even in recording an improvised event the direct meaning that is derived by those present can be considered diluted or without the original impact. In oral music traditions, as in Canadian Aboriginal communities, musicians seek to engage in unmediated practice where songkeepers share songs of tradition and meaning exactly as they were taught by elders. (See Kelly Laurila, Good Hearted Women Singers, Chapter 6). Music that is meaningful within its own culture or place (e.g. South African freedom songs, Irish folk music, Quebec fiddle music, Brazilian sambas) loses aspects of its context when performed, for example, in a concert hall by ensembles not connected to the culture. Witness Celtic music, or African-American spirituals arranged by composers and performed by ensembles in formal concert settings, ignoring the festive atmosphere of a celidh (kitchen party) or an oppressive work setting where the spiritual provided respite and hope for the slave labourers.

Gerard Yun

Meaning Making with Music in Cross-Cultural Contexts

Gerard facilitates par...