Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
Overview
Kari Veblen and Bengt Olsson
11
This chapter is written for Section V, Social and Cultural Contexts, Marie
McCarthy, Editor
Colwell, R. J. and Richardson, C. P. (Eds.). The New Handbook of Research on
Music Teaching and Learning. New York: Oxford University Press.
22
Community Music: Towards an International Overview
Kari Veblen and Bengt Olsson
Music teaching and learning takes place in many different contexts, from formal
to informal. There is often affiliation, reciprocity, overlap, or cross fertilization
between more structured and less structured settings. This chapter examines various
facets of music in the community, as distinct from music education in K12, or
higher education frameworks. Because of its inclusive nature, this subject naturally
overlaps with Section II, chapters 3, 4 and 9 (early childhood and adult education,
technology); Section VI, chapters 5 and 6 (teaching in urban and rural
environments, in community settings); and Section VII chapter 1 (initiatives of
community music and cultural organizations with schools ). We focus on the
contexts of community music in an international perspective and seek to provide
complementary research to these other, more specific treatments.
Community music is pervasive and an integral part of cultures worldwide.
However, limitations of our literature search such as language barriers and uneven
or inaccessible documentation constrain us to emphasize those settings where
community music is formally named, described and documented.
WHAT IS COMMUNITY MUSIC?
What is community music? How is the term ‘community music’ defined
worldwide? What are common characteristics? Are there representative activities
and settings?
Although defined differently internationally, all definitions concur that
community music concerns people making music. For music educators, this term
implies opportunities for participation and education through a wide range of
mediums, musics and musical experiences. Community music (CM) activities and
programs are often based on the premise that everyone has the right and ability to
make and create music.
Consider the following possible scenarios for CM activities: church choirs; brass
33
bands; local orchestras; music programs for the young; Elderhostel; sings at the
seniors’ center; ethnic celebrations; parades; fetes; festivals; internet users; fan
clubs; chatrooms; youth bands (rock, garage, punk and the latest thing); adult
barbershop quartets; doowhop singing; nonprofit coffeehouses with local
performers; barn dances, contra dances and square dances with live musicians; the
local jazz “scene”; recorder ensembles; bell ringers; local music schools; private
piano studios; and voice lessons in the home. This can only be a partial list of
musicmaking possibilities.
Perhaps music making is the sole purpose of the gathering, or perhaps it is one of
several purposes. Common characteristics may be traced through these different
settings. However, CM should be viewed more as a dynamic and vital force, rather
than limited to any fixed set of factors.
Characteristics of Community Music1
Community Music involves active participation in music making of all kinds
(performing, improvising and creating). The kinds of music employed encompass a
wide range and diversity of musics, as seen from the list of scenarios above. Music
may occur with cultural events, folkways and other arts. The music may reflect the
cultural life of a geographical community, recreated community, or imagined
community.
Musical communities take many forms. While music making groups may
crystallize into unique structures, there are certain characteristics that facilitate
positive group dynamics. Procedures and structures don’t seem to be fixed
determinants. There may be a conductor, people may take turns leading and
following, or there may be a collective.
In many musical groups, membership is voluntary and selfselected. The
individual has freedom within the group to explore new roles. One reoccurring
theme in musical communities concerns the fluidity of knowledge, expertise and
available roles. The individual has the ability to move through a variety of roles,
from observer, to participant, to shaper and creator, finding different ways to
participate. There is a sense of individual responsibility to the group and a
reciprocal sense of group responsibility to the individual. Identity and self
44
expression are potent factors within the collective; belonging, coding, immigration,
assimilation and globalization are all played out through musical communities.
Similarly, community music activities may involve a wide range of
participants – from early childhood through older adulthood, and intergenerational
in some instances. There is frequently an awareness of the need to include
disenfranchised and disadvantaged individuals or groups. Sometimes the efforts are
part of the mission of a community center, settlement house or church. Music
making may be part of an outreach effort in social work situations including youth
intervention programs, prisons, hospitals, institutions and care facilities. Implicit in
these programs is the recognition that participants’ social and personal growth is as
important as their musical growth. Often there is a belief in the value and use of
music to foster intercultural and interpersonal acceptance and understanding.
Many programs stress the acknowledgment of both individual and group ownership
of musics and respect for the cultural property of a given community.
Characteristics of Community Music Activities
• Emphasis on a variety and diversity of musics that reflect and enrich the cultural life
of the community and of the participants
• Active participation in musicmaking of all kinds (performing, improvising and
creating)
• Development of active musical knowing (including verbal musical knowledge where
appropriate)
• Multiple learner/teacher relationships and processes
• Commitment to lifelong musical learning and access for all members of the
community
• Awareness of the need to include disenfranchised and disadvantaged individuals or
groups
• Recognition that participants’ social and personal growth are as important as their
musical growth
• Belief in the value and use of music to foster intercultural acceptance and
understanding
55
• Respect for the cultural property of a given community and acknowledgment of both
individual and group ownership of musics
• Ongoing commitment to accountability through regular and diverse assessment and
evaluation procedures
• Fostering of personal delight and confidence in individual creativity
• Flexible teaching, learning and facilitation modes (oral, notational, holistic,
experiential, analytic)
• Excellence/quality in both the processes and products of musicmaking relative to
individual goals of participants
• Honoring of origins and intents of specific musical practices
Table 1
The development of active musical knowing (including verbal musical
knowledge where appropriate) is stressed. Typically, CM fosters multiple
learner/teacher relationships and processes including models of apprenticeship and
partnership. Within musical systems, learner and instructor may collaborate;
interaction may take place within a group setting, but there is room for unique
expression and individual instruction. There may be flexible teaching, utilizing a
variety of learning and facilitation modes such as oral, notational, holistic,
experiential, and analytic. Processes may be emphasized over products of music
making.
Because this aspect of music education is both heavily documented in some
instances and scantily researched, if at all, in others, this chapter will explore
community music activity through three complementary lenses:
• Ethnomusicological and sociological research on music teaching and learning
practices outside formal schooling
• Emerging professionalization of community music education / service
• International trends: networks and services
66
MUSIC TEACHING AND LEARNING PRACTICES INSIDE AND
OUTSIDE FORMAL SCHOOLING
This section focuses upon ethnographies and sociological studies with
implications for music education. Because of the volume and variety of information
available to us, we make a distinction between research (indepth inquiry, for
instance, a doctoral dissertation) and researchbased studies (interpretive articles
which use data from other sources). This section presents geographically diverse
research, which is organized thematically.
Ethnomusicological and Sociological Studies of Community Music
The fields of ethnomusicology and sociology offer significant models for
research in CM as well as for music education.2 There are many ethnographies of
music making in different localities conducted over the past three hundred years;3
however, recent interest in issues of affinity groups, identity, changing media of
transmission, globalization and other determinants expressed through musical
communities have prompted a new wave of studies. Sociological macro
perspectives exploring connections between sounds and society (Martin, 1995) are
reformulated in micro studies within community music through themes such as local
musical values within institutions and communities, identity as musician or teacher,
formal / informal teaching and learning, and authenticity in performances.4
Affinity Groups and Identity
Slobin (1993) examines the rich interplay of musicalcultural identities within
pluralistic societies and suggests why being a part of a music making group may be
allabsorbing for some individuals:
The central fact is that today music is at the heart of individual, group, and
national identity, from the personal to the political, from the refugee mother’s
lullaby to the “StarSpangled Banner” at the baseball game (p.11)
Competing cultural dynamics are revealed through “small musics in big
systems.” Slobin describes “micromusics” or “subcultural sounds” as the smaller
units, which affirm cultural identity within a dominant musical superculture.
Groups include communities linked by performers or instructors and personal webs
of contact. He suggests that: “Their nature personal, dynamic and interactive
may ensure their continuing existence.”9
Slobin discusses three overlapping spheres of cultural activity: “choice,”
“belonging,” and “affinity groups.” He characterizes affinity groups as “a jointly
imagined world that arises from a set of separate strivings temporary fused at a
moment of common musical purpose” (p. 60). Hast (1994) uses Slobin’s model of
affinity groups as she illustrates how community is formed around the expressive
culture in New England contra dance. She notes factors that attract musicians and
callers as well as dancers into this community. Herman (1997) considered the
attraction of Sacred Harp singing to modern secular groups in California. This
American genre of hymn singing has spread beyond its southern religious contexts
88
to become widespread in the United States over the past twenty years.10
Transmission in affinity groups may rely on sharing between enthusiasts,
neighbors and family. Burton (2001) documented intergenerational group playing
and learning in fiddle music of Central Texas communities. Tunnell and Groce
(1998) observed that family and community were very influential in formative
identity of semiprofessional bluegrass musicians.
Other recent studies investigate affinity groups centered around jazz, heavy
metal, rock and other popular genres.11 In addition to communities, which perform
music together, there are musical affinity groups that may never meet facetoface.
Research is just emerging concerning virtual music communities and new modes of
interacting using the latest media.12
A number of studies explore how individuals express identities through the
medium/community of a musical genre. Pierson (1998) uses ethnographic case
studies to chronicle how Estonian people protested Soviet repression in the
“Singing Revolution.” Estonians customarily congregate every five years for song
festivals at which church, youth and traditional musics are sung. A gathering in
1988 became the focal point for peaceful protest. By 1991, the Estonians regained
their independence. Other examples of political action through music include
poignant studies of communities past and present.13 Ake (1998) explores the
musics and related identities generated through various jazz genres through the 20th
century. The communities, historical contexts, influential performers, images and
commodifications of jazz are examined, as well as the influences of programs in
jazz education at the college level. The relationship between performer and
community is the subject of Beisswenger’s 1997 dissertation on Melvin Wine.
Beisswenger analyses how this West Virginian fiddler draws upon his Appalachian
community and family traditions, simultaneously reinforcing community and
satisfying personal musical goals.
A number of recent ethnographies link music making, identity and immigrant or
diasporic communities.14 Burdette (1997) analyzes a German American singing
society in Indiana. He found that the participants shared common ethnic heritage,
but not much knowledge about German culture or language. Consequently as the
99
singers seek to create “gemutlichkeit” or social harmony through song and
attending rites, they create complex identities combining old and new elements.
Moloney (1992) documents continuity and change in Irish music in America. He
notes many factors which contribute to the vibrancy of this music, including nature
of transmission and multiplicity of social contexts. Diehl’s (1998) work addresses
Tibetan refugees in north India, with a focus on new music being made by the
Tibetan youth. The young musicians seek their own voice using music from their
homeland and a complex palate of new sounds.
Nebesh (1998) investigated the Ukrainian diaspora through music and dance.
She finds that Ukrainians remaining in the their homeland preserve and continue
their music as part of their identity. However, the immigrant community she
researched in Pennsylvania seeks to construct a UkrainianAmerican identity.
Cherwick (1999) investigated Ukrainian polka bands performing in the Canadian
prairie provinces, noting influences of commercial recordings, hybridization with
country and western music in the 1960s, increased ethnic awareness and rising
popularity. Zhang’s (1994) study of Chinese American communities in the San
Francisco Bay area notes that the first immigrants use music to assimilate, while the
second and third generation Chinese American use music to find and assert new
identity. Zhang concludes that musical communities in the Bay area preserve older
styles, but also help develop new Asian American musical genres.
The concept identity is also discussed within teacher training in terms of a
tension between a musician code and a teacher code (Bouij, 1998 a;
Bouiji 1998b; Roberts, 1990, 1993). In his 1990 study of Canadian
teacher training, Roberts discusses how students construct identities
such as ‘performer’ or ‘musician’ during their studies at the
university. Roberts notes that there is a continual tension between
official teachers’ models within the institution “for who they are and
who they are to become.”
Bouij (1998) emphasizes the concept “roleidentity” which embrace the
students “imaginative view” of themselves as they likes to think of themselves
being and acting during their teacher training. During the process of socialization
within the teacher training departments, Bouij distinguishes different role identities
10
10
from the point of view of the professional roles that students see ahead of them
(teacher or musician) and what degree of musical comprehensiveness they see as
being adequate for this professional role. Bouij refers to broad and narrow
comprehensiveness and shows that the institutionalized teacher training tends to
focus only on the roles of a narrow mainstream performer and/or strong teacher and
thereby neglects other possible role identities more closely linked to the
heterogeneous musical life of the communities.
Formal / Informal Settings and Authenticity
A Swedish study concludes that music teaching and learning occurs
differently in informal settings (such as youth clubs and teenagers’ homes), and
formal institutions (such as music schools) (Gullberg, 1999) Other research in
various geographic settings (Cohen, 1991; Finnegan, 1989; Fornäs et al.,1995;
Heiling, 2000; Sernhede, 1995; Stålhammar, 1995; Thornton, 1995) investigated
learning through peer group spontaneous activities. Such unplanned group
activities were described as voluntary, informal and open, as opposed to the
enforcement, institutionalization and target orientation of schooling. Fornäs et al.
(1995) considered the learning processes in three different teenage rock bands in
three Swedish cities. They found different learning “worlds” typical of the bands:
the objective world or external learning directed towards the material world
(practical competence and cognitive knowledge); the shared world or the inter
subjective learning (cultural and relational skills); and the subjective world or
learning of the inner world (selfknowledge, identity and expression). The authors
stress that these learning processes qualify the individual for both the fields of
music and life in general. Sernhede (1995) further emphasizes these new learning
processes in relation to creativity during adolescence. He found that teenagers form
their identity through musical experiences and activities outside school, rather than
within the narrower framework of the targetoriented school world.15
Stålhammar (1995) takes a similar approach in his investigation of a music
project in a Swedish public or compulsory school involving instrumental tutors
from the community music school. Different aspects of the concept “musical
experience” are developed in order to explain why different obstacles in education
11
11
are salient. The musical expectations of the participants – mainly the pupils –
played a crucial role and when their subjective experiences were considered to be
important, both interaction and creativity were driven forward.
Studies within ethnomusicology, anthropology and sociology have in many
ways challenged traditional forms of music education and tuition within different
institutions. Music teaching and learning in outreach settings of a variety of
communities have been emphasized as an alternative to music education in schools
and universities. The issue of formal / informal training has its starting point in
these alternatively based research perspectives. Furthermore, methodological
models and techniques borrowed from ethnomusicology and related fields have
influenced research within music education and teacher training as well.
From the perspective of traditional music education, this tension between formal
/ informal training has much in common with the classic dichotomy of theory /
practice. The distinction between theories of socially shared learning and theories
of cognitive development is treated as a contradiction, instead of using productively
their differing foci, methodologies and empirical work.16 Many of the people
involved in community music projects lack economic support from local, regional
or national funding sources. On the other hand, universities and local music schools
have become aware of the need for educating musicians and music teachers for
community outreach.
A different approach to the same discussion about the relationship between
teacher training and community music has prompted Olsson (1993, 1997) to
investigate how “new musical styles and genres” – rock, jazz, folkmusic – were
implemented within Swedish music teacher training. Two concepts are emphasized
– contextdependent and contextindependent instrumental tuition –in order to
bring the relationship between context and transfer of knowledge and teaching into
focus. Contextdependent or contentbased instrumental tuition is closely connected
to musical values and views of knowledge integrated in certain contexts, i.e. the
ways musicians in a certain context perform, value and transfer the core aspects of
a certain style are directly transformed into the tuition process. The dependence
aspect implies an adaptation of learning processes to musical practices typical for
the local community. The contextindependent transfer of knowledge, on the other
12
12
hand, is more related to institutional rules independent of local musical values and
qualities.
Cohen (1991) presents empirically the attitudes of rehearsing and composing
within two different bands from the perspective of contextdependence. Lillliestam
(1995) focuses on ‘oral traditions’ and principles of learning in terms of imitation
from records and ‘playing by ear.’ (Finnegan (1991) treats the formalinformal
aspect as the contrast between the classical mode of professional and formalized
teaching by recognized specialists and the selftaught or apprenticetype process of
the more popular music traditions.17
Another salient concept emerging from many sociological studies about
formal and informal teaching and learning is “authenticity” and “authentic learning
environments” (Farrell, 1991; 1997; Johnson, 2000; Olsson, 2000; Palmer, 1992;
Ruud, 1996, 1997; Stokes, 1994; Norfleet, 1997; HemphillPeoples, 1992),
emphasizing social aspects of musical learning. “Authenticity” as a concept is
frequently considered in world musics literature (Jonson, 2000). Factors seen as
crucial to authenticity are context and purpose. Palmer (1992) asks “to what degree
compromise is acceptable before the essence of music is lost and no longer
representative of the tradition under study (32).”
Predominantly the principles behind authentic learning environments are linked
to theories of socially shared learning: they emphasize collective, contextual and
informal learning settings. The outside world is portrayed as more efficient at
teaching than formal frameworks. The concept of “authentic culture” plays an
essential role in this construct because it highlights the dichotomy between cultural
core values and artificial or theoretical models.
The concept authenticity itself is theoretically oriented towards discussions
about individuals and identity (Cohen, 1991; Olsson, 2000; Ruud, 1996, 1997;
Stokes, 1994; Thornton, 1995). A musical discourse is developed of what is really
significant for music out of the conception that an inner dialogue is the basis for an
artistic expression (Berkaak & Ruud, 1994; Ruud, 1997). Thornton (1995)
emphasizes that music is perceived as authentic when it ‘rings true’ or ‘feels real’,
when it has ‘credibility’ and comes across as ‘genuine’.18 Thus, authenticity is
connected to the idea that some musics are more ‘natural’ than other musics, related
13
13
to the current debate about the extent to which styles such as rock music are ‘more
from the heart’ and more ‘real’ than comparatively ‘artificial such as the
mainstream pop music’ (Olsson, 2000). In their study of a Norwegian rock group,
Berkaak and Ruud (1994) demonstrate that the commercial aspects of the music
market are negotiated in relation to the band’s own aesthetic values: authenticity is
crucial to the members in the band. Cohen (1991) focuses on the attitudes among
two band members to music and musicmaking in relation to record companies as a
conceptual pattern based on a dichotomy between ‘creativity–commerce’, ‘musical
content/quality–image/superficiality’ and ‘artist/integrity–selling out’ (1991:134).19
Within anthropology and folklore the issue of authenticity concerns research in folk
traditions and their transmission.20
Transmission in Communities
A number of recent studies in music education use models and techniques
borrowed from ethnomusicology and anthropology. Enculturation, continuity and
change are explored through ethnographies of musical community. For example,
Addo (1995) examines enculturation and learning patterns in children’s games on
playgrounds in Ghana, West Africa. She notes the ways in which children play
together, recreate and create their culture. Veblen (1991), studying Irish traditional
music in Ireland, documents the changing contexts of transmission and the
development of community structures to reconstitute or replace older contexts.
McEntire (1990) explores the unique musical fabric of the Orkney Islands
(Northern Scotland), influenced by Scandinavia, the Isles, the Hudson Bay area of
Canada and parts of the United States. During four years of fieldwork in the
Orkneys, McEntire discovered that traditional ballads, as well as contemporary
songs, are part of that Island’s rich continuing fabric of local musics. Through
Seoulbased case studies, Paek (1999) describes social institutions which
revitalized Korean traditional music transmission.
Mbanugo (1986) chose an AfricanAmerican church in Buffalo, New York
as a site to study music teaching and learning as a cultural process. Although the
subjects were mostly schoolaged children, parents, choir supervisors and other
adults became part of the study. Mbanugo found that religious beliefs brought
14
14
individuals together to become a community, and that music was an integral part of
that ideology. A decade later, Townsend (1996) found corresponding processes
while exploring transmission in an AfricanAmerican church, in this case a Baptist
church in Aurora, Illinois. Townsend’s research led him to conclude that the music
and musicteaching processes found in an AfricanAmerican church context could
be transferred to a school setting.
Intergenerational Aspects of Community Music
Heiling (2000) studied an intergenerational amateur brass band within a Free
Church in Sweden. He found that the joy of playing together and a strong goal
orientation are interdependent on group coherence. Goalacceptance and goal
fulfillment are limited by the degree of group coherence in the band. On the other
hand social community and group coherence are limited by differences in the goal
acceptance of the members. Thus, the quest for artistic perfection is not only a
matter of competence of the conductor and the band members, but also of the
individual member being engaged in a continuous social activity.21
Lifelong amateur music making is the subject of several music education
doctoral dissertations using ethnographic research tools. Belz (1994) examined the
German Gesangvereine (or Singing Clubs) in Germany over a year and a half, as
both an interviewer and participant/observer. Her study concludes that singers in
Gesangvereine feel their involvement is constructive personally, as a way to
continue music education and experience. Singers perceive that they are members
of a community, both relating to others and preserving common cultural and
historical heritage. Danforth (1995) used his 17year association with an American
Indian community in Madison, Wisconsin to investigate singing and socializing on
a Woodland Indian “Drum.” A Drum is a group of Indian people, mostly men, who
make music during practice sessions, community events and intertribal powwows.
Danforth finds that these activities were a meaningful way for individuals to
connect with each other, tribal elders and Woodland Indian traditions.
Clearly, then, there is a rich and revealing body of international research on music
teaching and learning inside and outside formal schooling. Accordingly, we see
15
15
many connections between CM programs and traditional music education, as well
as implications for each. For example, Workers in CM advocate lifelong learning
perspectives and a broader definition of “teaching contexts.” CM offers a broader
way of looking at how music is used in a variety of settings, for expanded ranges of
participants, to a wider means than previously studied. In this emerging field,
music making may be a means to a therapeutic or social end. The next section of
our discussion briefly surveys professional organizations that are currently
promoting aspects of CM.
EMERGING PROFESSIONALIZATION OF COMMUNITY
MUSIC EDUCATION / SERVICE
The International Society for Music Education has established seven
commissions to investigate, report on and develop particular areas of importance.22
Established in 1984, the Commission for Community Music Activity is the
youngest of these. However, the influence of this group as an international forum
for research and a catalyst cannot be underestimated.
Biennial seminars hosted by the ISME Commission for Community Music
Activity have met since 1988 in different countries; these events offer participants
opportunities to share in the host country’s CM activities, in addition to an
exchange of research and views. Seminars have focused on themes such as: the
community musician and new professional, CM in multicultural societies, training
musicians and music educators to meet community needs, interaction between
professionals and amateurs, the role of CM in a changing world, CM as lived and
shared music making, and CM in the new millennium. This group generates
publications and sponsors a Web page to link CM workers internationally.23
Further information on this group may be obtained through ISME publications and
Website.24
Several private Web sites and email lists connect CM workers worldwide.25
16
16
National Professional Organizations
In Australia Community Arts Network (CAN) provides advisory services,
networking information, training, a professional journal and four Web sites for
Community music workers. Incorporated in 1980, CAN receives funding from the
Australian Council (the federal arts funding body) and Arts SA (the state arts
funding body). CAN consults with and advocates to the government regarding
funding and policy for community cultural development.26
The Nordic countries (Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Finland, Norway
and Sweden coupled with Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands) have
developed a comprehensive CM organizational network under the umbrella of the
Nordic Music Committee (NOMUS). NOMUS is the subcommittee of the Nordic
Council of Ministers dedicated to music cooperation among the affiliated countries.
The Committee initiates, oversees and finances joint projects, such as
commissioned works, musical performances, seminars, conferences and
educational courses.27
The United Kingdom based Sound Sense is a national development agency for
participatory musicmaking in the community. Sound Sense advocates and lobbies
for community music groups to the government, funding bodies, and media. This
agency provide networking and contacts, professional development, disability
advice, publications and a journal.28
The Music Network in the Republic of Ireland seeks to make live music
accessible to all, regardless of geographic location or circumstance, through
partnerships with locallybased groups. This network, established in 1986 by the
Irish Arts Council, promotes educational partnerships, compiles publications,
promotes projects and concerts and maintains a Web site.29 Another Irish
organization which promotes community arts more broadly is CAFE (Creative
Activity for Everyone).30
Over the past century, in the United States, the Music Educators National
Conference has supported partnerships and initiatives between schools and
communities. Publications have been generated.31 MENC promotes research in
focused areas through Special Research Interest Groups (SRIGs). Membership in
17
17
the SRIGs is voluntary. In 1998, the MENC Adult and Community Music Special
Research Interest Group (SRIG) was established. Thus far the new group has
sponsored a national panel, a series of papers, an emerging Web site and a
newsletter. Further information on this group may be obtained through MENC
channels.32
INTERNATIONAL TRENDS:
NETWORKS AND SERVICES
This section examines national trends using a combination of research, research
based and personal observations. We rely upon a combination of research and
researchbased materials in one section (Australia and New Zealand); the indepth
work of one scholar in one section (Europe: Austria); researchbased materials linked
with personal observations (UK and Ireland); research linked with personal
observations (Scandinavian and Nordic Countries); and research material in another
(North America). Our reporting is confined to those geographic areas accessible to
us and is incomplete.
Community Music is defined variously in different countries. The term varies
according to social conditions in each setting and may serve as a marker to describe
the relationship between school music and other transmission processes or networks
in the community. Often the term Community Music (CM) signifies codified and
funded networks and services often with matching training programs. CM workers
may be licensed, operate through government networks, apply for grants and so
forth.
In some places, music instruction may be available to school aged students and
other citizens through extraschool schemes. Countries with notable community
music systems include the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, Austria,
18
18
Scandinavia and North America.
Emerging programs: South Africa
Although the notion of Community Music as a structured experience is more
documented in the Englishspeaking world, there are emerging programs in other
parts of the world as well. Key themes in emerging programs are issues of access,
participation and equity. Comprehensive research of social conditions, political
factors, and funding sources are limited at this time (Thorsén, 2000).33 Studies
range from extensive treatments of associations that promote music in a region34 to
many minor reports of ongoing action research projects. Although there is a major
lack of research and written reports of CM activities, it is our impression that the
emphasis of need for support is discussed in many countries around the world. In
societies with social tensions and unstable political systems, the role of CM
activities appears to be underlined by the authorities. South Africa is cited here as
an example of emerging trends elsewhere.
South African music education carries a heritage from missionaries who
implanted church music, and from the British education system which focused on
European musical values (Thorsén, 2000). Music seldom existed as an examined
subject in “black” schools. The policy of giving equal education to all members of
society is therefore a core aim in postapartheid South Africa.
Soodyall and Goodall (2001) focus on the inservice training of music
teachers, together with community workers, within a participatory action research
project. The aim of the project was to “upgrade the quality of music teaching” and
“to develop a model of sustainable development” for all teachers involved. Since
the use of African music in the classroom is emphasized, music teachers and
community musicians participate with different musical backgrounds. Music
teachers are encouraged to get involved in traditional African music performances.
Community musicians, on the other hand, are invited to redefine their position and
role as “untrained community musicians.” The distinction of “trained” and
“untrained” is avoided consciously by labeling all participants “teachers” and
“facilitators,” “blurring the boundaries” between formal and informal training.
19
19
Higgins (2001) emphasizes issues of facilitation in community music
programs such as the logistics of structuring workshops, and implementing
effective arts development programs. In particular, he records difficulties he
experienced with South African community musicians reluctant to participate in
schooloriented group performances. Higgins stresses the need for educating
“facilitators” or “animateurs” in community outreach.
Thorsén (2000) discusses music teaching and learning in South African in a
broad perspective. He notes interrelated and overlapping paths of development
and musical training which an individual musician may follow. Thorsén
distinguishes between four pedagogical systems (traditional, informal, semi
formal and formal), which highlight differences between formal school music and
community music. These four systems are governed by divergent principles: a
national curriculum or local purposes; formal or informal music contexts; and a
focus on music education or music socialization.
Australia and New Zealand
Over the past twenty years, a conscious CM movement has grown in Australia.
In 1978, the federal government’s arts funding authority, the Music Board of
Australia Council, began funding for CM coordinators. The initial handful of CM
coordinators quickly organized centers (15 centers by 1985), and solidified a
national coalition with networks of educator/musicians and established conferences
on CM. (Harrison 1996: 4142). Platts (1991) describes the initiative of a
Postgraduate diploma in CM at the University of Western Australia, with reference
to four other community arts programs.
Recent research in Australia has been directed toward providing CM models. Of
community music in Australia, Harrison comments “Our music comes from so
many different places and consists of so many different styles which continually
cross the lines of amateur and professional practice. The issues, for people working
in CM, are the context and the principles of community development, as much as
the styles and forms of the music itself (1996:40).”
Cahill (1998) in a handbook published in association with the Music Council of
Australia defines CM in Australia as ‘cultural synergy.’ She offers guidelines for
20
20
setting up programs and describes three large scale development projects.35
Breen (1994) undertakes a topology of interest continuums sponsored by public
funding in Australia. Breen asserts that CM is extremely mobile, comfortable with
simple means or with the latest in digital technology. He identifies communities of
music interest, not listed in any particular order in Table 2. Furthermore, Breen
identifies a corresponding typology of seven purposes for CM in Australia:
utilitarian, industrial, oppositional, pluralist, normative, consensus, welfare.36
Communities of Music Interest
Geography
Precinct – Local – Regional – National – Global
Users
Children – youth – ethnic – adult – senior citizens – disabled – unemployed – ‘ordinary garden
variety’
Genres
Acoustic – folk – rock – pop – experimental – world music – women – choir – a capella – orchestra –
brass bands – theatre
Industry
Personal – subcultural/specialist – recording – print – radio – television
Table 2: Breen 1994:317
Mumford (2001) describes the university/community collaboration at the
University of Tasmania. This program began in 1985 with a multiplicity of goals,
to enhance formal music education opportunities for instrumentalists and to
encourage local community participation. Mumford describes the successes of this
program and offers it as a model which may be applicable for other communities.
Nazareth (1999, 2001) offers an expanded framework for music education that
acknowledges links between schools and communities. She comments: “A
coherent and coordinated approach to education through music, one that
acknowledges the interrelatedness and complementary nature of early childhood,
school, tertiary, postschool and third age music education, can encourage the
enduring effects of education to be realized.” (2001).
Community music in New Zealand, according to Moore (1998) consists of “a
21
21
multitude of largely unconnected institutions including performance ensembles,
training operations and a smattering of social intervention work.”(p. 52) Moore’s
study of CM funding in the UK, Scandinavia and New Zealand reveals how much
is done with the comparatively limited resources allotted in New Zealand.
Moore notes that social intervention criteria (which provide impetus for much
UK funding) are not significant in New Zealand. However, Drummond (1989) and
Croxon (1996) describe ways in which CM projects can promote cultural
awareness and access within this pluralistic society.
CM programs in New Zealand may extend or link with formal educational
systems. Buckton (1995) describes a survey of music educators in Auckland who
perceive the CM worker as a music teacher who works outside the classroom in
any of a number of venues. Richie and Wallis (1989) and Wallis (2001) describe a
successful CM school in Christchurch that partners with area music programs.
Wilberg and Sharman (1989) document CHIMES, a cooperative in Wellington
which began as an early childhood enrichment, but has expanded to all ages and
many forms of music making.
Europe: Austria
In Austria issues concerning CM focus mainly on regional cultural policy
and problems connected with a federalist structure (Mark, 1990; 1992; 1998).
Since cultural affairs are, generally speaking, within the domain of Austrian
provinces, the structural setup for community music shows a considerable degree
of variation in the different provinces. Music schools, for example, vary from a
detailed regulation in one province to total independence in another. Mark (1990;
1992; 1998) emphasizes different obstacles and problems in training qualified
instrumental teachers for an expanding labor market.
One problem is the need for a sufficient number of trained music teachers;
another is the relationship between teacher training departments and the local
musical life. The number of pupils has increased continually during the last
three decades but the teacher training has been unable to deliver trained teachers
to meet these demands. Consequently there is a lack of music teachers with
appropriate training in many of the music schools. The shortage of university
22
22
trained music teachers is not the only problem.
Mark (1998) also emphasizes favoring students with a classical musical training in
the entrance examinations to higher music education. Furthermore, these students
have a narrow and traditional aesthetic view of music in the communities. Mark
proposes a review of the curriculum in the teacher training putting a stronger
emphasis on “music education in the age of media explosion”, “music education
for the global village,” and “music education in a multicultural society,” in order to
meet the challenges of new social and cultural demands. He emphasizes principles
such as:
1) emphasis on the musical behavior of people rather than exclusively on music as
a work of art;
2) acceptance of the existence of a variety of equally valid musics;
3) conveyance of attitudes such as tolerance, empathy, respect for differing tastes;
4) stressing the emotional meaning of music…. rather than merely the rational,
structural, analytical and related aspects;
5) emphasis on the processes of musical socialization and the reception of music;
6) regarding teaching not as a oneway street but as a mutual learning process
between teachers and pupils;
7) consideration of the multifunctionality of music in our society (Mark, 1992:23)
By focusing on these principles Mark delineates the characteristics of present
teacher training in Austria.
Europe: Scandinavia/ Nordic Countries
‘Scandinavia’ is a collective term for Denmark, Finland, Norway and
Sweden. The term ‘Nordic countries’ is used to designate an even wider region:
Scandinavia, Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. As a political designation,
‘Nordic’ implies the pursuit of similar aims and collaborative projects.
The first CM schools in Scandinavia (Denmark and Sweden, primarily) were
established during the early 1930s. After World War II CM schools began to
increase rapidly. In the early 1980s most Scandinavian communities supported
23
23
their own music schools through public funding or cooperative efforts with private
institutions (Gustavsson, 2000; Vinther, 1997). Indeed, Scandinavia tends to
employ a topdown approach to funding CM projects in which national
governments enable local communities to strengthen local musical initiatives.
For example, policies established in the 1970s and 1980s enabled local
communities to develop institutional orchestras and bands of their own and to
make more musical cultures more accessible to many more people by facilitating
participation in local jazz, rock, popular and folk music programs. In some cases,
these community music schools developed amidst the tension between compulsory
public school curricula and local musical life37 (Gustavsson, 2000). In Denmark,
the Rhythmic Music Movement (a movement for tuition in jazz, rock, and other
kind of AfricanAmerican based musics) led to a distinct school system and teacher
training approach (Nielsen, 1998; Olsson, 2000). In Norway and Sweden, national
agencies were constituted to distribute all kinds of music around these nations.
The trend toward more active public participation in music led to the need
for alternative forms of music teaching and learning. Consequently, teacher
training students were obliged to take part in practical musical projects in
communities with the goal of learning how to involve new groups of participants
who had little previous experience with music making (Brändström & Wiklund,
1995; Nielsen, 1998; Olsson, 1993, 2000; Stålhammar, 1996; Vinther, 1997).
Brändström & Wiklund (1995) studied issues of selection, choice and gender in
CM schools and music teacher training. Brändström & Wiklund note that students
tend to be recruited from certain socioeconomic backgrounds and that this social
bias increases with advancing age. How children understand and use the local
community music school depends to a large extent on their social and musical
backgrounds. Furthermore, the authors argue, there are distinct differences in the
way children view their futures: higher musical goals are set for pupils at the music
schools in terms of their immediate studies and their future occupation as compared
to children not involved in music schools. This group of musicallydevoted
children forms the recruitment pool for music teacher training programs within
universities. So, community music schools are not only important for recruitment,
but for influencing musical values as well
24
24
Now, the means of CM development are not always evident at the local
community level. Persson (1998) found that the success of the local music schools
depended on the relationship between these schools and important bands and
orchestras in their relevant communities. In other words, an important local
musical life is the best guarantee for the funding of CM school.
Notwithstanding the above, it is important to emphasize that in Scandinavia
there are many amateur and professional choirs (Henningsson, 1996), ensembles
(Heiling, 2000), teenage “garage rock bands,” and immigrant bands outside the
formal system (Ronström, 1990) who either pay their own costs, or secure support
from private sources. When communities give support, it is mostly with a strong
emphasis on social intervention, lifelong learning and the needs of disadvantaged
groups in the community. The gap between these bands, ensembles and choirs and
the institutionally based musical life is, however, sometimes enormous.
In summary, community music in Scandinavia is not an explicitly
formulated concept. It is characterized by a strong national or regional support for
organizations that collaborate with public schools or music schools. Other groups
embracing nonmainstream music (avant garde music, jazz, heavy metal or ethnic
musics) are rarely supported 0..000with public funds. Research in Scandinavian
CM focuses on educational issues such as teacher training or instrumental tuition in
music schools, or is found in ethnomusicological literature.
Europe: United Kingdom
Cole (1999) traces the term community music back to the 1960s and 70s and
the radical artist’s movement. Its aim of developing a more accessible and
participatory approach to music emphasized the interaction between people, the
process rather than the product. One driving force in the early UK CM movement
was the then radical notion of cultural democracy and opening public access to the
arts. Early CM workers questioned what they perceived as the hegemony of ’high
art’ over other musics such as traditional and popular genres.
Cole (1999) stresses, however, that the discussion about community music
has not always been politically formulated. For example, much CM work in the
25
25
early 1970s focused on education, creative group work and participation. New
musical ideas developed by teachers like John Paynter collaboration with
professional musicians challenged formal music education. Furthermore, a view of
art as welfare proposed that people are fulfilled by cultural experiences when they
take the form of recreational activities (i.e. singing in choirs, playing in bands and
ensembles).
Higgins (2001) discusses the formalization of the CM movement in the UK
with the formation of Sound Sense in the early 1990s. This agency devoted to CM
workers continues to evolve methodologies and philosophy as yet to be analyzed in
research. Higgins quotes from agency material for his definition of community
music: “improves quality of life,” “contributes to lifelong learning and personal
development,” and “helps to develop community and social cohesion.” The core
intention of CM, according to Higgins, is the “conscious intention to enable
access” to music and musical participation. The distinction between between
participatory music practices in general and CM is the conscious intention to work
on an “equal opportunities policy” (Higgins, 2000).
Cole (1999) further emphasizes this ideology by drawing attention to the
focus on geographical areas or groups that are in some way disadvantaged.
Community music is as a vehicle for breaking down barriers between people and
music in terms of “access,” “participation,” and “partnership.”38
One outstanding feature of CM and education in the United Kingdom has
been the work by professional orchestras in schools and other contexts in order to
attract new and more diverse audiences. The success of orchestras like the London
Sinfonietta during the 1980s has been apparent to many other art organizations.39
Winterston (1999) observes the “model approach,” the practice most
frequently adopted by education teams working with orchestras in schools. In the
“model approach,” students create and perform, basing their works on specific
compositions. The creative music workshop involving professional musicians was
intended to support music in the classroom. Today there is a shift in emphasis from
teachers and pupils to the artistic and personal development of the orchestras’ own
members. “Who benefits?” Winterston asks, and formulates a strong critique
against many projects:
26
26
The marketing imperative has meant that shortcomings in educational
programs have sometimes been overlooked and therefore not been
addressed: music organizations are tied to their funders, therefore it is not
in their interest to be critical of their own activities (p. 152).
The aim to increase the audience will not be achieved. An inability to focus on the
true obstacles, Winterston says, makes the rationale for the projects seem naive. It
is not a matter of different aesthetic values that prevent people from visiting
concert halls. The true barriers are cultural rather than musical and are a “reflection
of the elitist position that art music holds.”
In light of this debate, new expectations have been raised in higher music
education concerning expanded roles for musicians. The changed focus on new
audiences and different music projects has made evident the lack of social skills in
a musician’s training. Ritterman (1999) labels this as the “transferable skills
debate” in order to include all the new demands for the appropriate training of
musicians. In one sense the problem is how a performer trained in one tradition is
able to learn and perform music from another tradition. Educational concepts like
“projectbased learning” and “contextual learning” have been introduced in order
to overcome these obstacles. At the same time a new labor market outside the
traditional orchestra has emerged.40
In summary, community music in the UK is based on intentions like “access,”
“participation,” and “partnership” with an ambition to focus on disadvantaged
groups in British society.41 Within higher music education courses in training
professional community musicians have developed to broaden musician’s social
and musical skills and expand the labor market for musicians.
North America: Canada and the United States
The organization of CM in North America resembles an organic configuration
with a number of ecosystems developing simultaneously. Because information is
both profuse and diffuse, this section can only offer a hint of the CM mosaic that
exists in Canada and the United States.42
27
27
The term Community Music has been in use in music education circles in North
America for much of the 20th century, although its meaning has been used variously
and often vaguely.43 Foy (1988) describes the Community Song Movement,
initiated by the Music Supervisor’s National Conference in 1913 which persisted
into the 1930s. During World War I, massed community sings such as those
conducted by Mabelle Glenn in Bloomington, IL were an important patriotic
manifestation of CM.44 Mark and Gary (1992) note that Community Music as a
social movement became important again during World War II; it was to remain
important throughout the 1950s.
Although a comprehensive history of CM in North America is yet to be written,
a number of studies document a seminal community musician/educator45, an
institution or association46, a region47, a particular segment of society48, or a musical
group49.
In a general survey of CM activities in the United States, Leglar and Smith
(1996) describe what they find as “compatible pockets of diversity” (p. 95). They
categorize CM groups in the United States by: (1) community music schools; (2)
community performance organizations; or (3) ethnic/preservation groups. In
addition to Leglar and Smith’s categories, the following groups are also found:50
(4) religious; (5) associative organizations with schools; (6) outreach initiatives of
universities and colleges; and (7) informal, affinity groups.
1) Community music schools
Community music schools consist of both individual, isolated freestanding
academies and members of the National Guild of Community Schools. The
network of schools which make up the National Guild of Community Schools of
the Arts originated as settlement houses for immigrants. The movement to establish
settlement houses came directly from England at the end of the 19th century as part
of progressive efforts in community action.51 The Guild includes 283 member
schools throughout the United States at the time of this writing. Two of the oldest
and best known of these are the Hull House in Chicago, founded in 1889, and the
Third Street Music School Settlement, founded in New York in 1894. The newest
schools in the Guild are only a few months old.
28
28
The National Guild’s mission is “Arts for All.” The Guild itself is an
advocate for the arts; it sponsors research, distributes publications, serves as a
conduit for funding and seeks to connect likeminded organizations. The Guild’s
Web site52 describes many programs, events, and resources. Member schools offer
music instruction to more than 300,000 students on a regular basis and reach
hundreds of thousands of people in their special events.53
The National Guild and other CM schools provide instruction in a variety of
music systems, as well as expanded services.54 Training in Orff, Kodaly, Dalcroze,
Suzuki, and various early childhood methodologies may be a featured part of the
school’s offerings (Nardo, 1996; Buescher, 1993). Blaker (1995) investigated
Suzuki method violin instruction programs in CM schools in the United States. She
noted that the Suzuki method, (or Talent Education), and CM schools were two
areas of music education which have expanded substantially in the last part of the
20th century. Adelson (2000) describes the range of programs available through the
innercity MERIT programs.
Graessle (1998) surveyed adult music programming in Guild schools to find
that private instruction was the most frequently offered program for adults.
Enrollment information indicated that adults were about 15% of the student
population. Pflieger (1985) found that Guild schools more frequently offer music
than other arts (dance, drama or visuals arts). A majority of schools have outreach
programs in adult education, performance, public and private school programs,
early childhood and day care. Pflieger notes that while most schools offer partial
scholarships, few offer special scholarships of financial assistance for the
handicapped.
2) Community performance organizations
Community performance organizations include orchestras, bands, choirs, and
many other nonprofit groups. Numerous smallscale studies document specific
musical organizations. Coffman (2001) describes his community band, a member
of the New Horizons bands for older adults initiated by Roy Ernst from the
Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. The program has expanded
since its inception in 1991 to some 50 bands throughout North America. Coffman
29
29
organizes into three categories the reasons that seniors give for joining a band:
social, personal well being, and musical.55 Carson (1992) recounts the first thirty
years of the Northshore Concert Band of Wilmette, Illinois, from 19561986.
Carson asserts that the NCB is the most influential amateur adult band since its
founding and that it may serve as a model for other bands.
Other studies of performing groups have examined demographics,
educational levels, musical experiences and motivation for participation (Tipps,
1992; Spell, 1989; Spencer, 1996). Bowen (1995) identifies current adult CM band
activity in the three southern states of Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. In his
profiles of band members, Bowen found that two thirds of band members were
male, most were white, more than half held a college degree and half had majored
in music during their college career. Vincent (1997) examined mixedvoice adult
community choruses in the state of Kentucky. She determined that Kentucky
community chorus singers were generally white, well educated, with average or
above average salaries. Choirs were composed of twothirds women, most of
whom had had previous positive musical experiences. Holmquist (1995) surveyed
community choir members from three Oregon cities. All amateur singers in
Holmquist’s study shared certain traits, among which were an insider language, a
sense of community, memory of a ‘peak experience’ and past involvement in high
school performances. Hosler (1992) surveyed the Brass Band movement in the US
and Canada to find that membership includes individuals with a wide variety of
educational backgrounds and musical experiences. Most of the bands surveyed
were amateur organizations existing for individual musical enjoyment and
contributing to the community. Other current studies of groups include an
examination of the Phoenix Boys Choir (Schaffer, 1992), a survey of
Massachusetts CM bands (Thaller, 1999); a study of literacy in a volunteer chorus
(Green, 1998); and an ethnography of amateur orchestra musicians (Park, 1995).
3) Ethnic / preservation groups
Ethnic / preservation groups include multiple immigrant communities as well as
First Peoples groups56 and recreated traditions groups. (See the section on
ethnomusicological and sociological studies in this chapter for more on immigrant
30
30
circles.) Gatherings often serve as a way to celebrate or build community.
Mathews (2000) looks at contemporary Native American powwows, gathering
places for intergenerational and intercultural dancing, singing and storytelling.
Mathews notes that these events are flourishing as traditions revitalize and attract
younger participants.
In addition to preserving traditions, CM groups in North America may also
recreate, improvise, invent or adopt traditions. Bealle (1989) considers an oldtime
music and dance community united by its interests. The concept of tradition in this
instant serves to unite the group not to its own past, but to the past of a remote
cultural other. In a similar vein, Lausevic (1998) examines past and present
International and Balkan dance and music groups in the United States.
Contemporary participants or ‘Balkanites’ are mostly urban/suburban, highly
educated Americans of various European origins.
Ethnic/preservation CM groups often offer alternative methods of teaching and
learning music to participants. Dabczynski (1994) documented a recontextualized
setting for traditional fiddling at a fiddle and dance summer camp held in upper
state New York. He notes that in addition to recreating traditional transmission, the
camp successfully created a responsive and warm community. Veblen (1995)
described a constellation of reoccurring factors in teaching and learning in her
comparative study of IrishAmerican and NorwegianAmerican musicians in the
Midwestern United States.
4) Religious
Some CM musicians participate in religious capacities as organists, soloists, and
cantors, or as members of church choirs, processional bands and many other kinds
of ensembles. Although many religious groups perform publicly, members may
feel that they are not really performing for an audience; they are worshiping or
fulfilling a role in a liturgical service. Sometimes the music and rituals are part of
an immigrant or displaced community, thus serving to preserve heritage as well as
worship.
Allen (1987) examined gospel performance in New York City’s African
American churches. He finds that in addition to extending the Sunday morning
31
31
workshop service, gospel performances help maintain southern rural identity,
religion and values while integrating new urban performance styles. Gallo (1998)
undertook a study of the dynamics of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Toronto.
Immigrants to this church have adapted what was a strict and written Ethopian
musical tradition to a flexible oral musical practice, resulting in many changes in
performance, aesthetics, symbolism, instrumentation and transmission.
Buis (1996) and David (1994) both examined regional variations of the African
American ringshout tradition, which combines movement and music in ritual. Buis
documents what he describes as the only remaining community in the United States
which practices the ringshout as it was descended from slavery. David’s research
looks at the Singing and Praying Bands in Maryland and Delaware that are derived
from the ring shout tradition. Meetings of Singing and Praying Bands culminate in
a march which symbolizes the spiritual solidarity that members refer to as ‘being
on one accord.’ Hall (1998) traces the origins of New Orleans jazz funerals to
African roots, first performed in 1795 by the dissident slave community in that city.
Hall asserts that jazz funerals serve to link the dead and living and to articulate the
community’s identity.
Robertson’s (1996) study of the role of singing in the Christian Science Church
revealed the importance of music in worship, but also its emphasis on nontheatrical
simplicity. Views of the church’s founder, Mary Baker Eddy had lasting influence
on the character of music in these services. Ihm (1994) investigated current music
practices of 535 congregations of the Independent Christian Churches in the United
States. Roughly 80% of the congregations in this research have adult choirs, 60%
have children’s choirs and about a quarter have teen choirs. Most choir members
have had little private music instruction.
5) Associative organizations with schools
In North America CM frequently has a relationship to school music making, as
CM advocates feel that a strong fabric of CM life complements opportunities in
schools.57 A number of collaborations and partnerships in the United States are
explored in a recent MENC publication (Draper, 1999). Babineau (2000) explores a
number of initiatives in Canada that extend or enrich curriculum.58 Campbell
32
32
(1998) describes an ongoing project between local tradition bearers and Seattle
schools.
Many orchestras, opera companies and other professional organizations partner
with school systems, as well as with other branches of the community. Patterson
(1991) investigates school outreach programs organized by professional opera
companies to find that over one million students experienced live opera
presentations. Himes (1992) focuses on the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra’s
educational programs, noting the positive influence they have on community and
teacher perceptions of the arts. Lamb (2001) describes a decade of partnership
between symphony, schools and university in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. (See
Section VII, Chapter 1 for more on outreach and artist in the school programs.)
6) Outreach initiatives of universities and colleges
Many universities and colleges undertake outreach programs in their
communities. These programs may include choirs, bands, orchestras and other
ensembles, as well as outreach efforts into schools, early childhood or senior
centers as well as sponsorship of local arts and music events. Werner (1996)
surveyed 700 community colleges in the United States to find that community
college music programs are expanding at a rapid rate. Werner’s study also
identified many linkages between college and community in these music programs.
Baily (1997) details a case study of the University Musical Society of the
University of Michigan. The Musical Society, a nonprofit arts organization as well
as a member of the University ‘family,’ has successfully promoted music and other
arts in the communities and in the university over a period of time.
Several researchers sought to design outreach models, based on observations of
one or more programs. Alexander (1997) surveyed the 46 divisional schools of the
National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts (see number 3 in this section) for
relationships in areas of administration, budget, faculty and curriculum. Divisional
schools are member institutions of the National Guild that were developed by
music conservatories or college and university programs. Noting the characteristics
of exemplary programs, Alexander suggests guidelines for CM school
administrators. Single (1991) designed a program at The Ohio State University
33
33
based on demographic information. Robinson (1999) proposes a theory of
collaboration he names ‘tensegrity,’ or tensional integrity, based on observations of
the first two years of partnership between a university school of music and an urban
public school district. Robinson’s theory acknowledges that people, not structures,
make partnerships work and that these groups draw energy from differences, rather
than from consensus and uniformity. Other studies (Shellhouse, 1990; Hardin,
1997) reported CM activities as part of an analysis of community college music
programs.
7) Informal, affinity groups Slobin (1993:98) defines affinity groups as “charmed
circles of likeminded musicmakers drawn magnetically to a certain genre that
creates strong expressive bonding.”59 One example of an affinity group might be
musicians attending an early music summer school who meet to play, learn, dance,
buy and sell music from another time. However, since there are no recordings of
what early music sounds like, this genre offers performers the chance to reinvent
(or reinterpret) – and to gather with others of like mind.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, this chapter is an initial attempt to document and articulate an
emerging awareness and professionalization of Community Music. CM is not new
– we have always known rich fabrics of participatory music making. Moreover,
music educators, both individually and collectively, have always worked in many
settings. What is new is the flourishing of scholarly interest in this area, as well as
recent international initiatives. As official networks promote and deliver services
in Australia, Europe and North America, various organizations and individuals are
attempting to define CM, locally and internationally. This broadening of vision for
music educators promises many opportunities for research, such as:
• investigating the variety of successful teaching and learning strategies found in
CM settings
34
34
• exploring political, socioeconomic and other implications of existing
CM frameworks
• charting the diversity and attributes of music educators in nontraditional
frameworks and mediums
• researching interactions and fluidity of roles in group context
• documenting individual case studies of CM, as well as channels, pathways
and other possible configurations
• investigating funding principles of CM in order to mirror issues of cultural
policy in practice
• chronicling individuals, collaborations and structures
• expanding the scope of international documentation
• encouraging reporting of research from Asia, South America, the Middle East,
Africa and other sites
• promoting interdisciplinary approaches to CM research, including group
ethnography, collaborations between practitioner and researcher, longitudinal
studies, and comparative studies
• building upon insights gained through ethnomusicological, sociological and
other related studies
35
35
1
This section offers the authors’ synthesis of principles and theories behind Community Music. Our synthesis is informed
by research and draws upon the conclusions of the International Society for Music Education’s Community Music Activity
Commission seminars 19902000.
2
Boundaries between research in sociology and ethnomusicology are, however, often vague and not always easy to
demarcate (Stokes, 1994).
3
See Livingston et al. (1993) for a collection of miniethnographies based in ChampaignUrbana, Illinois, USA. Although a listing
of all significant ethnographies is beyond the scope of this footnote, some recent studies of musical communities include the
following: Bahamas (Wood, 1995); Bali (Bakan, 1993); Bolivia (Solomon, 1997); Brazil (Albrecht, 1991); Central African
Republic (Kisliuk, 1991); China (Witzleben, 1987); Dominican Republic (Pacini, 1989); Japan (Condry, 1999); Madagascar
(Edkvist, 1997); Nigeria (Anagah, 1988); Romania (Nixon, 1993); Thailand (MyersMoro, 1988); South India (Kassebaun, 1994);
and United States (Washburne, 1999; Russell, 1999).
4
Blacking (1991) is reflecting on a major shift of emphasis in scholarly thinking about music and musicmaking: “ . . .
anthropology provides the best reasons for developing an essential musical theory that is not ethnocentric” (1991:63). Horn
and Swiss (1999) approaches the boundaries between sociology and anthropology/ ethnomusicology in terms of “locating
popular music in culture” through examining the ways popular music can be understood in relation to key terms like
ideology, discourse history etc, or “locating culture in popular music,” focusing on how different meanings of the
vocabulary of popular music “help shape the music and our experience of it” (1999:2). Finnegan (1989) stresses the fact
that in musicology one powerful definition of music embraces musical works, not performance in music.
5
Ingrid Monson sumarizes Appadurai and his frequent collaborator Breckenridge’s work. in the September 2000 SEM Newsletter,
Volume 34: 4, 1, 3.
6
Lipsitz (1993:5) takes Appadurai’s theory as a starting point for his exploration of radical and recontextualized modern
musical fusions.
7
Grandien (1991) makes the distinction between “mediation” – music becomes mediated when transmitted by media,
“mediaization”– the accommodation of mediatransformed music in its soundstructure, and “mediaization” which covers
both the processes of adaptation to media and the outcomes of the processes as apparent in practice (1991:321).
8
See Cohen (1999:249) for further explication of “scene.” Diamond (2001) examines Canadian individuals and musical
pathways / communities / scenes. Kruse (1993) describes the musical subcultures at American colleges as ‘musical
scenes’.
9
There is a related notion that each individual constructs his or her own musical world. See Crafts, Cavicchi and Keil
(1993) and Campbell (1998).
10
The Sacred Harp, primary tune book of Sacred Harp singers, was compiled in 1844 and uses a fourshape musical
notation popular at that time in America. Sacred Harp singing has continued as a practice, but only recently has become
adopted outside of its religious contexts.
11
These recent studies of musical affinity groups include Japanese jazz (Atkins, 1997); a continuum of metal, rock and jazz
communities in Ohio (Berger, 1995); Reggae bands in Rhode Island (Chabot; 1992); a Hungarian counterculture
community (Szemere, 1998); Salsa music in panLatin settings (BerriosMiranda, 2000); Heavy Metal fans (Gencarelli,
1993; Walser, 1993); and popular music among Old Order Amish youth in Pennsylvania (McNamara, 1997).
12
See Bryant (1995); Neff (1996) and Kibby (2000) for more on virtual communities.
13
Horowitz (1994) explores ethnic affinity groups of Israeli Mediterranean music. Flam (1988) studies Jewish songs of the
Holocaust from a Polish ghetto while Koehler (2000) examines the sociopolitical implications of the German Workers’
Choral Association (comprised of nearly 500, 000 Germans) in light of the Nazis’ rise to power.
14
Recent studies of immigrant or diasporic communities include examinations of ChineseAmerican groups in New York
City (Zheng, 1993); Louisiana Cajun and zydeco musicians in Northern California (DeWitt, 1998); Albanian wedding
music makers in Yugoslavia and North American sites (Sugarman, 1993); PolishAmerican immigrants in Detroit
(Savaglio, 1992); Ukrainian groups in Alberta, Canada (Koszarycz, 1999); and Puerto Rican communities in New York
(Glasser, 1991).
Finnegan (1989) emphasizes that music and musicmaking have many nonmusic implications as well in which patterns
15
like sociability and socially recognized positions in the group or community are prominent.
16
For theories of sociallyshared learning, see Lave and Wenger (1991); and Chaiklin and Lave (1993).
17
“On the one hand there was the hierarchical and highly literate classical music training with its externally validated
system of grades and progress, entered upon primarily by children and strongly supported by parents, schools and the local
network of paid teachers, with the aim of socializing children into the traditions of classical music theory and compositions
through instruction in instrumental skills via written forms. Against this was the other mode: embarked on as a selfchosen
mission primarily by adults and teenagers; not necessarily approved or encouraged by parents or schoolteachers; lacking
external official validation, central bureaucratic organization or any ‘career’ through progressive grades; resting on
individual aspiration and achievement in a group musicmaking and ‘oral’ context rather than a hierarchically organized
examination system”; Finnegan (1989:140)
18
“In an age of endless representations and global mediation, the experience of musical authenticity is perceived as a cure
both for alienation (because it offers feelings of community) and dissimulation (because it extends a sense of the really
‘real’).” Thornton (1995:26).
19
Kruse (1993) emphasizes the concept “alternative music” as something similar to authenticity; a certain set of social
practices – “practices of consumption, of production, of interaction – a sense of community”.
20
See Johnson (2000) for an exposition of the concept of authenticity in folklore and anthropology literature.
21
See Patterson (1985) for a discussion of motivational factors in Massachusetts community bands.
22
The ISME commissions are: Music in Schools and Teacher Education; Research; Education of the Professional
Musician; Music in Educational, Cultural and Mass Media Policies; Music in Special Education, Music Therapy and Music
Medicine; Early Music Education; and Community Music Activity.
23
The ISME commissions and other useful links may be located through the ISME Web site: http://www.isme.org/
24
Contact ISME through their Web site http://www.isme.org/ and also by email: b.z.isme@lokv.nl or w.w.isme@lokv.nl
25
See http://www.boerger.org/cm/ to locate CM groups and join an orchestra/band email list.
26
A current handbook giving an overview and contact information for Australian arts organizations may be found at
http://www.ozco.gov.au/resources/publication/corporate/handbook. There are four Community Arts Network (CAN) Web
sites: In Adelaide, SA: http://www.cansa.on.net; in Perth, WA: http://www.canwa.com.au; in Casula, NSW:
www.communityarts.org.au; in New Farm, QLD: http://www.qldcan.org.au
27
Nordic Sounds, an Englishspeaking magazine published quarterly is devoted to Nordic musical life. Nordic Sounds
email address is: nordic.sounds@nomus.org and their home address is Nordic Sounds, 14 Christian Winthers vej, DK1860
Fredriksberg C, Denmark.
The NOMUS Catalogue, an address and telephone register of music institutions in Nordic and Baltic countries may be
ordered through the NOMUS general secretariat email: gen.secr@nomus.org
28
Sound Sense may be contacted through email: 100256.30@compuserve.com or Fax: 01449 737649.
29
Music Network Ireland’s web.site is http://www.musicnetwork.ie
30
The email address for CAFÉ is café@connect.ie, Fax: (01) 671 3268.
31
The MENC publication Music For Everybody (copyright 1950) notes that “. . . CM is not a kind of music; rather it is all
kinds of music . . . A broad CM program may include not only those activities that provide for music participation, but
also related activities (n.p.). This publication provides a kind of scrapbook with guidelines, reports and pictures of many
different CM activities in the US, such as the PTA Mothers’ Singing Group in San Diego, CA playing flutophones. Mark
& Gary (1982) provides an overview of MENC CM activities. Draper (1999) presents portraits of current CM programs in
the United States.
32
The MENC SRIGs may be accessed through the MENC Web site http://www.menc.org.
33
Reporting of developing programs tends to articulate ideals and multicultural goals (Mannergren, 2000).
34
Rosse (1995) traces the role of local clubs and large societies in Northern India in promoting ‘Hindu’ music during 1860
1930. Stuempfle (1990) describes the steelband movement in Trinidad and Tobago from its inception in the 1930s as a
street music to its current status based both in grassroots groups and also in national structures. Three studies explore
African musical associations: NgigeNguo (1990) examines Gi kuky society and educational structures in Kenya;
Gunderson (1999) looks at farmermusician guilds and porter associations in Tanzania; and Nicholls (1992) probes the
relationsship of rural development projects to the music and dance associations of the Igede of Nigeria.
35
The three comprehensive Australian CM projects mentioned are Community Music Victoria, Dandenong Ranges Music
Council, and Orange Music Association.
36
Breen (1994) gives seven kinds of CM formations in Australia. Utilitarian projects are the least developed situations:
Here a CM worker contributes minimal opportunities for community participation. Industrial projects link performance or
product with media and possibly commercial enterprises. Oppositional situations refer to using CM to express political or
minority views. Pluralistic formations set forth access and tolerance as priorities in music making. Normative formations
indicate that music happens within defined affinity groups such as ethnic migrant circles. Consensus structures denote
programs targeted at specific groups, often with aims of social uplift. Welfare programs exist to bring musical
participation to disadvantaged social groups.
37
According to Gustavsson (2000), CM schools in Scandinavia developed in part because of tensions between compulsory
school and musical life and between progressive and traditional ideals of schooling. Traditionalists advocate views and
values closely connected to the cultural heritage with its aestheticbased didactics. Advocate of progressivism favor a
broader aesthetic, wider choices of music and preferences for performance and experiences which promote musical
creativitty. The community music schools belonged in the start to the latter pole but has during the last centuries been
more closely linked to the aesthetic pole.
38
One good example of this ideology was the “Tower Hamlet” project during the 1980s in which all children in schools in
certain areas of London were involved in string tuition with no regard to social background or traditional connection to the
instrument within families. A key person in the project was the wellknown British string pedagogue Sheila Nelson.
39
London Sinfonietta’s work can be followed through an Internet facility: www.soundintermedia.co.uk/treelineonline/
40
A pioneer within British Higher Music Education was professor Peter Renshaw at the Guildhall Music an Drama in
London, whose ideas about new roles for musicians has been most influential.
41
Moore (1998) presents a system of funding providers crucial to the community music movement. The national agency
“Sound Sense” is a key actor in this process of seeking arts funding.
42
This section compresses and combines programs in Canada and the United States, although funding systems, history and
philosophies may differ.
43
Peter Dykema was a driving force and commentator of the CM movement, which he defined as “all types of music
which may exist in a community.” Frank Beach and Edgar Gordon also were influential. See Mark and Gary (1992: 238
43) and McCarthy (1995).
The slogan “Music for Everybody” is often attached to the term Community Music, beginning in the 1920s. Bartholomew
and Lawrences’s book on training song leaders entitled Music for Everybody: Organization and leadership of Community
Music Activities, copyrighted 1920, gives instructions for song leading and wonderful pictures of massed factory sings, and
boys in Niagara Falls at a moving picture theater who sing “between reels under trained leadership.”
44
Community Music: A Practical Guild for the Conduct of Community Music Activities, copyright 1926, talks about the
democratization of music: “(Before and during WWI) . . . the value of music as a force in citizenship building and
community morale began to interest those who formerly had no musical interest as such and the movement for music for
all received the support of publicspirited, citizens, business men and community groups.”
(p. 4). In her study of purpose statements in community songbooks from 1916 to 1996, Hair (1999) concludes that the
basic argument given for promoting community singing in the US is for transmitting heritage.
45
Comprehensive studies of community music leaders include profiles of Anne Grace O’Callaghan from Atlanta, GA
(Tolbert, 1997); George Oscar Bowen of Flint, Michigan (Spurgeon, 1990); gospel musician Dorothy Love Coates of
Birmingham, Alabama (McAllister, 1995); bandmaster R. B. Hall of Maine (Bowie, 1993); folk dance and music specialist
Jane Farwell of Dodgeville, Wisconsin (Christensen, 1999); Lena Milam of Beaumont, Texas (Babin, 1987); Mennonite
musician Joseph W. Yoder of Mifflin County, Pennsylvania (Kasdorf, 1997); Edgar B. “Pop” Gordon known for his
pioneering radio music education in Wisconsin (Angevine, 1985); Amos Sutton Hayden, music and religious leader in
Ohio (Fletcher, 1988); Hugh Hodgson of Georgia (McDade, 1988); Bernard Jacob Pfohl who influenced Moravian Bands
in North Carolina (Rothrock, 1991); and Hattie Rhue Hatchett from Ontario, Canada (Stewardson, 1994).
46
Histories of settlement schools include a profile of the Third Street Music School Settlement in New York City, 1891
1984 (Pagano, 1997), the Hull House in Chicago (Green, 1998); and a general history (Egan, 1989). For a history of the
John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina see (Culbertson, 1985). Spurgeon (1994) chronicles the
Community Music Association in Flint Michigan.
47
Regional studies include examination of influences of Industrial bands in the Southern United States (LeCroy, 1998;
rural reform 19001925 (Lee, 1997); Italian wind bands in Pennsylvania milltowns between 1890 and 1986 (Rocco, 1986);
progressive reform and music making in Chicago from 18691930 (Vaillant, 1999); music in the utopian community of
New Harmony, Indiana from 18251864 (Sluder, 1987) ; and the piano in a coal mining area of West Virginia, 1890 to
1960 (Perkins, 1994). Studies of musical life in cities include Annapolis, Maryland from 1649 to 1776 (Hildebrand,
1992); Kitchener, Ontario, Canada from 1911 to 1939 (Pieper, 1996); Cinncinati from 1865 to 1991 (Cahall, 1991).
48
Studies of a particular segment of society include music of pioneer Mormon women in Utah (Fife, 1994); music in the
Shaker societies in the United States (Klein, 1990); religious songs in Maine (Davenport, 1991); and immigrant musics
as showcased through an Exposition in New York in 1921 (Abramovitch, 1996). Puerto Rican music and community in
New York City from WWI to WWII was traced by (Glasser, 1991). Norris (1994) chronicled music of black and white
communities in Petersburg, Virginia, 18651900 and Parker (1983) studied the influences of women in music in St. Paul
from 1898 to 1957.
49
Histories of musical groups include brass bands in the MidWillamette Valley, Oregon (Weddle, 1989); Welsh choral
music in the 19th century (Pohly, 1989); the Northshore Concert Band of Wilmette, Illinois (Carson, 1992); the
Maennerchor tradition (Snyder, 1991); the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (Spencer, 1994); the Society for the
Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America (Ayling, 2000); the Dalesburg Cornet Band
(Olson, 1997); and early choral music in Charlotte North Carolina (Engelson, 1994, 1996). Contemporary case studies of
musical groups include the Wild Rose Old Fiddler’s Association in Edmonton, Alberta (Stormer, 1997); the New Jersey
Ridgewood Concert Band which is dedicated to lifelong learning (Wilhjelm, 1998); seven CM childrens’ choirs in Florida
(Howle, 1999); and the Salvation Army Chicago Staff Band (Rowden, 1996).
50
Note the correlations between these categories and Breen’s typology of Australian CM formations.
51
Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr were inspired by their visit to Toynbee Hall settlement houses in London to establish
Hull House in Chicago in 1889.
52
http://www.natguild.org/
53
Herman (2000) announces a large grant to a program entitled Partners in Excellence which will identify and nurture
exemplary public school and arts organization partnerships.
54
See Fabregas (1992) for a description of an electronic music program in a CM school in New York City.
55
For other examples of CM programs for seniors, see Darrough (1990), Robertson (1992), Chiodo (1997)
and Tatum (1985).
56
In Canada, native groups such as the Inuit may be referred to as First People or First Nation. In the United States, these
groups may be termed Native Americans, American Indians or by specific tribal names such as Apache.
57
Michael Mark writes: “Today there is a rich variety of community music opportunities throughout the country. These
opportunities continue to complement music opportunities in schools. In the best situations, school and community music
leaders work together to maintain a strong community music life. There is a question, however, of the proper relationship
between school and community music . . . (Mark 1992, quoted in Leglar and Smith 1996: 106). Kim (2000) describes the
interplay between local community support and schools in Seattle, Washington between 1960 and 1976.
58
These include programs such as Learning Through the Arts launched by The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto,
ArtsSmarts in Montreal, ArtStarts in Schools in British Columbia, a world music program initiated by Valerie Dare in
Vancouver schools, Changing Arts Programs linked to Canadian orchestras, Composer in Electronic Residence through
York University in Toronto, and three programs in Nova Scotia Music in Medicine through Dalhousei University Halifax,
Arts inFusion, and the Scotia Festival of Music in Halifax.
59
See ethnomusicological studies for more on Slobin and affinity groups.