Community music and the welcome

This article considers three interconnecting ideas surrounding community music practice; (1) the workshop as a distinctive approach through which people are given opportunities to engage with active music making (2) the welcome as a preparatory thought and consequential gesture, inviting potential music participants to the workshop space, and (3) safety without safety, an idea that describes the practice of the welcome within the workshop event. These concepts are illustrated through the badge of identity workshop, an example of community music in practice. Finally I conclude by suggesting that the workshop as event, the welcome, and safety without safety, beckon community music participants to engage in music invention that has, at its core, the exploration of new territories.