International Journal of Community Music - Volume 4, Issue 2, 2011

An increasing number of higher education institutions in the United Kingdom are offering an element of community music in their courses, partly in response to changing needs in student training. However, the ethos of community arts, with roots in political activism and welfare, can often sit uncomfortably in formal education. The need for multi-skilled practitioners presents a problem in higher education, which tends to foster specialism. Community art has also challenged and widened the traditional definition of excellence, which has implications for assessment, particularly in the area of practical work in the community, which draws on social, healthcare and communication skills alongside the artistic content. There is a danger of 'short-termism' in community contact, and it is important for institutions to foster sustainable links.

This article argues that community music and higher education have sufficient shared visions to overcome past philosophical differences. Each party brings valuable contributions in what some speculate is only a 'marriage of convenience'.

The South East Coastal Communities programme that ran from 2008 to 2011 was funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England with the aim of measuring the potential impact of knowledge exchange on the well-being of communities along the south coast of England. The University of Chichester was one of nine universities from the region participating in the programme that developed fifteen linked but discrete projects centred on social engagement and renewal. The Lifemusic (LM) project explored how participatory music can contribute to the well-being of people in a variety of contexts, including health and social care environments, schools, the migrant community and the workplace. The project was developed around a training and delivery model that equipped around 50 practitioners with the skills to deliver community workshops using the LM method. The university provided facilities, instruments and administrative support, and appointed an academic lead to organize the project, train practitioners, and conduct research and evaluation. A variety of evaluative approaches, designed to measure the impact of the sessions on the well-being of participants, were tested. The overall framework for evaluation employed across the programme was the so-called REAP 'metrix' tool with its emphasis on self-measurement and community empowerment. Trainees were chosen from the wider community, following a specially designed programme based on the LM method, and over 400 LM workshops were subsequently delivered by newly trained practitioners. The project generated significant feedback about community music-making, well-being and team building. The programme expanded community/university engagement, developed lasting partnerships and expanded the profile of community music. It raised questions about the status of community music within higher education music programmes, especially in relation to the canonic values that generally inform curriculum content, and partnered music with community agencies delivering health and social care.

The following article addresses the partners in the lifelong music cycle (school music, collegiate music and community music) and how these partners might approach music education for the benefit of music participants. While community groups have commonly tapped graduating students from public schools to feed their groups, there is a need for universities to take part in this cycle by taking ownership of community music as a part of their college music programmes. Considerations are presented concerning the structure and specific content of the curricular topics that may be needed in the preparation of future instructors and musicians in community music settings.

This article examines the usefulness of Knowledge Exchange (KE) funding streams for higher education community music research projects, with a case study of one particular project that took place between February and April 2010. The project was funded via a KE stream, linking University researchers with a well-established community music charity based in Edinburgh. In order to evaluate the particular value and utility of KE funding streams for community music research, we examine the case study's findings and consider the outcomes desired by the various partners in the project.

For Gloria Ladson-Billings, culturally relevant pedagogy is characterized by three criteria: academic success, cultural competence and critical consciousness. Those engaged in culturally relevant pedagogy are connected by how they see themselves as teachers and how they see their students, how they view knowledge and how they structure social relations in their classroom. These threads are all evident in the University of Illinois' Black Chorus practice. This article shows how conductor Dr Ollie Watts Davis' culturally relevant practices with the choir generate and sustain a unique community with strong social bonds that in turn create and reinforce musical excellence, inspiring the singers to do better, live better and sing better while embracing their African American cultural heritage and identity.

This article examines the manifestation of social capital in a community choir. The extensive literature on social capital and its generation and use in communities includes little about the ways in which social capital is manifested in community music settings. The literature suggests that social capital may be identified through 'social capital indicators' such as 'trust', 'community and civic involvement', 'learning' and the presence of 'networks'. This study sought to identify those indicators of social capital that are present in a community choir in regional Tasmania. Multiple data generation methods including surveys, field notes and semi-structured interviews are employed in this qualitative, interpretive case study. An 'analysis of narrative' approach interrogates data from the main body of the Milton Community Choir, and aims to identify those social capital indicators present in the community choir.

This study documents a reflective journey of a community music programme initiated by a university music education faculty member and an occupational therapist within the setting of a nursing home and day-care centre in Singapore. Weekly music interaction sessions in conjunction with reminiscence therapy were conducted over a period of five months. The purpose of the study was to explore and examine the group music engagement process between the music educators and senior citizen participants. It was noted that the subsequent planning and execution of the programme catering to the social, cultural and historical contexts of the senior citizens created a mutual learning environment that brought enjoyment, social and physical engagement, social bonding, collective and personal expression, and empowerment to the senior citizens and the music educators.