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- Volume 7, Issue 3, 2014
International Journal of Community Music - Volume 7, Issue 3, 2014
Volume 7, Issue 3, 2014
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Drumming for community building: The development of the Community Drumming Network (CDN) and its impact in Singapore society
More LessAbstractThis article is based on the commissioned research report submitted to the National Arts Council (NAC) of Singapore on the Community Drumming Network (CDN). The eight-month-long qualitative field research is a collaborative project by the NAC and the UNESCO National Institute of Education Centre for Arts Research in Education (UNESCO NIE-CARE). The two main objectives of the research are: (1) to gain insights into the social impact of the CDN; and (2) to understand the mechanisms of the CDN in order to advocate and support the growth of arts interest groups1 in Singapore. The study was conducted from 30 January to 31 August 2012. The focus of this article is on the factors that make a successful arts interest group in Singapore, highlighting the synergy between community grassroots leaders and government statutory boards. In the Singapore context, government support and events have the capacity to encourage the growth of local interest groups. In the responses gathered in this study about the benefits of engaging in a community interest group, there appears to be a strong goal of harmonizing the diverse ethnic communities and creating intergenerational bonds.2 The model that ensues from this unique situation would hopefully be helpful in understanding local interest groups elsewhere. Central to the study is the art activity that was used to facilitate individuals of different ethnic backgrounds to come together as one community; this is the drum circle. This study shows how the drum circle is found to have the potential to be an effective tool in promoting racial harmony and to bridge the gap between generations. It features the voices of the community members who relentlessly engage in this activity in bringing out the meanings and benefits of the drum circle at the personal and communal levels.
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Community music as a cognitive training programme for successful ageing
More LessAbstractReflecting upon several music training programmes developed to assist beginning older adult musicians as a cognitive training intervention, the author suggests a model for connecting community music programmes and musical training to successful ageing. Musical training has the capacity to promote cognitive transfer, self-efficacy and overall quality of life, essential for successful ageing and therapeutic rehabilitation. This model provides a holistic perspective regarding the relationship between music participation and programmatic structure necessary to facilitate change in physiological, psychological and emotional health. Interviews from participants suggest that music education programmes, when structured as a cognitive training programme, can enhance cognitive and emotional status. Community music programmes and music education opportunities offer aesthetic enrichment, intrinsic enjoyment and high ecological validity, elements lacking in current cognitive training programmes.
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Orchestras and community wind bands in Brazil: Encounters of contrasting music practices and their pedagogical dilemmas
Authors: Joel Luis Barbosa and Jacob Furtado CantãoAbstractThe work discusses pedagogical dilemmas related to band courses offered to community bands by schools of music, governmental agencies, music festivals, foundations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Brazil. Even though these courses are for bands, most of their educators belong to the classical conservatory practice and teach its manner of playing to the bands’ instrumentalists. This article relates a multiple case study of three community bands of the Para State. The study focuses on the manner of clarinet playing in these bands. It considers the instruments and accessories, the didactic approaches, the instrument technique and the performance characteristics. It points out that the clarinetists’ manner of playing is common among community bands and yet very different from the approaches employed in the classical conservatory practice. The sonic characteristics of this manner of playing have cultural values and meanings that are part of the bands’ identities. Thus, the study opens up a discussion on what pedagogical postures coordinators and teachers may have in band courses when these two contrasting music practices meet.
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African Grace in Central Australia: Community choirs, reconciliation and intercultural performance
More LessAbstractThe ‘African Grace’ concert in May 2011 brought together the Grammy Award winning Soweto Gospel Choir from South Africa and a number of community choirs from Central Australia. After a week of encounter and exchange, the combined choirs performed a concert at the Araluen Centre in Alice Springs which presented a powerful statement of intercultural engagement and collaboration. This article explores the historical, cultural, social and musical circumstances in Central Australia that enabled this to occur. It provides a brief outline of the community music and reconciliation movements in Australia and the musical expression of reconciliation. The regional context and a descriptive analysis of African Grace and its contribution to the evolving nature of intercultural choral engagement in Central Australia are its focus. In conclusion, the article considers the potential to shift the conceptualization of intercultural engagement beyond the notion of reconciliation to one of relation.
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Studying El Sistema as a Swedish community music project from a critical perspective
Authors: Åsa Bergman and Monica LindgrenAbstractSweden has a long tradition of implementing cultural activities in community-based organizations, even though the concept of community music is rarely used. One project in line with this tradition is El Sistema, a global movement that reached Sweden a few years ago. This article aims to discuss to what extent and in what ways El Sistema in Sweden can be regarded as an example of community music practice and further to argue for a critical approach when analysing this particular music education venture. By using discursive tools we try to move beyond preconceptions based on educational and cultural beliefs. In addition, a critical perspective also makes it possible to pay attention to what is at stake in a specific music education context.
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Community music-making in regional Australia: Creating, improvising and performing at a festival
By Dawn JosephAbstractCommunity arts in Australia, as in many other countries, continue to permeate society, illuminating the past and shaping the future. This article situates itself as an aspect of community music through creative music-making within a larger research project that started at Deakin University (DU) (Melbourne, Australia) in 2011 called ‘Flows and Catchments’. Through the lens of creative arts and music-making, I argue that community partnerships between local communities and tertiary institutions are a fertile ground to celebrate arts practice where the cultural and artistic life of the community is promoted, fostering respect and understanding between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples. In 2012, I presented a music workshop at the 8th Annual Lake Bolac Eel Festival (LBEF) in Western Victoria. Using the African term Masakhane, which means ‘let us build together’, I provide a snapshot of my experience through journaling and anecdotal feedback as I reflect in and on the teaching and learning episode of the volcanic composition. The community partnership between DU (academics in an urban space) and the LBEF (local community in a regional place) provided an opportunity for people of all ages to engage, explore and experience music-making collectively in a social context. As a tertiary music educator, I propose more pathways being established with regional communities in order to deepen the knowledge and understanding of them; schools, communities, artists, academics and tertiary students can form cultural synergies in place-based settings like those of festivals.
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Differences in psychological well-being between choristers and non-choristers in older adults
Authors: Santiago Pérez-Aldeguer and Esther-Noemi LeganésAbstractTo date, several studies from a variety of fields have demonstrated how musical behaviours such as singing or listening provide multiple benefits on well-being and health. The purpose of the current study was to examine the differences in psychological well-being (PWB) between older adult amateur choristers and non-choristers. The participants comprised 496 men and women who ranged in age between 64 and 78 years. They were distributed into two groups according to whether they participated or not in a choir. Participants completed a Spanish adaptation of the Ryff well-being psychological scales using a six-point Likert scale. This instrument evaluates self-acceptance, positive relationships, autonomy, environmental management, personal growth and purpose in life. The results showed that improved PWB was greatest for choristers. The most positive variables of PWB for the chorister group included personal growth, environmental management and positive relationships. Women reported greater improvements in PWB than men, and they perceived positive relationships, personal growth and self-acceptance as the most positive variables. Implications for the use of choirs in older adults are examined and limitations of the study are discussed.
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