International Journal of Community Music - Volume 8, Issue 2, 2015

The benefits and pleasures of musical participation are reasonably well known, and yet the number of adults engaging in these activities is only a small proportion of those who learn instruments and participate during their school years. This article reports on three linked studies that investigated the experiences of ‘lapsed’ participants: those who had sought out opportunities for playing in adulthood, before deciding to withdraw for a range of reasons. These reasons are explored through the profiles of the ‘enthusiastic returner’, ‘reluctant retiree’, ‘stressed withdrawer’, ‘tired outsider’ and ‘contented reminiscer’, using qualitative data from participant observation, focus groups, questionnaires and interviews with two amateur ensembles in the North Midlands of England. Implications are considered for lifelong musical engagement, ensemble leadership, and future research into musical participation, identity and learning.

This study documents a reflective journey of a series of music workshops initiated by a university Performing Arts faculty member in Istanbul, Turkey. The purpose of this narrative enquiry is to explore and examine the musical and bodily dialogues, engagements and critical thoughts between a music educator and children with developmental disabilities. Focusing particularly on the theories and practices of community music, this study illustrates the vision of community music, which says that everybody deserves the chance to interact musically through their body and psyche and to play alongside others in a community with the help of a facilitator.

The topic of this article is the emerging trend of singing at work. The discussion is exemplified by results from case studies of singing interventions carried out at two different work places. The research comprised group interviews, participant observation and questionnaires. Our phenomenological and hermeneutic approach focuses mainly on the employees’ experience of singing at work. The analysis was driven by thematic coding. The discussion is illuminated mainly by Etienne Wenger’s community of practice theory. The following research questions were developed: how do the members of a workplace community experience choral singing? What implications do the participants see for themselves as individuals and for the organization? We identified four axes of impact: enjoyment, comfort zone, communality, and identity and roles. A workplace choir can challenge perceptions about how collegues view each other and transform individual identities. Consequently, the choir may also change the workplace as a practice community.

This article discusses two key themes emerging from a recent research network funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the aim of which was to improve understanding of the historic, current, and potential roles that community music (CM) can play in promoting community engagement in the United Kingdom. The network’s activities consisted of a series of themed meetings held in 2013 and 2014, which brought together practitioners and managers as well as academics, researchers, funders and commissioners. The article is divided into two parts, each addressing issues that emerged with some prominence across the network’s deliberations. The first part considers the vexed question of contemporary understandings of CM and the ways in which it was figured by the stakeholders involved in the network. The second section addresses the status of CM’s current relationship to what are often described as its ‘radical’ roots. In presenting contemporary CM practice in the United Kingdom as a ‘chameleonic’ practice embodying what was figured as a ‘quiet radicalism’, the network delegates drew attention, however inadvertently, to a number of enduringly challenging issues facing CM.

This holistic study explores the inclusive community chorus ‘Singing Songbirds’ in Millbrook, Dutchess County, New York. The chorus is part of the Institute for Music and Health’s (IMH) programming. This article investigates the important philosophical approach and its practical application. Underpinning all the work of the IMH is the Diamond Method. This method is based on the work of John Diamond, MD, which includes the Outreach Principle. The choir’s weekly rehearsals, the repertoire and a performance are discussed. The specific accommodations and support for each member, non-disabled and those with disabilities, are also described. Questions posed include the following: in what way is this choir different from other community choruses? Are the various accommodations for members successful? What are the attitudes of the non-disabled choir members to the members with disabilities? The author was a participant/observer during the development of the chorus over four seasons of the choir’s history.