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"PRESENT AND FUTURE IDEALS"
Community Music is a vital and dynamic force that provides opportunities
for participation and education in a wide range of musics and musical
experiences.
Community Music activities are based on the premise that everyone has
the right and ability to make and create musics. Accordingly, such programs
can act as a counterbalance and/or complement to formal music institutions
and commercial music concerns.
In addition to involving participants in the enjoyment of active
music-making and creativity, Community Music provides opportunities to
construct personal and communal expressions of artistic, social, political,
and cultural concerns. Also Community Music encourages and empower
participants to become agents for extending and developing music in the
community
In the pursuit of musical excellence and innovation, Community Music
activities also contribute to the development of economic regeneration,
create job opportunities in the cultural sectors, and enhance the
quality of life for communities. In all these ways Community Music activities
can complement, interface with, and extend formal music education
structures.
The Nature of Community Music
At the heart of excellent Community Music activities are the following
characteristics:
- 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 music-making of all kinds (performing,
improvising and creating)
- the development of active musical knowing ( including verbal musical
knowledge where appropriate)
- multiple learner/teacher relationships and processes
- a commitment to life-long musical learning and access for all members
of the community
- an awareness of the need to include disenfranchised and disadvantaged
individuals or groups
- a recognition that participants' social and personal growth are as
important as their musical growth
- a belief in the value and use of music to foster inter-cultural
acceptance and understanding
- respect for the cultural property of a given community and
acknowledgement of both individual and group ownership of musics
- an on-going commitment to accountability through regular and diverse
assessment and evaluation procedures
- fosters a 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 music-making
relative to individual goals of participants
- the honouring of origins and intents of specific musical practices
Calls for Action
Cultural Diversity in Community Music
Musics of the world are relevant for musical practice and music
education because of increased accessibility (through media and travel) and
increased mobility (migration) and also because of the growing cultural
diversity of many of our communities. This diversity creates the possibility for
openness and innovation through many practical models for teaching and
learning music at all levels.
Community Music programs and activities should encompass an appropriate
range of musical practices, processes, materials, and philosophies from
different cultures.
We recommend the following initiatives:
Regarding Formal Music Education
- fundamentally re-structure school and community music education
- encourage collaboration and cross-over between music educators in
school systems and community musicians
- establish music practice-oriented pilot projects both outside and
within structures of music education
- develop resources and make them widely available
- approach music education and music in education from a 'world'
perspective (including music history)
- encourage teacher education programs to value and incorprate the value
of CM cultural diversity in music education
Cultural Context and Recontextualisation:
- recognition that musics/arts removed from one setting and replanted in
another will change their nature
- honour cultures and culture bearers but acknowledge that music and
arts continue to grow and change
- empower students and families as sources of musical/artistic
expressions and negotiate ways of infusing their cultures into community
and educational settings
- utilise pedagogical materials that are developed in collaborations
with culture bearers
Cultural Diversity
- honour intricacies of different interactive transmission processes
- encourage educators to participate in diverse cultural communities
that surround them
Calls for Action
Collaborations and Alliances with Community Music Programs
The present and future of Community Music depends significantly on
improving Community Music collaborations, alliances and exchanges across
local, regional, institutional, national, cultural and stylistic boundaries
To facilitate and enhance collaborations we recommend the creation of a
Community Music web site and electronic journal for the international
exchange of Community Music case studies and narratives, resources,
strategies, and experiences by January 2001!. Such use of the WWW
would:
- facilitate alliances and exchanges between Community Music theorists
and practitioners
- articulate the roles of Community Music in the maintenance,
development and renewal of school music programs (especially general
classroom programs)
- inform curriculum writers world-wide about the nature of Community
Music and the ways Community Music ideas and practitioners can serve
the goals and practices of music education at all institutional levels
- clarifying the contribution that CM makes to broader social objectives
such as social inclusion and community regeneration, by providing links
with agencies and practitioners working in this field
Calls for Action
Preparation and Development for Community Music Practitioners
The present and future of Community Music requires the development of
excellent training programs (informal and formal) for Community Music
professionals. As well as fostering the musical, educational and
finance-related competencies of these professionals, training programs
should provide leadership in creating partnerships among Community Music
programs, professional and amateur music-makers, and formal educational
institutions. We recommend the following initiatives:
- develop international centers for Community Music training
- preparing Community Music facilitators
- generate a database of existing Community Music training programs
- formulate varied approaches to the recruitment of Community Music
workers
- reconceptualisation of Community Music in relation to current research
Calls for Action
Strategies for Community Music Programs
The present and future of Community Music depends on the effectiveness
of practitioners in this field. This requires that a number of strategies be
developed and implemented.
This commission advises community music workers to consider the
following:
- investigate the values and needs of regional and national CM
organizations and initiatives for CM workers
- capitalise on the growing goodwill of formal institutions (e.g., universities)
- work with existing (as well as with emerging) systems of training
education, employment, health and so forth
- reflect within, with and outside your own community
- negotiate on the basis of mutual benefits
- advocate and market Community Music initiatives to the entire web of
potential supporters
- develop visibility and public relationship programs
- document and disseminate successful Community Music processes and
program results for evaluation, collaborative and grant-writing purposes
Calls for Action
New Music Technology
Existing and evolving music technology (e.g. synthesisers, samplers,
MIDI-controllers, software) has enormous potential in the field of
Community Music in the 21st century. Technology permits and encourages
access to all forms of music-making for new groups of creators - with or
without traditionally taught musical knowledge - to become a reality,
enabling the production of music of quality. Communication technology
allows musical interaction to happen on any level (local or global).
In addition, new technology allows Community Music programs to function
as fulcrums for the development of new musical languages and styles, the
expansion of present understandings of the nature of music, and the
facilitation of performances and publications.
In all these ways, music technology can open windows to music and
music-making for disenfranchised sections of the population. We
recognise
that technology is not equally available in all countries and
communities.
We recommend the following initiatives:
- utilise existing and evolving networks of all kinds, from the
grass-roots level to formal institutions local and world-wide
- foster collaborations that finance and share technological resources
- demystify technology by emphasising and creating user-friendly
strategies
- expand access to existing technology centres and resources
- work toward making technology to all communities in all countries
- reflect critically upon the limitations of technology (including
issues of cost, ownership, accessibility, institutionalisation, and
forward-looking vs. backward-looking adaptations)
Calls for Action
Funding
We recommend a forum for on-going dialogues on funding in CM, including
a different kind of [North-South, first world/ third world] dialogue on
international funding. We need to articulate and examine assumptions and
expectations of cultural exchange and funding. These forums might take a
variety of form or forms such as: a new commission, a focus group, a
conference, a dialogue on email
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Link to ISME: http://www.isme.org
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