Community Music: Perspectives on a New Model for Music  Education and Social Change in Italy 
10.6092/issn.2039-9715/13971
La Community Music (CM) costituisce uno degli orientamenti più innovativi della pratica pedagogico-musicale, frutto di necessità speciali, legate alla sfera educativa, al contesto sociale e culturale, al bisogno di inclusione, di integrazione e di cambiamento sociale. Seppur gli approcci siano molti ed assai differenziati a livello internazionale, tutti condividono quattro assunti di riferimento: comunità, contesto, partecipazione e pedagogia, che nel loro insieme delineano il quadro teorico di riferimento entro il quale aprire la discussione nel mondo e in Italia. Negli ultimi anni l’approccio alla CM ha subito una sostanziale diffusione, aprendosi all’aspetto della riflessione teorico-scientifica della ricerca e ad interconnessioni con altri saperi: anche la musicologia, che nel corso degli ultimi decenni ha rivolto sempre maggiore attenzione agli strumenti educativi e alle modalità di trasmissione delle conoscenze, guarda con interesse ai risultati conseguiti dalla Community Music nella prassi musicale d’insieme e nei suoi aspetti teorici. Nuovi modelli, fondati sulla narrazione, sulla co-creazione di esperienze espressive diversificate, si aprono alla implementazione di contesti educativi finalizzati a favorire anche la conoscenza storica e l’apprezzamento estetico.
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Musica Docta
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Community Music: Perspectives on a New Model for Music  Education and Social Change in Italy 
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2021-12-08
2021-12-20
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Antonella  Coppi 
2021/12/20
10.6092/issn.2039-9715/13971
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Free University of Bozen/Bolzano 
2039-9715
Pedagogia musicale
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Community Music: Perspectives on a New Model for Music  Education and Social Change in Italy 
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                  JOHANN VAN DER SANDT - ANTONELLA COPPI
                                     Bolzano-Bozen

               COMMUNITY MUSIC
 PERSPECTIVES ON EDUCATION AND SOCIAL CHANGE
                   IN ITALY

1. Introduction
     Community Music (henceforth, CM) has rapidly become one of the most
innovative areas of music education and social practice,1 especially abroad and,
to a lesser degree, in Italy. Its strength lies in responding to special needs related
to the educational sphere, the socio-cultural context at large, and the need for
inclusion, integration, and social change.2 The purpose of this article is to
provide the reader with some perspectives on CM as a new field for music
education and as a means of bringing about social change3 in Italy. First, CM
and its implementation possibilities are presented as a new perspective for
education and social change. In this section, reference is made to CM as a kind
of social echo system in which themes of well-being,4 social capital generation,5
and social change6 are evident. The scope of this article is too limited to provide
a detailed discussion of all subfields in which CM plays an important role. Then,
the concept of ‘community’ and its importance for understanding CM is
explored, followed by an exploration of the key concepts of ‘CM’, which help
the reader understand the theoretical and historical background of CM. This is
followed by a brief introduction to the Italian CM landscape and the efforts of

     1  K. ANDERSON - L. WILLINGHAM, “Environment, Intention and Intergenerational
Music Making: Facilitating Participatory Music Making in Diverse Contexts of
Community Music”, International Journal of Community music, 2020, XIII, n. 2, pp. 173-185.
      2 The Oxford Handbook of Community Music, ed. by B. L. Bartleet and L. Higgins, New

York, Oxford University Press, 2018.
      3 Internationally, many community music initiatives use music to address social

justice issues. In this article, social change is highlighted through examples where social
action occurs in a musical context - where inclusive and interactive musical activities
that promote empowerment, social inclusion and justice are evident.
      4 U. M. MACGLONE - J. VAMVARKIS - G. B. WILSON - R. A. MACDONALD,

“Understanding the Wellbeing Effects of a Community Music Program for People With
Disabilities: A Mixed Methods, Person-Centered Study”, Frontiers in Psychology, 2020, n.
11, p. 3526.
      5 T. W. LANGSTON - M. S. BARRETT, “Capitalizing on Community Music: A Case

Study of the Manifestation of Social Capital in a Community Choir”, Research Studies in
Music Education, 2008, XIII, n. 2, pp. 118-138.
      6 T. C. RABINOWITCH, “The Potential of Music to Effect Social Change”, Music &

Science, 2002, n. 3, pp. 1-6.



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Italian scholars to introduce and embed CM in the academic landscape. Finally,
the intersections, crossfield and ecologies of CM are discussed.
     Veblen7 elaborates and highlights the different approaches of CM: Some
countries or regions, such as Scandinavia, the United Kingdom and other
Commonwealth countries (e.g. Australia and New Zealand), have a long history
of promoting and supporting CM initiatives, while others, such as the United
States, Canada and some European countries, host different types of CM
organisations and networks. In countries such as Portugal, Japan, South Africa
and China, the practice of CM is relatively new.8 The common element in all
these experiences is the need to meet social and cultural needs through
participation in musical practice in informal, non-formal and even formal
contexts, developing and strengthening CM in different directions.9
     The core aspects of communities, such as education and arts, cooperative
learning, peer education, situated learning, intergenerational learning, place-
based education, authentic and transformative learning, emerge from a similar
orientation. While all of these approaches play a fundamental role in individual
learning and education, they have the potential, with CM, to act as facilitators of
events and activities to connect individuals and groups to the real world.10 CM
encompasses very different forms depending on the context, as it manages to
establish perspectives of meaning that are increasingly inclusive and open to the
integration of new experiences, musical and otherwise.11
     Currently, activating educational pathways through CM means using music
as a medium that can provide opportunities for cultural growth, individual and
group empowerment, inclusion, and the reinforcement of new educational,
social, and didactic orientations. In the context of CM, great importance is
attached to the development of individual skills and abilities in educational
contexts that are open to social change to co-construct a richer individual and
social identity and enhance the relational capacity of all participants. The
importance of “acting as a system” is emphasised, allowing for the action of
different forces that are interconnected collaboratively.12


     7 K. K. VEBLEN, “The Many Ways of Community Music”, International Journal of

Community Music, I, n. 1, 2008, pp. 5-21.
     8 B. L. BARTLEET - L. HIGGINS, “Introduction: an Overview of Community Music

in the Twenty-first Century”, The Oxford Handbook of Community Music cit. pp. 1-13.
     9 K. BOESKOV, “The Community Music Practice as Cultural Performance:

Foundations for a Community Music Theory of Social Transformation”, International
Journal of Community Music, 2017, X, n. 1, pp. 85-99.
     10 A. COPPI, Community Music: nuovi orientamenti pedagogici, Milano, FrancoAngeli,

2017, pp. 138-144.
     11 A. KERTZ-WELZEL, “Daring to Question: A Philosophical Critique of

Community Music”, Philosophy of Music Education Review, 2016, XXIV, n. 2, pp. 113-130.
     12 P. BOURDIEU, The Logic of Practice, Cambridge, Polity Press, 1991, p. 53.




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     The participation and direct involvement of families, organisers, teachers,
educators, and institutions that are part of the project creates a new system that
makes CM an indispensable instrument for education and integration.13 From
this orientation comes active experimentation at the situated level, where new
insights emerge both in terms of the practical applications of CM and at the
theoretical level with studies aimed at identifying the intersections between the
processes and outcomes of CM and other areas of educational and social
knowledge.
     There are many dimensions of CM, which are still new and unexplored.
This article aims to capture the complexity and vibrancy that characterises CM
and the diversity of perspectives. It aims to highlight experiences, contexts,
studies and approaches that have made CM an innovative educational and
research orientation. CM has the potential to develop social cohesion, cultural
activation and the promotion of individual and community well-being through
and in real musical experiences.14

2. Understanding the “community” of Community Music
     The educational functions of music are closely linked to the social and
cultural context in which these functions take shape: Music as a phenomenon
becomes a product and a process that articulates itself in multiple forms and with
different functions wherever there is human activity and communication.15 In
education, music and context are rooted in the idea of community, as they are
shaped by it.16 The latter is understood as a possible, concrete and positive
response to the problems of the contemporary world. The concept of
‘community’ takes on different meanings depending on the place and context in
which it is expressed. These meanings, in turn, deserve attention in terms of the
history of the concept and its links to music and the mediating and
developmental functions of CM, both in terms of sociality and the development
of individual musical identity, and in terms of social cohesion and the co-
construction of a network of relationships and a “sense” of being and building a
community.17
     The general reader might be familiar with the etymology of the Latin word
communitas, which is derived from the conjunction of cum and munus and originally

      13 L. CASTELLANO, “Collaborative Musical Experiences with Urban Families
Experiencing Homelessness in the United States”, Community Music at the Boundaries, ed. by
L. Willingham, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2021, p. 46.
     14 L. DOZZA - L. CEROCCHI, Contesti educative per il sociale, Milano, FrancoAngeli, 2018.
     15 A. COPPI, Community Music: nuovi orientamenti pedagogici, Milano, FrancoAngeli,

2017, p. 12.
     16 R. A. NISBET, La tradizione sociologica, Firenze, La Nuova Italia, 1966.
     17 La community music in Italia. Cenni storici, modelli pedagogici, contesti sociali, ed. by J. van

der Sandt, Roma, Carocci, 2019.




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meant gift, which was intended as a duty or obligation and which ultimately
denotes that which is not one’s own, the opposite of one’s own, that which
begins where one’s own ends.18 The munus which a communitas share is not a
property or possession. It is not a possession but, on the contrary, a debt, a
pledge, a gift to be given. In everyday language, ‘community’ is understood as a
bond between persons who share experiences (including educational
experiences), interests, social and cultural identities, places, spaces, and goals.19
It is against this background that the role of the socio-cultural experience of
community arts, which emerged in the United Kingdom in the 1960s and focuses
on group participation to promote group cohesion and social and artistic skills
in a context that can be formal, non-formal and even informal,20 should be
understood. Within a community, it is possible to develop affective and
emotional relationships, to meet and connect, where the sense of being part of
a reliable and stable structure links the subjective dimension with the relational
one.21
      This sense of community22 is not static, as it can be subject to changes and
influences, which in turn are determined by the experiences of the subjects who
experience it in terms of similarity, interdependence, willingness to give to
others, and sense of belonging. From the roots of community art, the first
experiences of CM developed in the 1980s, giving rise to one of the most
popular educational approaches in the challenging educational environment.23
CM developed in the 1980s, first in England and later in the rest of Europe, as
an approach that favours non-formal education, community education and
collaborative learning, and promotes the enrichment of the lives of individuals
and groups. Then, as now, this approach targeted people living in the same
geographical area or sharing a common interest in developing spontaneous
actions, opportunities, projects and reflections aimed at learning.24 The close
connection between CM and the concept of ‘community’ understood as a

     18  A. COPPI, Donare-Donarsi. La pedagogia della Community Music, Lucca, LIM, 2020.
     19  COPPI, Community Music: nuovi orientamenti pedagogici cit. p. 13.
      20 Community arts have often favoured the non-formal context, developing

differentiated group dynamics and establishing positive interdependence, cooperation and
collaboration as the basis for learning regardless of age, gender, or origin. See G. MCKAY,
R. WILLIAMS, Community Arts and Music, Community Media. Understanding community media,
London, SAGE, 2010, pp. 41-52.
      21 COPPI, Donare-donarsi cit.
      22 S. B. SARASON, The psychological sense of community: prospects for a community psychology,

San Francisco, Jossey-Bass, 1974 (quoted in D. FRANCESCATO - M. TOMAI -
G. GHIRELLI, Fondamenti di psicologia di comunità. Principi, strumenti, ambiti di applicazione,
Roma, Carocci, 2011, [2002], p. 118).
      23 Praxial Music Education: Reflections and Dialogues, ed. by D. J. Elliot, New York,

Oxford University Press, 2009.
      24 La community music in Italia cit.




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“geographically situated idea of belonging”25 that includes – among others –
cultural, artistic, recreational, virtual, and imaginary dimensions. It encourages
us to recognise how contemporary musical culture mirrors, reflects and shapes
the social world and vice versa. By belonging to peer groups and non-formal
groups and establishing informal relationships, participants acquire a form of
social capital as they benefit from social and cognitive learning.
      The construct of social capital defines the wealth of relations participants
have at their disposal to achieve their goals.26 It facilitates actors within the social
structures they inhabit; it constitutes a resource for action, making it possible to
achieve their ends. In this sense, the concept of ‘social capital’ helps to identify
the strategies aimed at building stable and lasting social relationships while
providing both material and symbolic support.
      The last twenty-five years have seen a significant increase in interest in
music education and research worldwide, involving various disciplines and
perspectives, musical behaviours and practices. To date, music as an educational
tool has been the subject of countless studies, as evidenced by a rich
international literature that spans various fields of knowledge.27
Ethnomusicology, musicology, sociology of music, pedagogy and didactics,
psychology, neuropsychology, history and philosophy have all offered
innovative research perspectives and opened up new and more complex
functions of music.28
      As far as music and the arts are concerned, some crucial changes in music
education in Italy must also be taken into account, with a general shift towards
the teaching and learning of music for all stages of life, reflected in concepts
such as ‘lifelong learning’, ‘life-wide learning’, ‘place-based education’, ‘authentic
learning’ and ‘transformative learning’. These dimensions of learning consider
society’s demand for flexible, broad-based and holistic educational development
of individuals to enable open participation for all, regardless of their level of
knowledge, ethnic background, social status or especially age. 29 CM identifies
itself precisely in this participatory and democratic dimension, shaped and
defined by specific social contexts. In this sense, as Giuseppina La Face reminds us,

      25 N. ANDERSON, The Hobo: The Sociology of the Homeless Man, Chicago, University

of Chicago Press, 1923.
      26 N. DE PICCOLI, Individui e contesti in psicologia di comunità, Milano, Unicopli, 2007.
      27 H. WESTERLUND, “Justifying Music Education: A View from Here-and-Now

Value Experience”, Philosophy of Music Education Review, XVI, n.1, 2008, pp.79-95.
      28 M. S. BARRETT - H. WESTERLUND, “Practices of Music Education and Learning

across the Lifespan: An Exploration of Values and Purposes”, The Palgrave Handbook of
Global Arts Education, ed. by G. Barton, M. Baguley, London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2017,
pp. 75-89.
      29 A. COPPI, “Musica e vocalità: pedagogia vocale e didattica della voce e del canto

nei contesti formali, non formali ed informali”, Didattica della musica. Fare e insegnare musica
nella scuola di oggi, ed. by S. Ferrarese, Milano, Mondadori, 2021.




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     It is difficult to provide an exhaustive definition of the many and complex
phenomena that community music – a trend in the practice of music education
implemented outside formal contexts – embraces: it can at least be said that, by
stimulating participation and inclusion, it aims to play a connection role between the
various formal, informal, and non-formal educational contexts.30

     Lee Higgins,31 a pioneer in the theorisation of CM, points out that:

     Community music as a field of practice, pedagogy and research has come of age.
Since 2012 the field has seen exponential growth in practices, courses, programs, and
research as well as publications in the forms of books, chapters and journal articles
[…].This growth in practice and scholarship has also been reflected in network
organisations for community music, for example, the International Society for Music
Education (ISME), Community Music Activities Commission, the Asia Pacific
Community Music Network and Sound Sense, the UK professional association.32

     CM proposes an active approach to music that focuses on practice from the
very definition of music. The features and effects of CM on society are countless,
ranging from the socio-cultural to individual and group music education and
learning. The close relationship with the concept of ‘community’ plays a
fundamental role in CM, as it underlines the sociological and cultural
implications that characterise the approach and the novelty of this musical and
pedagogical orientation in the Italian context.

3. Community Music: Key concepts
    «Community music considers at least three dimensions: the music of a given
community, the adoption of a particular musical repertoire, and a group of
people who recognise themselves in the practice of that repertoire».33 These are
the words of Giuseppina La Face in the introduction to Community Music in Italy,

      30 G. LA FACE, “Introduzione”, in La community music in Italia cit., p.13-14; free

translation by the authors.
      31 L. HIGGINS, Community Music: In Theory and in Practice, New York, Oxford

University Press, 2012.
      32 The Oxford handbook of Community Music, ed. by B. L. Bartleet, L. Higgins, New

York, Oxford University Press, 2018., p. 177. The UK professional association for
community musicians was born in 1991, to support, promote and advocate for the many
creative, highly-skilled and hardworking practitioners who make up the community
music sector in the UK and abroad: https://www.soundsense.org/; see, among others, also
International Journal of Community Music, https://www.intellectbooks.com/international-journal-of-
community-music . Concerning CM in ISME, see https://www.isme.org/our-work/commissions-
forum/community-music-activity-commission-cma (last access to these links and to the others
in this contribution: 20.11.2021).
      33 LA FACE, Introduzione cit., p.13.




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            Community Music. Perspectives on Education and Social Change in Italy       29




edited by Johann van der Sandt and published by FrancoAngeli in 2019. Despite
the diversity of perspectives surrounding CM activities and their interpretation,
it is believed that six common, interrelated aspects can be identified: (1) a careful
and purposeful selection of musical repertoire; (2) the setting of goals that are
shared with participants; (3) a clear and contextually appropriate approach that
takes into account the characteristics of participants; (4) the promotion and
development of exchanges between teaching and learning strategies, goals, and
knowledge; (5) the facilitation of interaction between formal and informal
educational contexts and socio-cultural contexts; and (6) the presence of a
“guide” who coordinates group activities.34 CM is based on active music-making
- playing, creating and improvising music together. All genres and varieties of
music can be used in cultural and artistic contexts, such as celebrations,
ceremonies, rituals, games, education, and other occasions for social
enhancement. Examples of CM can be found in various settings where there is
a belief that everyone has the right and ability to make and create music.
      Concerning educational planning, CM programmes typically develop a
dimension of life-long learning and access for all. There is a strong awareness
that all participants’ social and personal well-being are as important as (if not
more important) than their musical learning in many of these programmes.
Those who lead CM activities often emphasise music’s power to bring people
together and nurture individual and collective identity. There are CM
programmes that contribute to formal training courses in schools and
universities. Other programmes focus on music and art therapy and social
intervention through outreach in hospitals, childcare centres, prisons, and
institutions working with people at risk or with disabilities as a limitation of their
cognitive freedom.
      Community music education pays thorough attention to creativity and the
exploration of the self. In this regard, it should not be forgotten that CM lends
itself to be applied in various contexts, targeting people of different ages,
cultures, ability levels, socioeconomic status, and political or religious beliefs.
Some programmes involve music practice targeted at disadvantaged or
marginalised groups or individuals. Other programmes aim to provide purely
aesthetic experiences, while others are directed to the well-being of ethnic
minority groups as they enter a new host culture. Not surprisingly, therefore,
CM is a holistic phenomenon involving a myriad of people, types of music, and
contexts. Of course, we also see significant differences in how the global music
community defines the role of CM professionals.



      34 This classification by Antonella Coppi appears in the chapter “Modelli educativo

musicali per il sociale. Community Music, una introduzione”, La musica nella relazione
educativa e nella relazione di aiuto, ed. by L. Bertazzoni et. al., Quaderni di Pedagogia e
Comunicazione Musicale, Macerata, EUM, n. 6, 2019, pp. 135-153.




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     CM develops competencies through planned and differentiated activities of
ensemble music practice. CM is hence aimed at developing a sense of group
belonging through integration and sharing; acquiring new knowledge through
cooperative learning; responding to individual and social needs through self-
determination and socialisation; promoting respect for individual and cultural
diversity; and fostering the formation of a musical self-identity.35 CM provides
opportunities for music education through cooperative learning, a method based
on group collaboration to achieve a common goal through in-depth work and
learning processes that lead to the construction of new knowledge. Cooperative
learning, therefore, refers to those situations that allow individual learning (the
acquisition of knowledge, skills, or attitudes) while performing activities carried
out in well-organised groups.36
     Another aspect that distinguishes CM programmes is professional or semi-
professional musicians (facilitators) as leaders of the music-making activities. In
CM programmes, the musical leaders, or community musicians, use their skills
to emphasise and encourage active participation, showing sensitivity to the
context, ensuring equal opportunities, and displaying commitment to diversity
in their practice.37
     Community musicians are typically flexible as they act as a prompter,
mentor, catalyst, and coach while drawing on their expertise and experience as
music educators, performers, arrangers, and artists. Given these realities, it is
easy to see why Lee Higgins38 refers to CM practice as a continuous series of
“border crossings”. According to Higgins,39 the above is embodied in the
concept of ‘hospitality’. CM is an act of hospitality concerning the participants’
actions and desires, the context, the dimensions of learning, and community
musicians. Hospitality starts with an act of welcoming, a word whose etymology
derives from the term wilcuma (welcome) that indicates a polite greeting to
someone. Wilcuma, in its turn, includes the words willa, which means pleasure,
desire, choice, and cuma, which means guest and is related to cuman (to come).
Therefore, welcoming is a gesture towards the others, which in CM practices is
of vital importance. It concerns all necessary arrangements for the participants
to set up a favourable context of openness towards those who wish to approach

     35  D. W. MCMILLAN - D. M. CHAVIS, “Sense of Community: A Definition and a
Theory”, Journal of community psychology, 1986, XIV, n. 1, pp. 6-23, quoted in COPPI,
Community Music: nuovi orientamenti pedagogici cit., p. 42.
      36 G. BONAIUTI - A. CALVANI - M. RANIERI, Fondamenti di Didattica. Teoria e Prassi

dei Dispositivi formativi, Roma, Carocci, 2014, pp. 113-114.
      37 L. HIGGINS, The Community Music Facilitator and School Music Education, Oxford

Handbooks                   Online            (September               13,        2012):
https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199730810.001.0001/oxfor
dhb-9780199730810-e-30
      38 L. HIGGINS, Community Music: In Theory and in Practice cit., p. 67.
      39 Ivi, p.68.




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CM and experience music actively and creatively. Everyone is welcome and has
an equally essential and indispensable role: any kind of discrimination or
prejudice is discouraged, and no one should assume the leading role or establish
hierarchies.40 Social integration, collaboration, social inclusion, participation,
social and human capital are keywords for making music together. They offer a
vision of a hospitable, cohesive, connected, evolving, transformative, open to
diversity, and collaboratively community to build a better society.

4. Community Music in Italy
     In Italy, some projects and activities use music as a tool for social
development, and that meet the criteria to be considered active and successful
CM fields of practice; however, they are not yet formally classified as CM
projects. Some notable examples can be found in community singing or
collective singing in nursing homes, prisons, convalescent communities,
community and church choirs. In addition, they serve as valuable examples of
regional projects that provide music-making activities in non-formal and
informal contexts, reflecting the cultural life of a geographical community, a
newly created community or an imagined community.41 In this context, Van der
Sandt42 conducted a study among community choirs in Alto Adige/South Tyrol
to investigate the role of singing in the well-being of the participants. His
research shows that building social relationships through singing is an important
area, as participants see singing in the choir as a way to enhance their
opportunities to socialise and develop social skills. The study highlights some
key aspects of collective singing activities - the perceived cognitive, emotional
and social benefits indicate that Italian community choirs contribute significantly
to participants’ well-being. Coppi43 conducted a qualitative study examining the
changes, advantages and disadvantages for participants in choral singing in an
intergenerational context in Alto Adige/ South Tyrol. Coppi’s study confirms
that intergenerational singing together catalyses social, educational, and
psychological growth that promotes awakening, engagement, and learning




     40 Ivi, p.145.
     41  K. VEBLEN - B. OLSSON, “Community Music: Toward an International
Overview”, The New Handbook of Research on Music Teaching and Learning, ed. by R. Colwell
and C. Richardson, New York, Oxford University Press, 2002, pp. 730-753.
      42 J. T. VAN DER SANDT, Singing your way to well-being, [Unpublished manuscript],

Bolzano, Faculty of Education, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, 2021.
      43 A. COPPI, Going to the Source: an investigation on Lifelong Learning improvement through

the Intergeneral choral activities in South Tyrol, [Unpublished manuscript], Bolzano, Faculty
of Education, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, 2019.




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incentives. Another study by Van der Sandt44 examined the effect of collective
singing on building social capital in communities of adults. This study was a
comparative study between adult community choirs in Alto Adige/South Tyrol,
Italy and adult community choirs in South Africa. As in Langston and Barrett’s
study,45 Van der Sandt found that the groups in each region tended to be strongly
cohesive and identified with a “new” form of community. Moreover, shared
history and interests linked the groups to significant collective benefits from
individuals’ cultural activities; these benefits contribute to strong social cohesion
leading to significant social capital formation.
     Van der Sandt and Coppi conducted a study on the perceived benefits of
singing for members of Italian university choirs.46 Their study shows that
members of Italian university choirs perceive participation in the choir as
beneficial to their health. The perceived emotional, social, and cognitive benefits
were highlighted in promoting participants’ health and well-being. For most
participants, choral singing provides an ideal opportunity to expand their musical
knowledge by participating in an environment that promotes intellectual
appreciation of music, thus presenting cognitive benefits as the predominant
dimension. As a prerequisite for high-quality performance, the development of
singing skills also proved to be an essential aspect for the choristers.
     Community activities promoted by the ‘third sector’47 are active and
successful in Italy. Non-profit associations, foundations and autonomous
groups offer valuable programmes that involve a wide range of participants,
from early childhood to older adulthood and in some cases even on an
intergenerational level. There is an awareness of the need to include
disenfranchised and disadvantaged individuals or groups in such programmes.
In this respect, the Big Band Associazione culturale Opus Music & Art (OMA)48 in
Sardinia and Banda di via Mozart,49, a project of the Social Services of Bolzano,
Alto Adige/South Tyrol, a project of the Social Service of Bolzano, Alto
Adige/South Tyrol, are suitable examples of CM, where active music-making

      44 J. T. VAN DER SANDT, Community Singing: a pathway to Social Capital – a cross-cultural

comparative assessment of the benefits of singing communities, [Unpublished manuscript],
Bolzano, Faculty of Education, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, 2019.
      45 LANGSTON - BARRETT, “Capitalizing on Community Music cit.
      46 J. T VAN DER SANDT - A. COPPI, I cori e le orchestre universitarie oggi. Quando fare

musica diventa un’esperienza trasformativa, Lucca, LIM, 2021.
      47 ‘Third sector’ is an umbrella term covering various organisations with different

structures and purposes, belonging neither to the public sector (i.e., the state) nor the
private sector (profit-making private enterprise).
      48 See https://www.ichnusa.org/italia/sud-sardegna/carbonia/opus-music-a-art--28oma-29/
      49 F. SORDON - C. NARDI - A. PIATTE, “Community music, benessere sociale e

cittadinanza culturale in un’area urbana decentralizzata: un progetto dell’Azienda Servizi
di Bolzano”, La community music in Italia. Cenni storici, modelli pedagogici, contesti sociali cit.,
pp. 97-125.




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plays a crucial role.50 Coppi also reported on the activities of MUS-E and Mus-e
Italy Onlus.51 MUS-E (Musique Europe), founded by Yehudi Menuhin, is a
European multicultural project aimed at children to combat exclusion and social
discomfort in schools through artistic workshops based on different art forms.
Coppi highlights the successes of Mus-e Italy Onlus52 in bringing arts education
into the daily education of young children, especially those living in
disadvantaged or challenging environments. The programme enables
professional artists to share their passion and knowledge in schools, where they
work with teachers to incorporate music, dance and visual arts into the
curriculum. The aim is to stimulate new, creative ways of thinking in the
youngest members of society and combat the development of violent, racist, or
socially excluding behaviours and attitudes. Mus-e Italy offers music workshops
for children, allowing them to explore the essential elements of musical language
- sound and silence - and to use musical elements to create an original and
meaningful musical product.
     Through interactive and entertaining activities that encourage participants
to make their musical contribution without having prior musical knowledge, it
helps develop the ability to listen to and perceive music. Community musicians
encourage all members of a group to engage in individual musical
experimentation through improvisation. In the practices of CM, improvisation can
be used in suitably adopted stages from childhood to old age. For people with
disabilities, it can be a way of experimenting and a teaching method that enables
social and cultural exchange (thus removing barriers and supporting equal
opportunities policies for all). It brings people together and stimulates creativity,
participation and collaboration among those involved. Improvisation is the art
of composing texts on the spot, composing music in the act of performance, i.e.
in real-time, using whatever material/instrument/object is available. Michele
Biasutti defines the art of improvisation as the ability to “undress” from
technique, to let yourself be drawn in by everything that surrounds you, to listen
deeply to your intimate instinct. It is the art of the tightrope act, the ability to
compose in the immediate moment. Improvisation is an essential activity for
developing metacognitive strategies and offers the opportunity to break out of
habitual patterns through creativity.53 This is evident in the Italian homes for the
elderly “Korian RSA Crocetta”,54 where community musicians facilitate the
development of adaptation processes to an unfamiliar environment, people and
situations through musical creativity. Improvisation facilitated by the community


    50 VEBLEN, “The many ways of community music” cit.
    51 COPPI, Community Music: nuovi orientamenti pedagogici cit., pp.138-144.
    52 See https://www.mus-e.it/.
    53 M. BIASUTTI, “Improvisation in Dance Education: Teacher Views”, Research in

Dance Education, XIV, n. 2, pp. 120-140.
    54 See https://www.korian.it/potere-della-musica-korian-rsa-crocetta/.




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musician reduces stress and aggression, increases well-being and self-esteem, and
lends itself as a tool for developing social activities based on intrinsic motivation,
collaborative learning, concentration, the ability to analyse and synthesise.
     CM can also be seen as an innovative paradigm for teaching and learning music.
By teaching music in homogeneous communities composed of disadvantaged
and marginalised people, community development is evident in the many
ensembles that are active in this regard. There is a growing interest in CM,
especially in Northern Italy, where the first “Community Music Research
Platform” was recently established at the Faculty of Education of the Free
University of Bozen-Bolzano. Moreover, since 2016, the Faculty of Education
of the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano has been promoting an annual
international conference that focuses on a different theme each year55 and aims
to implement CM from a music education perspective, thus involving educators,
teachers, musicians and professionals working in special education centres,
educational institutions for children and music therapy centres.56 Furthermore,


     55  See https://communitymusic-italy.it/. A notable initiative concerning networking
with other professionals (educators, teachers, professors, researchers) to compare
theoretical models, methods and practices is the first Italian CM website, launched in
2018. It aims to provide educators, community musicians, researchers and professionals
with a virtual place to compare notes, exchange ideas and opinions, and discuss projects
and research on CM-related topics in Italy. The sections “Active Research Projects” and
“Projects in Action” testify to a specific study area constantly updated with new
experiences such as community singing and community opera. The entire website is
bilingual (Italian and English), which increases accessibility and international visibility.
      56 Many musicians and scholars have shown a great interest in the pioneering

experience of the Faculty, stimulating a lively debate that began with the choice of the
name for this educational model, which retains its original, untranslated form. Many
Italian scholars share the original English terminology ‘community music’ to avoid
changing the holistic concept of CM by translating it into Italian, which would
significantly limit its scope. In order to promote CM in Italy, the Master’s programme
in Musicology has included in its curriculum, starting from the academic year
2016/2017, a 60-hour course in which students can familiarise themselves with the
theoretical and practical aspects of CM from an international perspective. The offer of
CM in this field also includes the world of music practitioners: in 2018, CESFOR
Bolzano launched a training course entitled ‘Community Music Trainer ‘(CMT). The
120-hour course spans an entire year and includes monthly classes on weekends (nine
in total). It culminates in a four-day summer school at the Free University of Bozen-
Bolzano with workshops and other practical activities. This training is aimed primarily
at musicians, music teachers, music entertainers, theorists of music education,
psychologists, psychotherapists and educational psychologists. The course, which
provides theoretical and practical tools, aims at the new professional profile of the
community musician specialised in the design, management, monitoring and review of
collective music projects in educational and social contexts.




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we can mention the Sistema delle orchestre e dei cori giovanili e dei bambini in Italia,57
launched in 2010 on the initiative of Maestro Claudio Abbado as a Venezuelan
programme inspired by El Sistema provides free music education to Italian
children and young people. Choirs and orchestras work in formal, non-formal
and informal contexts in different Nuclei (educational areas) throughout the
country. The educational strategy is based on the principle of “from practice to
theory” – participants learn by doing in an environment where close cooperation
between musicians (participants), educators, families and institutions plays a
crucial role in improving society; the local community becomes part of the
educational system, bringing together people of different cultural and economic
status. The musical educational outcomes are as important as the social
outcomes; the subjective experiences of the participants in an interactive and
creative environment are seen as critical concepts for the holistic development
of the participants and the community58. From the perspective of traditional
music education, the tension between formal and informal education has much
in common with the classical dichotomy between theory and practice. The
relationship between theories of socially shared learning and theories of
cognitive development is treated as incompatible, rather than acknowledging
and making productive use of differences in focus, methods and empirical
work.59
     As Karin Veblen argues,

      Music teaching and learning in outreach settings of various communities have been
emphasised as an alternative to music education in schools and universities. The issue
of formal/informal training has its starting point in these alternatively based research
perspectives. Furthermore, methodological models and techniques borrowed from
ethnomusicology and related fields have influenced music education and teacher
training research.60

    A final but very notable example of community music is the echoing of the
voices of Italians from their windows and balconies as an expression of solidarity
and perseverance during the first Covid-19 lockdown.61 This may be an

     57  See https://www.federculture.it/sistema-delle-orchestre-e-cori-giovanili/.
     58  A. COPPI - J. T. VAN DER SANDT, “Musica per tutti. Community Music as
Meaningful, Emancipatory, and Affirming Alternatives to Formal Music Education in
Italy”, Community Music at the Boundaries, ed. by L. Willingham, Waterloo, Ontario,
Canada, Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2021, p. 206.
      59 VEBLEN - OLSSON, “Community music: Toward an international overview” cit.,

p. 740.
      60 Ivi p. 741.
      61 A. COPPI - J. T. VAN DER SANDT, “Andrá tutto bene! Musicking together and

apart. The role of popular music and singing during the Covid-19 period in Italy”, Journal
of Popular Music Education (in press).




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unplanned, unstructured event of community singing, but a compelling one
nonetheless. Social distancing has far-reaching implications for individuals, as it
limits our relationships with others and our access to communal spaces where
contact is typically made, such as religious, sporting or cultural activities. This
sudden change in lifestyle brought social interaction to a halt, and leisure time
was abundant but without the opportunity to socialise. Singing from the
windows and balconies marked the determination of Italians to maintain
communal ties. This can be seen as maintaining ties to one’s community and as
an expression of the need for a social bond to strengthen one’s well-being.
People experienced losses in human capital,62 cultural capital,63 and social
capital.64 However, as Putnam reminds us that social networks in which social
capital is created are constantly changing and adapting to new circumstances 65 –
so singing from windows and balconies can be seen as a new network in which
social capital can be created. “Balcony singing in solidarity spreads across Italy
during lockdown, creating a collaborative community that makes music
together”:66 the international community sees Italians addressing feelings of
loneliness and fear in this particular way as an inspiring phenomenon in response
to social distancing laws. According to Greenberg and Gordon,67 this need to
socialise and connect, especially through music, is a fundamental feature of being
human and can even be seen as a global social psychology experiment that
provides insight into the core of our humanity.




      62   L. YAROVAYA - N. MIRZA - J. ABAIDI - A. HASNAOUI, “Human Capital
 Efficiency and Equity Funds’ Performance During the COVID-19
 Pandemic”, International Review of Economics and Finance, n. 71, 2002, pp. 584-591.
        63 X. BONAL - S. GONZÁLEZ, “The Impact of Lockdown on the Learning Gap:

 Family and School Divisions in Times of Crisis”, International Review of Education, 2020,
 LXVI, n. 2, pp. 1-21.
        64 C. O. JEAN-BAPTISTE - R. P. HERRING - W. L. BEESON - H. DOS SANTOS -

 J. E. BANTA, “Stressful Life Events and Social Capital During the Early Phase of
 COVID-19 in the US”, Social Sciences and Humanities Open, 2020, II, n. 1.
        65 R. D. PUTNAM, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Renewal of American Community,

 New York, Simon and Schuster, 2000.
        66 V. THORPE, “Balcony Singing in Solidarity Spreads Across Italy During

 Lockdown”, The Guardian, 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/14/solidarity-
 balcony-singing-spreads-across-italy-during-lockdown.
        67 D. M. GREENBERG - I. GORDON, “Lockdown Singing: the Science of Why

 Music Helps Us Connect in Isolation”, The Conversation, 2020,
 https://theconversation.com/lockdown-singing-the-science-of-why-music-helps-us-connect-in-
 isolation-137312.




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5. Community Music: Intersections, crossfield, and ecologies
      It is now widely recognised that music can act as a “bridge” between the
individual and the community. It is important to emphasise how music, as a
participatory force, can stimulate collective energy by fulfilling a positive and
unifying and sometimes even a comforting function. Music overcomes barriers
by bridging different cultural, social, economic, political and religious
backgrounds: thanks to its power, music reconciles differences by promoting
dialogue, evoking memories, stimulating the participant and enabling new
experiences. Music lends itself as a place and time to build solid and
interdependent relationships.68 Music has the power to positively influence the
lives of individuals. 69 It is, therefore, an indispensable resource for human
completeness and individual and community well-being. In other words, music
is not just an acoustic phenomenon but a multimodal experience deeply embedded
in culture, the result of human creativity, which in turn is informed by other
aspects of human experience, becoming an art product to be enjoyed
aesthetically.
      Carl Dahlhaus70 states that music can be understood as an activity with an
aesthetic nature and artistic relevance. As a phenomenon, it is closely linked to
a symbolic dimension that can represent other objects such as character or
emotion. Music enables a direct experience and knowledge of the world around
us. Music is not simply something that happens to us; it is an act: it is what we
do with it71 that enables us to liberate music from its artistic qualification, which
would limit it to an elitist perspective, and give it back its “natural place in
everyday experience”.
      More than in the past, music needs to develop an intra- and interdisciplinary
dialogue to connect the countless avenues of musical knowledge with other
disciplines, hence offering current and innovative perspectives. This would
stimulate      a new        multidisciplinary  dialogue   linking musicologists,
ethnomusicologists, education scholars, music educators, experts in disciplinary
didactics, psychologists, anthropologists, and musicians, to open up paths of
communication and openings that are necessary to fully take advantage of the
complex knowledge that music embodies and the benefits it can offer.


     68 The Routledge Reader on the Sociology of Music, ed. by J. Shepherd, K. Devine,
London, Routledge, 2015.
     69 M. CARROZZO - C. CIMAGALLI, Storia della musica occidentale, Roma, Armando

Editore, 2001, III, p. 81. See also Praxial Music Education cit. and HIGGINS, Community
Music. In Theory and Practice cit.
     70 C. DAHLHAUS - H. H. EGGEBRECHT, Che cos’è la musica, Italian ed. by A. Bozzo,

Bologna, Il Mulino, 1988.
     71 N. COOK, Music, Performance, Meaning: Selected Essays, London, New York,

Routledge, 2017.




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      The debate around CM highlights the need to develop new avenues of
inquiry to foster connections and interdependencies between music and other fields of
knowledge. Music as a human endeavour is only possible thanks to the existence
of a complex and multifaceted body of knowledge that, as Franco Cambi
reminds us,72 offers itself as a powerful mediator and organiser, accessible from
our earliest prenatal experiences to maturity thanks to the accessibility of its
grammar and syntax and the rich interplay of semantics, aesthetics and culture.
When we interpret music as an event, an experience, an inferential and asemantic
language, and a creative and artistic human product, we also affirm a relational
perspective that comes into play when the logic of contrast, comparison,
discontinuity and asymmetry that underpins the specific identity of music
emerges in the enjoyment of music itself.73 This dimension shapes specific
behaviours of social life and makes human artistic expression an integral part of
individual and community life.
      As Adorno recalls in his twelve lectures, collected in the volume Einleitung
in die Musiksoziologie (Introduction to the Sociology of Music, 1968), dedicated to
clarifying the relationship between music, ideology and social class and
representing one of the first fundamental theoretical approaches to the social
potential of musical language:

     Music is in itself social. Society is ingrained in its meanings and categories.
Aesthetic and sociological questions about music are interwoven indissolubly and
constitutively. [...]. Nothing that is aesthetically valid in music is also socially true [...],
and no social content of music is valid if it is not aesthetically subjectivised.74

      CM reflects and updates this perspective thanks to musical experiences
initiated and performed by the participants so that they can enjoy these
experiences aesthetically and use them to support change in their community.75
      CM has gained influence today thanks to the development of exchanges
with other fields of knowledge on an intra- and interdisciplinary level while at
the same time establishing a deeper connection with the time and context in which
it operates.76 Thanks to the potential of music and the possibilities of group

     72 F. CAMBI, “L’epistemologia pedagogica oggi”, Studi sulla Formazione/Open Journal
of Education, 2008, pp. 157-163.
     73 B. OLSSON, “Social Issues in Music Education”, International Handbook of Research

in Arts Education Dordrecht, Springer, 2007, pp. 989-1006.
     74 Translated from T. W. ADORNO, Introduzione alla sociologia della musica (italian

version of by G. Manzoni), Torino, Einaudi. 2002. p. 240.
     75 Community music today, ed. by. K. K. Veblen, D. J. Elliott, S. J. Messenger, and

M. Silverman, Toronto, Rowman & Littlefield Publisher, 2013.
     76 K. K. VEBLEN, “The Tapestry: Introducing Community Music”, Community

music today, ed. by. K. K. Veblen, D. J. Elliott, S. J. Messenger, and M. Silverman,
Toronto, Rowman & Littlefield Publisher, 2013. p. 11.




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interaction, CM is the manifestation of the individual and the community,
offering itself as a bridge between the symbolic and evocative reach of music as
art and personal experience. It is this dimension of “sharing” of CM that
supports the strong web of relationships that characterises the distinction
between the I and the We, and at the same time responds to the individual’s need
for “enjoyment” and for an aesthetic pleasure that takes participants beyond
their contingency and uncertainty and invites them to participate in something
“autonomous, self-contained, and wholly self-referential” – absolute music. 77

6. Conclusion
     Music is a powerful tool to empower citizens in a multicultural society and
to overcome many challenges of the 21st century.78 Contrary to the suggestion
of Juliet’s famous quote “What is in a name...” that names in themselves have
no value or meaning and merely serve as a label to distinguish one thing or
person from another,79 we firmly believe that CM is an entity worthy of social
and political recognition, as well as a worthy field of musicological research and
a valuable tool in the educational arena.
     Efforts to define CM can be seen as early as 1916 when Dykema attempted
to define the term. 80 Dykema’s brief reference to CM as socialised music, music
for the people and music by the people, is an apt point of view for us. “What is
in a name...” – is not so much the name of a new thing as of a new point of view.
This new viewpoint is to be seen with a focus on research to determine how CM
efforts can bring about social change and contribute to individuals’ well-being,
social development, and integration.
                                                                    johannes.vandersandt@unibz.it
                                                                          antonella.coppi@unibz.it




      77 M. E. BONDS, Absolute music: The history of an idea, New York, Oxford University

Press, 2004.
      78 21st-Century Innovation in Music Education: Proceedings of the 1st International Conference

of the Music Education Community (INTERCOME 2018), October 25-26, 2018, ed. by
K. S. Astuti, G. G. McPherson, B. Sugeng, N. Kurniasari, T. Herawan, T. C. Drake &
A.C. Pierewan, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, Leiden, The Netherlands, CRC Press/Balkema,
[2020].
      79 D. LUCKING, The Shakespearean Name: Essays on “Romeo and Juliet”, “The Tempest”,

and Other Plays, Bern - New York, Peter Lang, 2007.
      80 P. W. DYKEMA, “The Spread of the Community Music Idea”, The Annals of the

American Academy of Political and Social Science, 1916, LXVII, n. 1, pp. 218-223.




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