How do we develop social inclusion through musical activities? What is the power of music in enhancing individual inclusion, group cohesion, and cross-community work in post-conflict environments? How can we investigate social music programmes and interventions? This comprehensive volume offers new research on these questions by an international team of experts from the fields of music education, music psychology, ethnomusicology, and community music. The book celebrates the rich diversity of ways in which learners of all ages participate in social music projects in complex settings. Contributions focus broadly on musical and social processes, considering its conceptualisation and practices in a number of contexts. The authors examine how social music projects can be fostered in complex settings, drawing examples from schools and community settings. These critical chapters will inspire readers to think deeply about social music interventions and their development. The book will be of crucial interest to educators, policymakers, researchers, and students, as it draws on applied research from across 14 countries, of which ten are in the Global South.

This thesis examines whether a community music approach can enhance access to and participation in music-making and learning in Ireland. Social inclusion is a priority on the political agenda in Ireland as the country enjoys unprecedented economic prosperity. Ireland is currently the fastest growing economy in Europe, with a society that is becoming increasingly multi-cultural. Advances in technology have impacted hugely on business, education, health and daily life. Is this change reflected in a more socially inclusive music education system? This question is central to the research in this thesis. In recent years a new approach to the provision of opportunity to engage in creative music-making has arisen which is founded on emerging thinking on social inclusion, a broader view of education, and an emphasis on addressing disadvantage, life-long learning and cultural diversity. This approach is broadly termed {u2018}community music{u2019} and is characterised by the way in which social outcomes are valued equally with musical outcomes. The research examines three projects in Cork city and county that reflect the growing international interest and practice in community music. The research seeks to ascertain if the proliferation of such projects is indeed bringing Ireland closer to providing a socially inclusive music education system. The study also identifies the essential elements central to the delivery of effective community music projects and examines the implications of such projects on the training of musicians. It examines where this work fits in terms of national policy. Against a background of an increase in music projects employing a community music approach, this study is the first to examine the efficacy of this approach in addressing music education disadvantage in Ireland and the relationship to the international experience.

In 'Music as Social Life', Thomas Turino explores why it is that music and dance are so often at the centre of our most profound personal and social experiences.

The selected articles cover issues related to teaching in urban and rural schools and teaching students from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. Teaching special learners and teaching beyond the school years are also addressed in this collection, which is drawn mainly from MENC publications.

This book explores the power music has to address health inequalities and the social determinants of health and wellbeing. It examines music participation as a determinant of wellbeing and as a transformative tool to impact on wider social, cultural and environmental conditions. Uniquely, in this volume health and wellbeing outcomes are conceptualised on a continuum, with potential effects identified in relation to individual participants, their communities but also society at large. While arts therapy approaches have a clear place in the text, the emphasis is on music making outside of clinical contexts and the broader roles musicians, music facilitators and educators can play in enhancing wellbeing in a range of settings beyond the therapy room. This innovative edited collection will be of great interest to scholars and practitioners of music, social services, medical humanities, education and the broader health field in the social and medical sciences.

Children are inherently musical. They respond to music and learn through music. Music expresses children's identity and heritage, teaches them to belong to a culture, and develops their cognitive well-being and inner self worth. As professional instructors, childcare workers, or students looking forward to a career working with children, we should continuously search for ways to tap into children's natural reservoir of enthusiasm for singing, moving and experimenting with instruments. But how, you might ask? What music is appropriate for the children I'm working with? How can music help inspire a well-rounded child? How do I reach and teach children musically? Most importantly perhaps, how can I incorporate music into a curriculum that marginalizes the arts?This book explores a holistic, artistic, and integrated approach to understanding the developmental connections between music and children. This book guides professionals to work through music, harnessing the processes that underlie music learning, and outlining developmentally appropriate methods to understand the role of music in children's lives through play, games, creativity, and movement. Additionally, the book explores ways of applying music-making to benefit the whole child, i.e., socially, emotionally, physically, cognitively, and linguistically.

How can we better understand the past, present and future of Social Action through Music (SATM)? This ground-breaking book examines the development of the Red de Escuelas de Música de Medellín (the Network of Music Schools of Medellín), a network of 27 schools founded in Colombia’s second city in 1996 as a response to its reputation as the most dangerous city on Earth. Inspired by El Sistema, the foundational Venezuelan music education program, the Red is nonetheless markedly different: its history is one of multiple reinventions and a continual search to improve its educational offering and better realise its social goals. Its internal reflections and attempts at transformation shed valuable light on the past, present, and future of SATM. Based on a year of intensive fieldwork in Colombia and written by Geoffrey Baker, the author of El Sistema: Orchestrating Venezuela’s Youth (2014), this important volume offers fresh insights on SATM and its evolution both in scholarship and in practice. It will be of interest to a very varied readership: employees and leaders of SATM programs; music educators; funders and policy-makers; and students and scholars of SATM, music education, ethnomusicology, and other related fields.