Veblen, K.K. (2012).

Community music making: Challenging the stereotypes

of traditional music
education. In C.A. Beynon & K.K. Veblen (Eds.).
Critical perspectives in Canadian music education. Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid
Laurier University Press.
Dr. Veblen discusses the challenges of community music and music
education in Canada, and gives detailed information of the aspects of
community music. She also stated nine different structures of
community music in Canada, from music schools to festival gatherings.
There are both formal and informal categories of CM: the formal
includes conservatories, libraries, school outreach programs and
summer camps; the informal can be lullabies, traditional nursery
rhymes, and gatherings of like-minded music-making participants.
I find this article very interesting to read. Veblen pointed out the fact
that community music is a form of music education. I have never
thought of that prior to reading this article, yet I participate in
community music every Saturday when I sing for the church choir, and
I had private lessons for the past two years. Another interesting point
is how community music can be part of a rehabilitation and healing
treatments. There are actually opportunities for prisoners to learn and
play music, and there are music therapy sessions in hospitals to help
those who need healing.
However, the fact that there is limited funding for both CM and music
education frustrates me. They are not viewed as important, and its not
a top priority for sponsors to fund for these programs. CM is a lot of
volunteer work. Its usually fellow music educators who give much of
their time and effort to bring people together through music. The
government and high-profited companies fail to see the value of
community music and they have a misconception of it. Both
community music and music education should be accessible for
everyone. They are both special and highly necessary in this world.
The biggest challenge is to find someway to combine both community
music and music education to work formal and informal programs to be
accessible to all. I agree that community music only falls under the
umbrella of music education and should never replace it. The keyword
is community. The main point is to bring people together to form
belongingness and enjoy music without any judgment. Reading this
article made me realize the beauty of community music because it
forms a family of musicians helping other musicians.