Music for Community Engagement: Learning Experiences of Music Students with Older Adults and Persons with Disabilities
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Abstract
This academic article aims to present the concept of music for community engagement through the analysis and synthesis of community music, musical participation, inclusive activity design, experiential learning, and the role of the music facilitator, together with experiences drawn from the activity “The Aesthetics of Sound: Empowering the Heart”. In this activity, faculty members and music students from Songkhla Rajabhat University worked with older adults and persons with disabilities at Khlong Hae Town Municipality, Songkhla Province. The analysis suggests that music-making in community contexts should not be understood solely as performance or as a form of service provided to the community, but also as a shared space for learning and participation. Students are required to apply their musical knowledge and skills, adapt them to emerging situations, and develop their roles from learners or performers into facilitators of participation. At the same time, older adults and persons with disabilities should be provided with opportunities to access, participate in, express themselves through, connect with others, and share musical experiences according to their individual readiness and capacities. Based on this synthesis, the authors propose the Music for Community Engagement Model, which links the student learning process with the community participation process through participatory music-making as the connecting space. Inclusive and adaptive activity design serves as a supporting mechanism, while reflection and redesign form a continuous cycle for developing both learning and future practice. The proposed model may serve as a framework for designing higher education music learning that appropriately connects teaching and learning, academic service, and community engagement within specific social and community contexts.
Keywords: Music for Community Engagement, Participatory Music-Making, Music Students, Older Adults and Persons with Disabilities, Experiential Learning
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References
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