Dear Readers:

Welcome to the inaugural issue of the International Journal of Community Music. On behalf of my colleagues on the Editorial Board, allow me to introduce this new publication with a few words about its mission and contents.

The mission of the IJCM is to provide a forum for research and dialogue about the many forms and values of “Community Music” and  “music-in-community” around the world. We hope the IJCM will become a “space-and-place” where practitioners and thinkers feel free to engage colleagues’ ideas and experiences on a wide range of topics toward the improvement, the sustained development, and/or the birth of Community Music programs worldwide.

In general, then, the IJCM is similar to most academic journals in so far as it is dedicated to the values of critical interchange and scholarly investigation. However, whereas some journals operate in a manner that discourages, rather than invites, critical discussion, we are dedicated to creating a forum for all voices and views about Community Music. To this end, and in addition to publishing peer-reviewed research studies, the IJCM will publish four other kinds of contributions: Practical Discussions, Readers Notes, Reviews, and Conference Proceedings. (For more details, please see “Author Guidelines” on our Homepage).

This first issue of the IJCM is the first step on our path to meeting these promises to our readers. For example, the very idea of “Community Music” raises many questions large and small, which in turn lead to many fascinating sub-questions. Indeed, what is Community Music? As Kari Veblen explains in her article, many people answer this question from a grass-roots perspective – from the viewpoint of Community Music “workers” involved in some variation on “teaching and learning music” outside traditional music schools. Other community musicians think and work in relation to alternative views about the natures and values of CM that follow from details of the “who-why-what-when-and-where” of their local circumstances.

In addition, many important sub-topics in Community Music relate to the demands that CM programs make on the skills and understandings of their leaders. For example, community musicians are often required to integrate many different kinds of knowledge from a variety of domains and disciplines including the following: performing, composing, improvising, and conducting; pedagogy and curriculum; psychology and therapy; fund raising, grant writing, and accounting; diplomacy; cultural studies; and so forth.

The articles by Sheila Woodward and her colleagues, and by Roger Knox, provide living, “concrete” illustrations of what I have just outlined. Added to Kari Veblen’s global survey, these insights help us understand what Community Music can and does include. Huib Schippers’ article enriches these perspectives with a personal narrative of musical growth across many musical communities.

In conclusion, we hope the contents and formats of the IJCM will support and encourage your work and/or encourage you to contribute your ideas and experiences for the benefit of everyone in this fascinating field.

Thank you for taking the time to read the IJCM.

Sincerely,

David Elliott