Sound links

Community music in Australia

by Brydie-Leigh Bartleet, Peter Dunbar-Hall, Richard Letts, and Huib Schippers. Brisbane: Queensland Conservatorium Research Centre, 2009.

Within Australia: $39.95 (includes GST and freight). Overseas: AU$57.50 (includes air freight). To purchase a copy, contact QCRC.

Also available for free download (PDF 4.4MB).

Sound Links examines the dynamics of community music in Australia, and the models it represents for music learning and teaching in formal and informal settings. Through a close examination of six case studies, ranging from multicultural suburbs to largely monocultural country towns, from rural networks to remote Indigenous communities, this publication offers a revealing picture of musical activity that has been hardly visible outside of its circles of participants, and delivers a model to understand, plan and assess community music activities. In this way, it should prove highly valuable to facilitators, cultural officers, local administrators, policy makers, funding bodies, and schools that seek to connect their musical activities more firmly to their environments.

As the final report of the Australian Research Council Linkage project Sound links: Exploring the dynamics of musical communities in Australia, and their potential for informing collaboration with music in schools, it combines academic rigour with a strong focus on the actual practice of hundreds of remarkable musicians whose enthusiasm, drive, and resourcefulness make Australia sing, play and dance.