Artistic Music Projects and Their Educational, Cultural and Social Relevance

Abstract

This chapter reflects on the use of music to offer children and young people opportunities for effective social and cultural integration into their communities. Throughout the text we will discuss the aims and challenges of community music today and we will also explore different programs to review their power for social and personal transformation, highlighting the possibilities of art and music making for social transformation beyond the classroom. We will discuss some examples in which music education has been used as a service for the community. Finally, the text gives voice to two ongoing research projects funded by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain. They are social projects with artistic aims and pedagogical nature that are currently being developed in two Spanish autonomous communities. By exploring these projects the chapter concludes reinforcing that some experiences with art, through creative processes of active participation, are capable of contributing to the construction of a social fabric that reinforces the neighborhood, the educational and cultural contexts, while at the same time consolidates music and art didactics adapted to current social challenges.