Musical engagement at any cost? Community music leaders’ embrace of technology-enabled music-making during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

In an alternative universe to popular music (PM) education, many community music (CM) educators turned to technology during unprecedented pandemic disruptions, attempting to maintain group music-making and social connections. This study investigates CM technology-aided pandemusicking, drawing from case studies of twelve Canadian leaders, and finding that music fields, values and goals were blurred. These leaders often used recorded and live internet music-making, which required adopting digital technologies that align more closely with PM fields than their traditional practices. Pandemusicking was often a difficult solution, but leaders were aided by increased consumption and skill-partnerships. Nuanced considerations from literature on media culture counter utopian rhetoric about tech-enabled democracy, consumption and participation while prompting reflections on broader implications of a technological world that leaves some music participants and educators behind. This outcome has vital implications for leaders with inclusive goals, who work with wide age ranges, and it suggests potential roles of PM education and educators.