This book explores how people may use music in ways that are helpful for
them, especially in relation to a sense of wellbeing, belonging and
participation. The central premise for the study is that help is not a
decontextualized effect that music produces. The book contributes to the
current discourse on music, culture and society and it is developed in
dialogue with related areas of study, such as music sociology,
ethnomusicology, community psychology and health promotion. Where Music
Helps describes the emerging movement that has been labelled Community
Music Therapy, and it presents ethnographically informed case studies of
eight music projects (localized in England, Israel, Norway, and South
Africa). The various chapters of the book portray "music's help" in
action within a broad range of contexts; with individuals, groups and
communities - all of whom have been challenged by illness or disability,
social and cultural disadvantage or injustice. Music and musicing has
helped these people find their voice (literally and metaphorically); to
be welcomed and to welcome, to be accepted and to accept, to be together
in different and better ways, to project alternative messages about
themselves or their community and to connect with others beyond their
immediate environment. The overriding theme that is explored is how
music comes to afford things in concert with its environments, which may
suggest a way of accounting for the role of music in music therapy
without reducing music to a secondary role in relation to the
"therapeutic," that is, being "just" a symbol of psychological states, a
stimulus, or a text reflecting socio-cultural content.
