Earlier in the semester I summarized an article based on an interview with Jon Hawkes, the Director of Community Music Victoria in Australia. During this interview Hawkes was asked the question “What is the role of performance in community music, from your perspective”? To answer this question Hawkes organized five points to explain the relationships in community performance. The last of these points was the one I found interesting. Hawkes says that performance should be allowed to emerge and not be forced in a music group. He says that the group should be allowed to become comfortable with one another through music, without the pressure of a performance. The point here is that it is important to create a group identity by making music with one another before any performance preparation takes place. I agree with Hawke’s point of creating this group identity. I think it is important for a group of people to feel comfortable with one another before sharing their musical capabilities. In my experience, people share more about themselves with friends than they would with strangers, so Hawke’s suggestion makes sense to me. A group that is familiar with one another can collaborate more effectively and, in turn, produce a good performance.
I chose this article because I was working on starting my own performance group at the Boys and Girls Club at the beginning of the semester. I was interested in what a fellow music therapist had to say about performance and its roles. After reading this article I began to change my original plans for the group. I started the group with the intention of it being strictly a performance group, but after reading this article I decided that I should start with activities that promoted positive group relationships and cohesion. I determined that if a performance group emerged from the Boys and Girls Club, great, but if not then I would not force one. At this time I am not working on any performance material with the group, as I am working on skills needed in order to complete a performance.