Sounding Board

• Reflections from our chair On serving Sound Sense and using her voice to give back to the field of community music Jess Abrams
• Embracing the ‘new normal’ in community music practice Thoughts on how we make the best of new found skills and technology to further empower our participants Mark Bick
• Member Interview Bryony Harris, Director of Cardiff-based member organisation Arts Active Amy Hill
• Anchoring my identity as a community musician The experience of a recent graduate in a locked-down world and how joining the Sound Sense board helped her stay connected Shannon Stevenson
• How music services benefit when they contract a wider range of music practitioners Diversifying music delivery for the long term Michael Davidson & Anita Holford
• What noise do you want to make for climate change? The launch of Oi Musica's Let It Grow community music campaign for COP26 Oli Furness
• About us Essential information and contact details

• Nourishing the community with food and music How food provision has paved the way for vital  conversations about music-making Rebecca Denniff
• How a community told its story through opera Exploring the techniques and methods in a co-created production Oliver Rudland
• Member Interview Tracey Vacher, NHS physiotherapist and community musician Amy Hill
• Amplifying the voices of young people in Wales The launch of Anthem Music Fund and its Youth Music Forum Rhian Hutchings
• Digital music-making with children in care Shared learnings and reflections on moving from in-person to online delivery Ryan Humphrey
• Plugging into your community Sound Sense events and opportunities to expand and deepen your community music network
• About us Essential information and contact details

Originally published in Sounding Board Summer 1995

"If one definition of what we do is 'arts work with people' then which people? And what sort of relationship do we have with them?"

In this article from the Sound Sense archive, Kathryn Deane explores real life issues of community engagement alongside Lee Higgins, then Music Development Worker at Peterborough Arts Centre, and Katie Tearle, Glyndebourne's Head of Education and Community.

Originally published in Sounding Board Winter 1990-91

In this double-page interview, Search & Reflect author John Stevens discusses creative freedom, improvisation and the nature of community music.

"To me community music really happens when somebody feels that they have got the energy, inspiration and skill to go and help people to create music for themselves in a free way. And whatever it turns out to be, that is the identity of that group. It doesn't have to have anything to do with what we see as being officially music. There's all this potential for new music that none of us has heard, because it's too wide for us to conceive of how it could be. That's where I see some of the aid to what needs to be a re-balance in society."