Introduction from Steve Dillon

It seems everywhere I go in the world people tell me about how music has somehow transformed their lives and connected their communities. As Ian Drury’s memorial Park bench Richmond Park London quotes Music provides ‘Reasons to be Cheerful’. I never tire of hearing about live performances , audio and video recordings that are compelling and overflowing with meaning and significance to the community and its participants. My network colleagues and community music makers around the world, post graduate students and I have written about this in our research but still been unable to capture the nature and the power of music making in communities of sound.

Zillmere State School: From Little things Big Things Grow

Songs of Resilience

What is often missing in the written research is the music itself and the smiles on the faces of participants engaged in making music- the real evidence of meaning.  The third book in the Meaningful music making for life series is called:  Songs of Resilience and we are using a wiki open to anyone who has a story to tell about a sound community as a means of collecting and sharing these compelling stories from all over the world. This approach we hope will allow people to both write and include recorded artifacts of music making in audio visual form.

Join save to DISC

To join  the save to DISC please contact: Dr Steve Dillon: sc.dillon@qut.edu.au or leave a comment on any of the blogs.

Members of the save to DISC  Research Network help create social and human capital and share the following network principals:

1. Always use the resources around you. Your own input will be in-kind and your altruistic labour.
2. Always work with ideologically driven and passionate people who believe in the positive power of music.
3. Build Networks and where possible de-construct bureaucracies.
4. Focus and select your target audience for maximum impact and promote your cause supported by strong evidence.
5. Meaningful music making for life will only be supported encouraged and promoted if we document in rigorous and accountable ways and utilise compelling music making examples so that music is always present in the conversation about music.