Abstracts
Abstract
In this essay, percussionist and community arts worker Jesse Stewart discusses his work in the field of participatory creative music through We Are All Musicians (waam), an organization and ongoing research-creation project he started in 2012. waam is dedicated to making music as broadly accessible as possible, particularly among communities that have experienced barriers to making music, notably children and adults living in low-income situations, individuals with disabilities of various kinds, and the elderly. Stewart discusses several participatory creative projects that have resulted from partnerships between waam and community organizations including Regina Street Alternative School (formerly Regina Street Public School) in Ottawa; Being Studio (formerly H’Art of Ottawa); the Alzheimer’s Society of Ottawa, Artswell, the Bruyère Continuing Care Centre in Ottawa, and the National Arts Centre. He goes on to discuss several interactive music/sound installations that he has set up in public spaces to facilitate interactive improvisatory musical interaction across various forms of difference. The essay concludes with a discussion of some waam initiatives that took place online during the covid-19 pandemic, using networked improvisation to facilitate musical interaction and community formation across both difference and distance.
Keywords:
- participatory creative music,
- community music,
- community arts,
- improvisation,
- networked music making,
- interactive sound installations,
- experimental music
Résumé
Dans cet article, le percussionniste et artiste communautaire Jesse Stewart évoque son travail dans le domaine de la musique créative participative par le biais de We Are All Musicians (waam), une organisation et un projet de recherche-création qu’il a lancée en 2012. waam se consacre à rendre la musique aussi largement accessible que possible, en particulier au sein des communautés qui ont rencontré des obstacles pour faire de la musique, notamment les enfants et les adultes vivant dans des situations de faible revenu, les personnes souffrant de divers types de handicaps et les personnes âgées. Stewart évoque plusieurs projets créatifs participatifs issus de partenariats entre le waam et des organismes communautaires, notamment la Regina Street Alternative School (anciennement Regina Street Public School) à Ottawa, Being Studio (anciennement H’Art of Ottawa), la Société Alzheimer d’Ottawa, Artswell, le Centre de soins continus de la Bruyère à Ottawa et le Centre national des Arts. Il revient ensuite sur plusieurs installations musicales et sonores interactives qu’il a mises en place dans des espaces publics pour faciliter l’interaction musicale improvisée au travers des différences de chacun. L’essai se termine par une discussion sur certaines initiatives waam qui ont eu lieu en ligne pendant la pandémie de covid-19, utilisant l’improvisation en réseau pour faciliter l’interaction musicale et la formation de communautés au-delà des différences et de la distance.
Mots-clés :
- musique créative participative,
- musique communautaire,
- arts communautaires,
- improvisation,
- création musicale en ligne,
- installations sonores interactives,
- musique expérimentale
Appendices
Bibliography
- aumi Editorial Collective (eds.) (2024), Improvising Across Abilities: Pauline Oliveros and the Adaptive Use Musical Instrument, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
- Dvorak, Abbey, Kip Haaheim, Mizumura-Pence, Ray, and Tucker, Sherrie (2024), “Improvising Inclusive Communities: Shared Reflections on the Jesse Stewart Residency in Lawrence, Kansas.” In aumi Editorial Collective (eds.), Improvising Across Abilities: Pauline Oliveros and the Adaptive Use Musical Instrument, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 173-185.
- Eldib, Hasi (2019), “Rich Tapestries: The Ongoing Story of waam,” on Vimeo. https://vimeo.com/334477726.
- Higgins, Lee (2012), Community Music: In Theory and In Practice, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Parić, Angela (2019), Biopsychological Effects of Social Participation on Aging: The Role of Identity-Affirming Music and the Arts, PhD diss., Carleton University.
- Schafer, Murray R. (1977), The Tuning of the World, New York: Knopf.
- Veblen, Kari and Bengt Olsson (2002), Community Music: Towards an International Overview, The New Handbook of Research on Music Teaching and Learning, 730-753.
- Willingham, Lee (2021), Community Music at the Boundaries, Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press.