Music in Com­mu­ni­ties is a non­prof­it col­lec­tive based in Can­ning, Nova Sco­tia that pro­motes music lit­er­a­cy, presents live music, sup­ports under-rep­re­sent­ed voic­es, and strength­ens com­mu­ni­ties in the Annapo­lis Val­ley through shared musi­cal expe­ri­ences.  Music in Com­mu­ni­ties also has the man­date of pro­vid­ing paid work to local musicians.

Pro­grams

Music in Com­mu­ni­ties (MiC) offers diverse pro­gram­ming to sup­port peo­ple in rur­al Nova Sco­tia. Exec­u­tive Direc­tor Kim Bar­low notes that peo­ple in their com­mu­ni­ties expe­ri­ence food inse­cu­ri­ty, hous­ing inse­cu­ri­ty, men­tal health chal­lenges, and forms of iso­la­tion.  MiC has worked on many kinds of pro­grams for diverse groups with­in their com­mu­ni­ties, includ­ing new­com­ers, youth at risk, peo­ple with dis­abil­i­ties, and seniors. They are also part­ner­ing with Mi’kmaq nations to col­lab­o­rate on musi­cal pro­gram­ming serv­ing Indige­nous com­mu­ni­ties. Some­times MiC ini­ti­ates pro­gram­ming, and some­times they respond to com­mu­ni­ty requests for pro­grams or facilitators.

Here are a few fea­tured initiatives:

After-school pro­grams: MiC has two after-school pro­grams. One pro­gram is for kids aged 9–12 to learn the ukulele. The pro­gram aims to build skills, but also to pro­vide fun and less struc­ture for kids to enjoy them­selves out­side of school. Instruc­tors include music-based games, and struc­tured and unstruc­tured time each week. The sec­ond pro­gram is a song­writ­ing and per­for­mance pro­gram for youth aged 13–17. These old­er par­tic­i­pants gen­er­al­ly want to play music but have not had an oppor­tu­ni­ty to play with and for oth­ers live. MiC also hosts month­ly open mic nights for the teens, open to friends and family. 

Com­mu­ni­ty Song Cir­cles: Exec­u­tive Direc­tor Kim Bar­low hosts week­ly song cir­cles open to any­one. Par­tic­i­pants take turns play­ing songs for each oth­er, often invit­ing the group to join in. While the cir­cle is open to any­one, this pro­gram tends to attract old­er musicians. 

Present Moment Singers: a week­ly sing-a-long ses­sion for seniors at a retire­ment res­i­dence in Wolfville, Present Moment Singers is led by Wendy LaPierre and Tyler McDon­ald. Seniors con­nect and have fun singing songs togeth­er for an hour each week.

Queer Choir: based in Wolfville, the choir wel­comes queer com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers to come togeth­er to sing, and have a queer-ded­i­cat­ed week­ly space. The choir approached MiC to pro­vide some lead­er­ship to guide rehearsals, although the rehearsals are more shared space to make music togeth­er, with some per­for­mances through the year.

Fea­tured Activ­i­ty: Ukulele tag

An activ­i­ty suit­able for chil­dren, this activ­i­ty uses the clas­sic game of tag, in which one per­son tries to touch the oth­er play­ers to get them out. When a play­er is tagged, they go to ‘jail’ locat­ed next to one of the instruc­tors. Anoth­er play­er can get their friend out of jail by repeat­ing a chord pro­gres­sion or melody played on the ukulele by the instruc­tor. Ukulele tag helps kids learn ukulele skills with­in a fun con­text so that the learn­ing is almost subconscious.

Com­pe­ten­cies to do this work well

Able to con­nect with spe­cif­ic groups: facil­i­ta­tors need to be able to be respon­sive to the spe­cif­ic com­mu­ni­ties they work with. For exam­ple, instruc­tors lead­ing the kids pro­gram­ming should be able to con­nect with kids and keep pro­gram­ming engaging.

Have struc­ture but be flex­i­ble: Musi­cians always have a plan so that there is struc­ture for each ses­sion, but they are flex­i­ble to adapt to the spe­cif­ic needs and ener­gy of the group. Pro­vid­ing choic­es for par­tic­i­pants is also an impor­tant part of this flex­i­bil­i­ty, check­ing in at the begin­ning to fig­ure out what par­tic­i­pants would like to do. 

Diverse musi­cal skills: Musi­cians work­ing in com­mu­ni­ty con­texts need a wide skill set. Being able to play sev­er­al instru­ments will allow a facil­i­ta­tor to adapt and sup­port par­tic­i­pant needs in more ways.

Valu­ing col­lab­o­ra­tive process­es and shared lead­er­ship: Facil­i­ta­tors at MiC approach par­tic­i­pa­to­ry music with the under­stand­ing that the pro­gram is a col­lab­o­ra­tive process. Every­one has expe­ri­ence to bring to a group. The facil­i­ta­tors look for ways to encour­age par­tic­i­pants to teach and share their own knowl­edge to cre­ate envi­ron­ments of shared leadership. 

What does suc­cess look like?

The key out­come for pro­grams is that peo­ple are excit­ed about all things music. In par­tic­u­lar, facil­i­ta­tors hope the kids and youth get joy out of mak­ing music well before feel­ing like it is work. Suc­cess is also defined by good engage­ment in pro­grams and events, includ­ing the num­bers of peo­ple show­ing up to pro­grams and events, and also peo­ple report­ing that they are feel­ing good about shar­ing their music with oth­ers, appre­ci­at­ing the music shared by oth­ers, and feel­ing more con­nect­ed to each other. 

View sec­tions of the documentary:

00:00 Overview

02:46 After-school programs

06:53 Com­mu­ni­ty song circles

07:31 Present Moment Singers

08:58 Queer Choir

10:00 Competencies

12:04 What does suc­cess look like