Wellbeing and Integration through Community Music: The Role of Improvisation in a Music Group of Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Local Community Members

Abstract

This paper discusses the link between community music improvisation and the integration of refugees, asylum seekers and local residents, and proposes a new way of thinking about priority-setting in refugee integration and rehabilitation support schemes. Drawing on observations and interviews with an integrated music group in Wales, we explore the effect of participating in structured musical activities and improvisation in weekly meetings, as well as at public performances in community arts events. We observed that embedding improvisation led to four outcomes. It (i) encouraged individual unscripted performances, instilling confidence in solo performance, (ii) gave individuals who had experienced displacement and marginalisation a chance to lead in a safe, performative space, (iii) gave other participants a chance to follow and accompany this piece instrumentally or vocally, drawing on their own cultural traditions and thus creating innovative cross-cultural pieces; and (iv) provided participants and audience members with a unique and unrepeated, uplifting experience that triggered their imaginations, and prompted questions and further discussion between participants. These findings suggest that the combination of structured musical activity and improvisation may help to foster a sense of wellbeing and social inclusion, shift power dynamics, and create a space for cross-cultural dialogue. These unique outcomes highlight how music can create a community of people from seemingly completely different locations or situations. Furthermore, the well-established Welsh choral traditions and local community arts provided a receptive environment for this diverse group of performers. Therefore, it was not just the musical activities but their connection to the wider local community arts scene that delivered these individual, collective and wider societal benefits.

A Space for Collaborative Creativity. How Collective Improvising Shapes ‘a Sense of Belonging’

“…In the study of Vougioukalou et al (2019) is stated that a balance is needed between the free improvisation and leadership and structure, in order to enable a group performance.…”

“…We found clear examples of how the project elicits positive emotions, a sense of purpose, engagement and achievement. Such outcomes are described in many similar community music projects (Lee et al, 2017;Schiavio et al, 2019;Vougioukalou et al, 2019;Lamont and Ranaweera, 2020), alongside the emancipatory power of music can play in such programs (Wright, 2006;Veblen, 2007;Elliott and Silverman, 2015). Also, as found in other studies (e.g., Lee et al, 2017;Vougioukalou et al, 2019), direct connections with others in the group (Relationships) and making sense of life (Meaning), are important features of the TOSO project.…”

“…Recent research indeed shows the importance of community music programs for establishing a sense of belonging and well-being for participants from different social, cultural and psychological backgrounds ( MacDonald et al, 2012 ; Lee et al, 2017 ; Schiavio et al, 2019 ; Vougioukalou et al, 2019 ; Welch et al, 2020 ). This research shows how collaborative music making and improvisation can create a community and foster personal growth, social inclusion and self-realization.…”

“…This research shows how collaborative music making and improvisation can create a community and foster personal growth, social inclusion and self-realization. A number of recent studies looked at the benefits of community music programs from both the viewpoint of their leaders or participant s ( Hickey, 2015 ; Schiavio et al, 2019 ; Vougioukalou et al, 2019 ). Their results display many positive outcomes that can easily be linked to the concept of eudaimonia or be viewed as beacons that mark the road to a flourishing life, such as self-expression, sense of togetherness ( Schiavio et al, 2019 ), positive emotion and ownership ( MacDonald et al, 2012 ), confidence building and trust ( Vougioukalou et al, 2019 ) as well as peer friendship and empowerment ( Lee et al, 2017 ).…”

Sounds of survival, weaponization of sounds: Exploring sonic lieux de mémoire

“…Likewise, musical practices in migration contexts have been studied at several Franco-German summer schools organized by the Basque Anthropological Research Institute on Music (ARI) in Bayonne and the Center for World Music at the University of Hildesheim since 2017 (Laborde, 2019(Laborde, , 2020. Sound, music, and listening practices have become popular starting points for studying the negotiation of identities and the construction of communities, whether in reception centers, cities, or refugee camps (LeBlanc et al, 2019;Pistrick, 2018;Puig, 2009;Vougioukalou et al, 2019;Western, 2020).…”