Activating a music festival: Extending musical practices by composing with communities

This article explores the motivations, approaches and results that occurred when six composers/musicians devised works of experimental music that involved community participants over six years at the annual classical Tyalgum Music Festival in regional Australia. The main aim of this study was to investigate how this music was shaped by community participation in its creation and performance. This qualitative research study drew on retrospective interviews with the musicians involved and the author’s observations and reflections on their music events. The musicians discussed how they responded to people and place in creating and performing their works; they maintained that their involvement with the community resulted in valuable and creative music-making. This study demonstrates that artists can inspire interesting and enjoyable music-making with a community that also expands the possibilities for mainstream arts, cultural practices and festival curation.