What Do Healthy Communities Sound Like? Community Music Therapy and ‘messyphonic musicking’

Abstract

This article began as an aural presentation at the conference “RESONANZE: Sound Communities for Better Living,” – Verona, October 2025. It asks, as did the conference, whether music can contribute to the development of healthier communities - and, if so, what would such communities sound like? Traditionally, musicking communities have reflected in their characteristics of musical texture and modes of composition and performance distinct social, cultural, and political characteristics: monophony, heterophony, polyphony, homophony. This article experimentally asks what kind of ‘musicking texture’ might characterise the newer agenda of ‘health musicking’, and suggests ‘messyphonic musicking’. This is illustrated through examples from two major studies in Community Music Therapy - in mental health and later-life care settings.