Epp, Erinn. 2025. When Music is Shared: Exploring a Notion of 'Audiencing' in Community Music Therapy Performance and Other Musical-Social Events. Doctoral thesis, Goldsmiths, University of London [Thesis]

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Abstract or Description

This thesis is a qualitative study of the actions and experiences that constitute audience engagement – which I call ‘audiencing’ – in therapeutically-oriented choir performances. Rooted in discourses associated with Community Music Therapy and Community Music, this project addresses the ways musical performance may open up new social resources for performers and examines specifically the activity and experience of the audience in that pursuit.

Existing research on musical performance in therapeutic and community contexts highlights several important social benefits of performance for performers, and many studies make specific reference to the presence of a supportive audience as a key ingredient in a performance’s success. However, the literature does not systematically investigate audience involvement nor does it trace how audience engagement impacts performers. This research project seeks to explore the details and mechanisms of audience engagement to more comprehensively understand the links between performance, health, and social justice.

This thesis includes a preliminary ethnographic study that explored performer and audience experiences in one choir concert, and a secondary study that was ethnographically informed and interview-based. Graphic data generation tools were employed to empirically link participants’ self-reports of experience to actions taken within the performances. Participants consisted of an international sample of directors of therapeutically-oriented choirs and associated audience members.

The findings of this project challenge previous notions of audiences as relatively passive receivers of musical messages and providers of support. Findings revealed the specific actions that both choirs and audience members took to make sense of the performance as a shared social encounter. Interaction ritual theory is used to show how both choir and audience explored their positioning in relation to one another.

I propose that a notion of hospitality provides a missing link between choir and audience experience and clarifies concerns of belonging and inclusion that such performances often aim to address.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Identification Number (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.25602/GOLD.00039037
Additional Information:	PhD awarded by Nordoff Robbins/Goldsmiths, University of London.
Keywords:	performance, audience, Community Music Therapy, choir, Community Music, hospitality
Date:	31 May 2025
Item ID:	39037
Date Deposited:	19 Jun 2025 12:30
Last Modified:	19 Jun 2025 13:44
URI:	https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/39037

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