Abstract
This article contextualizes what community music ensembles mean, and then provides examples of them in practice. It proposes three broad perspectives of community music: (1) community music as the “music of a community”; (2) community music as “communal music-making”; and (3) community music as an active intervention between a music leader or leaders and participants. The article suggests that participating in community ensembles is much more than just music-making—it can have life-changing effects.