ABSTRACT
Community music facilitators are musicians who nurture the identities of participants through inclusive active participation in music. These musicians frequently inhabit those pockets of society where populations are marginalised or disadvantaged. The group is inclusive and sensitive to each member's particular values. Empathetic stances in community building do not infer that there are no expectations or a lack of protocol in the processes. Those who enter under the premise and invitation of hospitality must themselves embody those characteristics of respect, sensitivity and generosity. A helpful perspective is found in educational pedagogy that calls culturally responsive leadership. Empathetic practice is a key to the building of communities, and developing the capacity to show empathy towards the challenges that are being faced daily by those around us enables us to value the realities, the good and the bad. Community music values process, but insists on the rigor of developing musical potential to the fullest.
