ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a case study whereby undergraduate music students undertake community placements in a variety of healthcare and day-care settings. It provides the links between community music and higher music education. The chapter examines issues relating to informal and formal music learning and transmission from an epistemological viewpoint. It focuses on the multifaceted research literature of student learning in higher music education and focus in particular on the debates surrounding transferable knowledge and skills and more recent calls for lifelong learning. Teaching and learning modes in community music (CM) activities often include a rich mixture of oral, notational, experimental and experiential elements. Universities are well placed to connect with their local communities in many ways, and can be seen as one of several groups that engage in community music activities. Each group has a placement supervisor, usually a musician trained in community music or a graduate student of the module who has voluntarily continued his or her involvement.
