ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the creation of collective musical identity. I explore how GFW has constructed such an identity based on values of social learning and participation. Tutors’ roles as sources of authority are examined in relation to the community of practice framework. I argue that community-based music learning represents an apprenticeship opportunity for learners of traditional music, enhanced by its situation within a specific local context. Music functions as a powerful vehicle for social bonding, and traditional music can be seen to facilitate this through structural aspects of repertoire, symbolic associations with cultural heritage, as well as the personal biographies of individuals. Contested issues in the creation of ‘who we are’ are seen to lie within aspects of oral transmission, the relationship of the individual to the group, and in the exercise of the authority of tutors.
