ABSTRACT
As COVID-19-driven lockdowns and social distancing became the new normal in 2020, musicians experienced a reshuffling of their social networks. This article uses in-depth interviews with nine community arts practitioners in Australia, Norway and the United States to explore the impact of COVID-19 on their ability to practise, collaborate and connect with their musical communities. Results showed that, while social distancing has significantly disrupted active connection with localized communities and musical networks, participants reported increased connection and engagement with wider networks through technology. Applying Putnam's concepts of bonding and bridging capital, the authors posit that COVID-era music engagement has seen a shift towards decentralized communities through an emphasis on bridging capital. Ultimately, however, analysis showed Putnam's concepts to be unhelpful in describing online music connections, and 'crystal capital' is proposed as a possible way to theorize the subjective nature of online music engagement.
ABSTRACT
This article describes how a group of music therapists and a music sociologist working on the AHRC-funded research project Care for Music responded to the situation they found themselves during the 2020-21 COVID pandemic, both in terms of their practice and the ongoing research project they shared. In particular, the article outlines how the challenging situation has produced interesting new practical, methodological and theoretical perspectives - functioning as a helpful `accidental experiment'. The article presents three vignettes of music therapists coping with the initial pandemic situation and how they adapted music therapy practice, followed by preliminary reflections on emerging themes from the `accidental experiment' in relation to the central concern of the AHRC Care for Music research project: the co-creation of mutual 'scenes of care' through music within later life and end of life settings.