ECOLOGY AND SOCIETY
There is a new socio-ecological perspective of health care that is gaining momentum in Australia at present. This has arisen from people's concern for the sustainability of the environment, population health, eco-systems concepts, and the community development movements that facilitate positive social action by communities. Music can help us to reflect on our place in the world in relation to others.The movie 'Australia' showed the linkage between people of diverse cultural backgrounds, music, and the land. 
 
Erb (1926) contended that community musicians should "look about them and adjust their action to the spirit of the times." This means that people can creatively participate in music with others to influence and transform the world around them.

 
View of Mt Flinders from Purga, Queensland. Photograph by Sandra Kirkwood

There is still further development required. A search of the journal Ecology and Society  reveals that the word 'music' does not appear at all. Writing about music may mention place and social action, but does not always consider eco-systemic or health perspectives. Information does not seem to flow well across these professional borders. Vocabulary that is associated with socio-ecological thinking such as resilience, emergence, adapability, sustainability is starting to emerge in music literature but without connection back to sources such as, Berkes, Folke and Colding in books "Linking social and ecological systems" (1998) and "Navigating social and ecological systems" (2003). There is a need to bring ideas together from these various fields.

Socio-ecological approaches to health care are described in Taylor et al (2008) Health care practice in Australia: Policy, context and innovations. Oxford: Oxford University Press. The Perfect Beat journal of Macquarie University has also led the way to better understanding of socio-ecological, and systemic approaches to local music (established in 1992, and edited by Mark Evans and Denis Crowdy). Inter-professional dialogue could ensure that health professionals and environmentalists could take up issues identified by ethnomusicologists, and vice versa.

The practice of community music involves working with people at the local level and there are many instances where this has resulted in positive social action. In some cases, policy is however lagging behind practice. The "Present and future ideals" Policy Statement of the Community Music Commission of the International Society for Music Education International is inclusive of the cultural diversity of communities, but makes no mention of community music that is grounded in particular geographical environments. The geographical, social, and temporal dimensions of music experiences are very significant to the music heritage and culture of particular communities. Peter Dunbar-Hall (researcher of Indigenous music) and Chris Gibson (cultural geographer) make this point in "Deadly Sounds, Deadly Places" (2004).

Communities may need support to enable them to devise their own place-based music practice and memorandum of understanding agreements -- because one policy does not fit-all. Dialogue is starting to emerge between health professionals and music educators. The Music Council of Australia has a knowledge base on their website where people can map particular sectors of the music industry, and complete SWOT analyses (describing Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats). This collaboration has resulted in better understanding of the inter-professional and systemic aspects of music. The Music Health sector is represented on the MCA knowledge base and the description of Music Health includes "optimising music environments to support health and well being" (Kirkwood, 2008).

Places of musical/sonic significance have not yet been mapped, but there may be potential to make baseline sound recordings of such places and to advocate for acoustic environmental protection through Caring for our Country or cultural heritage funding programs. Are there particular natural sonic environments that need to be protected for the health and well-being of living organisms? Is this a concern for musicians, since they have expertise in the aesthetics of sound? The planet seems to be becoming noiser, so composers and musicians may be able to assist with safeguarding the natural beauty of certain acoustic environments and to reduce noise invasion that results from industrialisation and other developments. There are interesting articles and resources at the World Forum of Acoustic Ecology and the Australian Forum for Acoustic Ecology websites. Suggestions for digital collection of Australian soundscapes can be made through the National Registry of recorded sound.

The difficulty of communicating between professional disciplines is complicated by the  differences in terminology. For example, representatives of over 200 countries developed the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF, WHO, 2001). This has been useful within the health sector but may have limitations when the terms used for musical functioning are applied to other professional domains. Examples of the terminology drawn from the ICF for music functioning are discussed more fully on the Functional Classifications page of this website. The primary ICF categories for discussing music are listed below, and each category can be further subdivided.

b3400	Production of notes
b340	Alternative vocalization functions
d115	Listening
d3151	Communicating with - receiving - general signs and symbols
d3351	Producing signs and symbols
d920	Recreation and leisure
d9202	Arts and culture
e1400	General products and technology for culture, recreation and sport
e1401	Assistive products and technology for culture, recreation and sport
e250	Sound

Using a taxonomy such as this for music vocabulary may tend to limit the discussion of music to pragmatic and structuralist frames, but the ICF at least places an emphasis on function, rather than disease and disorder. People's participation in activities within environmental contexts is considered to be of central importance.  It appears that the ICF needs to be renegotiated and possibly expanded if it is to be useful for inter-professional communication about music. There does not yet appear to be any consistent classification system that is used for active engagement with music, so terminology can be ambiguous. Ethnographers have tended to use terminology that is consistent with local music traditions in particular environments and that has produced better understanding of the way that people describe their own involvement with music. Personalised vocabulary may be necessary, but there are also benefits of more universals terms that can be used for research and collection of statistical information.

Conclusion
The person-music-place connection needs further development, especially in relation to local/globalisation of music traditions and representation of soundscapes related to music heritage and culture. The place connection can be easily lost digital technology and this can adversely affect cultural eco-tourism if not managed well. There is a need to support the place-stituated practice of music in neighbourhoods, cities, and regions; not just de-contextualised representation of the music by national or ethnic groups. Place-based community music brings people together into physical contact with one another and the environment and this has important social ramifications. There is an art and science to faciltiating social connections through place-based community music. To dialogue about theory and practice, easy-to-understand terminology, frameworks and partnership agreements appear to be necessary across Music Health, social and environmental domains.

References
Erb, J. (1926). Music for a better community. The Music Quarterly, 12(3), 441-448.

Article written by Sandra Kirkwood 12 November, 2008; updated 27 June, 2010.

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