Listening to the Lee Higgins graduate lecture on Friday afternoon was an inspiring experience for me. Lee Higgins spoke to graduate students about community music and the way that he perceives and intends to advocate for the need of community music education and involvement. It was interesting that community music, something that we encounter often and on a regular basis had only recently been considered a topic for pedagogy and only recently have people started to share their opinions and findings regarding community music. Lee Higgins focused on the social aspects of music and how it can be used hospitably and in social work. He stressed the inclusivity, diversity, and accessibility of community music and encouraged us to further consideration into the topic like other people and communities around the world had. Lee Higgins introduced us to many different places which were taking community music to new levels and organizations that worked to specifically introduce music to communities
, grow and share. As someone who wants to work to introduce music to communities that have underfunded music programs or maybe even non-existent ones, I saw the importance in what Higgins was preaching. Music has an amazing way of bringing groups of people from many different backgrounds together and this quality should be used to its full advantage. I agree with many aspects of what Higgins spoke of and believe that we can stress community music so much more and it would be beautiful to have music as an accessible and inclusive community involved activity. After leaving the lecture I wondered why more people weren’t talking about this and felt the need to look into community music further. It was truly a lecture that influenced me and introduced a topic that I am extremely interested in. I think music has a huge place in social work and hospitality and I’d be interested to further look into community music and the way it’s being approached around the world.