Music Listening for Groups

Sharing music in groups sounds like the most natural thing in the world. When music is described as ubiquitous, it is often with reference to the fact that music making exists in all known cultures as a part of community fabric (Cross 2001). More contemporary explanations of ubiquitous music have pointed to the possibilities afforded by technological and computing domains that empower participants of musical experiences through socially oriented, creativity-enhancing tools (Keller et al. 2014). Again, the emphasis is on music making—albeit including listening to one another’s musical contributions. There is less discussion about music listening in groups unless it relates to listening to a performance together, which is one important dimension of this topic that will be explored in this chapter. Christopher Small’s (1998) definition of musicking does extend that far, based on his musicological theorising of music as a verb, or more specifically, as social action that includes making music together but also includes listening to music together, dancing to music together, and a range of other actions that do not privilege being the creator or producer of music above being the consumer.