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Music & community
Bridget Walsh on 12 September, 2011 |

Music is something that we all seem to have an opinion on. We all have some types of music we love, some types we hate and a whole lot of stuff in the middle. Music is something that can be enjoyed passively, or something that can be actively pursued and analysed. It’s also an incredible tool in deliberately creating an atmosphere, feeling, environment, action or response.

Many teachers use music in their yoga classes to aid in the motivation, relaxation or flow of their teaching. Many yogis also use music to supplement their own personal practice. Yogi or not, music is undeniably a fundamental part of each and every culture around the world in some form or another.

Mihka Timu is a London-based musician with experience in performance and recording, as well as yoga, volunteering and community work. For her, music is not only fundamental to her life, but a tool people can use to reach out to others in the community.

“Music has always been a huge part of my life, and always will be. I met my husband through music and all my best friends are musicians; it's the greatest gift that I have received and that I can offer to others. I came to London in March this year and I've been talking about doing music with a lot of people- I'm now trying to turn that talking into action!”

Recently involved in the Orange RockCorps project, Mihka helped encourage young people to volunteer and use their skills to improve their community, rewarding them for their time with tickets to a music festival last month.

“I worked at a volunteering organisation called Orange RockCorps which combines music and giving back to the community, culminating in a concert at Wembley Arena at which all attendants have put in four hours of volunteering work. I completed a volunteering project myself and it was great to see what our volunteers could achieve, and to see them enjoying the process.”

Although it may not be bona fide Karma yoga, projects like Orange RockCorps encourage young people who may not usually get involved in volunteering activities to step up in their local community and start to understand the fundamental ideas behind selfless service and the benefits of helping others.

“Many of our volunteers were repeat participants from previous years, which was encouraging to see. Those who hadn't participated before used it as a stepping stone into volunteering, with the link to music being key to their motivation.”

Using music as a link to voluntary work is such a complimentary combination, simply because everyone has some sort of connection with music, so they are bound to be motivated on some level. This year’s London Orange RockCorps concert featured Primal Scream, Diddy, Kelis and Eliza Doolittle, so had a little something to attract everyone. Previous acts who have been involved in UK events include Lady Gaga, Akon, Mark Ronson, Nelly and Busta Rhymes. All amazing acts that would definitely be worth the effort of 4 hours volunteering in exchange for a show ticket. But has the volunteering concept taken root in people’s minds without the expectation of a reward?

“Surveys of previous years show that the majority of first-time participants would volunteer in the programme again, even if they would not receive a ticket to the gig.”