A music and health perspective on music's perceived 'goodness'

In this paper consideration is given to aspects of social and professional music use premised from a “music as health” perspective. This critical exploration is intended to reveal values about music participation and music listening, with consideration of the way music is constructed as a contributor to social gains within music as health application. The frequently encountered expectation that music participation and music listening are innately good and “helpful” is examined. A range of projects are described and examined with reference to the theme of music's “commodified goodness” or what has elsewhere been termed, the ubiquitous “goodness of music” (Edwards, 2008b).