The effect of affect: The role of affective atmosphere for community music practitioners

Abstract

There are many things stirring within a given community music event. As practitioners, how do we look beyond our planned outcomes to access the unplanned, the unexpected or, as Lee Higgins terms it, the impossible? Understanding affect theory as the social, cultural and psychological manifestation of reactions and emotions arising from encounters between subjects and people, and between people and objects in the environment, this article discusses the value of this theoretical framework to uncover a deeper understanding of the interactions and responses from participants in a community music event. Using a case study of the organization KW Junk Music, I interviewed participants of three junk music events in Kitchener, ON, Canada. The lens of affective atmosphere, described as the atmosphere produced as a result of the intermingling of affects, emotions and sensations within a given space, provides an informative perspective through which to acknowledge the complexities surrounding all stages of a community music event. I argue that the affective atmosphere that emerges out of each event, both by design and by happenstance, has the potential for change, agency and transformation.