ABSTRACT

The idea that music is “enabling” is firmly rooted in popular consciousness through its presence in commercial, community and health settings, and in a wealth of research attesting to music’s ubiquity, functionality and contribution to human flourishing. Psychological research in this topic attempts to discover and understand when, why and how humans experience music as facilitating activities which it accompanies. Indeed, the topic is so diverse that it is necessary to identify some boundaries in the context of this volume. First, I briefly consider the particular contexts and activities in which we find music, and the enabling effects which arise in them, examined through three specific examples. Second, I review the underlying routes by which music enables and offer a new synthesis. I end by questioning the dominance of research into music’s enabling effects: I consider the extent to which music may be “disabling,” thereby pointing towards a more critical and reflective psychological approach to understanding music in everyday life.