Participatory Music

Participatory music incorporates everybody participating in the action. The artist is not only executing his role, but the audience is joining in as well. The audience progressively joining in with the artist is known as a feathered beginning. Participatory events are judged based upon the level of participation. The level of participation determines how much fun the people will have. This music is culturally valued by everybody participating and becoming in synch.  A potential is that everyone can form a sense of communitas and socially bond. A limit in this type of music is the restriction of freedom and expression. A zumba class is an example of simultaneous participation of participatory music. The artist and the participants are  performing at the same time for a long period of time. The "artist" is the leader of the class and the "audience" are the participants. Everyone who attends the zumba class is expected to participate despite their ability to dance. Everyone not participating causes the class to not be fun and people will rate the class poorly. A feathered beginning occurs when everybody gradually participates at the beginning of class once they feel in control of knowing how to perform the moves shown by the instructor. Two potentials in zumba class are the strong presence of communitas and those who are excellent dancers have the opportunity to excel and show their moves. On the contrary, the leader does not have the ability to perform extremely complicated moves because all of the participants are not talented like the leader. They would truly struggle with those moves and then the level of contribution would die down. Another limit is that those who are excellent dancers are restricted to an easier level of dancing.