I was introduced to the dynamic range of scholarship undertaken by Ruth Finnegan while reading a short article Finnegan wrote for the British Academy Review entitled, ‘Should we notice researchers outside the university?’ (Finnegan Reference Finnegan2007a). Immediately I sent details of the online article to close friends and colleagues as her approach highlighted questions raised in previous conversations concerning popular cultural studies. This included theoretical concerns and methodological queries such as how to account for and use research materials produced outside academic institutions (and, as Finnegan notes, unaccounted for in the ‘highly publicised’ RAE in the UK). Within a day or two I received responses from peers who were impressed and in some cases relieved by Finnegan's concern for knowledge production outside Universities and the unquestionable value of independent researchers and music fans. Already familiar with some of her previous work, I began to read the re-issue of her classic text, The Hidden Musicians: Music-Making in an English Town (Finnegan Reference Finnegan2007b). Since then, I have read many other articles and books by this exceptional thinker: Finnegan's writing style is a perfect blend of the accessible and profound, making this text also useful for undergraduates.

An immediate predecessor to Sara Cohen's local ethnography, Rock Culture in Liverpool (Reference Cohen1991), and Antoine Hennion's writings about amateur musicians (Hennion Reference Hennion1996, Reference Hennion1999, Reference Hennion2007), Ruth Finnegan's book provides an in-depth analysis of the professional and amateur music-making practices in Milton Keynes. At the time of the book's initial publication (1989), Finnegan challenged academic viewpoints that emphasised canonical figures, musical texts/scores, and theories about music by instead describing musical practices (and pathways) across a wide range of musical genres and styles. And she did this in a town that she knew intimately, where she played a variety of different social and musical roles that contributed to her far-reaching insights. Finnegan lists a few of her various roles as a participant, ‘none-too-competent choral singer, lapsed cello player, recorder dabbler, mother of musically inclined children, and enthusiastic but musicologically unsophisticated audience member’ (p. xviii).

Finnegan's comparative approach, honed from an anthropological background, proves compelling as she examines various local ‘musical worlds’ including: classical music, brass bands, folk music, musical theatre, jazz, country and western, and rock and pop. After she has described each of the scenes marking out some distinguishing features in music production, groupings and practices (she suggests that an anthropologist may cringe at how ‘part-time’ her study of each area was – yet her study provides more description and careful observation than many full-time studies), she begins to outline contrasts and comparisons between the various scenes. Some of the major arenas she considers in this section include: learning music, performances and their conditions, composition, and creativity. Although comparison is the essence of this approach, she avoids constructing ideological distinctions of value produced outside of each scene. Rather, each musical world needs to be judged initially by its own aesthetic and social criteria and this quality of insight (and the actual fulfilment of this understanding played out in the descriptive writing) proves to be one of her most carefully crafted contributions to the field of music study.

Howard Becker's Art Worlds (Becker Reference Becker1982) sets the stage for many of Finnegan's key arguments. The concept of ‘worlds’, borrowed from Becker,‘points us to the sustained and systematic notion of what otherwise might look haphazard and individual. Equally important, it gets us away from the idea that there is just one way in which music can be enacted’ (p. 180). She continues by addressing one of the major arguments of the book: to demonstrate the ‘plurality of equally authentic local musics’. Finnegan begins to reveal how the various local ‘worlds’ overlap in practice. For example, the ways that participants move between various musical worlds to make music:

One of the book's few limitations, noted in an earlier review (Frith Reference Frith1996), and in Finnegan's own preface to the new edition, is the absence of accounts which describe the music-making practices of distinct ethnic or religious minority groups. Most of the research for the book took place in the early 1980s (1980–1984). Considering the emergence and popularity of hip-hop culture during these years in numerous other UK cities and towns, I wonder if Milton Keynes was different or if this genre and its cultural forms and practices (such as b-boying, or writing) are simply not accounted for in this study. However, due to the already enormous range of musical worlds covered (the book has a magnum opus feel to it), this criticism is perhaps lessened by the fact that Ruth Finnegan does consider the place of dance in music scenes more effectively than many contemporary popular music ethnographers.

Another area of the book that remains underdeveloped is a consideration of cultural policy or economic factors influencing changes in Milton Keynes. However, Finnegan does provide accounts of the micro-politics and financing of music in sections about the organisation and work of local music. These chapters account for many of the social dynamics involved in the organisation and administration of musical groups, as well as the resources, rewards and support for various endeavours including the role of music shops. Finnegan acknowledges how many local amateur music groups play for free and put a great deal of their own money into their practices, often raising money for charities along the way.

The Hidden Musicians proves its ongoing relevance and timeliness for current debates in music studies: even emerging studies that consider new developments in music technology can benefit from Finnegan's account of music practices before the rise of the World Wide Web, providing a historical comparison in studies about music-making activities such as promotion and production. Hidden Musicians is a must-read for anyone involved in the field of music studies (or outside academia – for those interested in a charged and wide-ranging account of various musical practices within one locale). Every University library should stock multiple copies.