A body of research on 'place' in various disciplines indicates that the concept stands at the nexus of time, space, and experience. Acknowledging also that place represents a meaningful learning context, this study examines its pedagogical underpinning within the framework of community music making. Three cases of community music making in Japan are introduced to identify the processes of place-based music learning. Characteristic features include students' involvement in instrument making, school-community collaboration, interdisciplinary learning opportunities, and diverse formats and localised styles of music making and learning. The findings support the view that music making is also place making.