Professional learning of music in higher education focusses on honing artistic excellence through performance, composition, education, and research. Outside of the conservatoire curriculum, student-professionals are also given the opportunity to be involved in community engagements. However, these complementary learning activities remain at the cusp of professional learning. The constraints of participating in this peripheral space were even more pronounced during the pandemic, when international travel restrictions made service learning to other countries physically inaccessible. In this case study, we rekindle the value of service learning in a musical community of practice. Through a joint regional project in Asia between the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore and the Jesselton Philharmonic Orchestra in Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, the research highlights the importance of legitimizing peripheral participation in service learning. This is the first research-informed account of a service learning project involving a community outreach orchestra in East Malaysia. Findings attest to rich learning in the peripheral space that gives rise to unique propositional, pedagogical, and personal knowledge for music at higher education. While there are mutual gains for both the beneficiary and the benefactors, it is evident through this study that participating in such an in-between space of learning augments the mission to serve, and spawns deeper thought about learning through a profession in the arts.