Neoliberal ideologies, embedded in US society, have been discussed by scholars as promoting competition, individualism, and insecurity, which contribute to what Miller (2021) identifies as relational precarity. This is characterized by an erosion of trust and belonging that can be acutely felt in educational settings, when relational precarity fosters isolation, moral injury, and division. In music education, academics have increasingly turned to frameworks of care (Hendricks, 2018, 2023, 2025), yet persistent calls for care may raise the question of how and whether it is being realized in practice. In this presentation, we explore how enacted care might serve as a framework for addressing and resisting relational precarity in music education. Using collaborative autoethnography, two musicians from the United States reflect on our interactive educational work across applied studio, community music, and school contexts, engaging in sustained dialogue and reflexive journaling. We share ways in which we have observed care being embodied, embedded, extended, and enacted (Van der Schyff et al., 2018) in our experiences within our settings, and consider how they inform our educative and musical practices as we prioritize authentic connection and collaborative learning. Community, connection, and confidence emerged as key themes from our dialogue, illuminating how practices of enacted care can disrupt neoliberal norms and foster authentic, reciprocal relationships. With vignettes from our teaching experiences, we highlight moments of vulnerability, shared authority, and belonging that bolster relational health, thereby creating pathways toward individual and collective flourishing. Our analysis draws on central texts including The Oxford Handbook of Care in Music Education (Hendricks, 2023), Care Ethics in the Age of Precarity (Hamington & Flower, 2021), The Care Manifesto (Chatzidakis et al., 2020), and Thinking Community Music (Higgins, 2024) as we frame these practices as “utopian critiques” (Kertz-Welzel, 2022), in which small-scale acts of care model alternative social possibilities and point toward transformative potential within music education.Enacted care may work best not as a supplemental practice but as an essential counterforce to relational precarity. By centering community, connection, and confidence in music education, educators and teacher educators can cultivate individuals who foster trust and collaboration, resist isolation, restore relational health, and inspire societal well-being.