We Can All Make Music.
Learning to connect
The coincidence of medium and message
Scientists
tell us that the feeling of connection between children and their parents is
innate, and that it appears that, genetically, we are also
“programmed” to feel a connection with other close kin, but beyond
that quite small circle, social connection has to be learnt.
It is
likely that music-making developed in early humans as the way to do this.
The making
of music together is an enjoyable collaborative act that embodies the process
of connecting.
It is
no surprise then that the “content” of music fundamentally involves
connectivity - to make these sounds
we have connected, so let's celebrate
the connection!
It is
therefore not a big leap to imagine that the first musics produced were
celebrations of 'we-ness', as many musics to this day continue to be (from
“The Union Makes us Strong” to “We Are One”).
But, given that those who make music are aware both
of the good feelings making music induces in music-makers (and, to a lesser
extent, in music’s witnesses) and
that its making is all about establishing a sense of connection, it is no
surprise then that the form and practice of music-making would rapidly be
appropriated to those wishing to establish and celebrate connections far beyond
those which grow between the music-makers themselves.
Music
has thus become the most effective tool for proclaiming connections with
everything: the supernatural, the environment, the nation, other individuals,
even material objects.
It is
our mission to reclaim music for its original purpose. Yes, it's a great way to declare one's love
for everything from God to the girlfriend, from cars to country, from footy to
armed struggle, but ultimately it's about recognising the common humanity of
those we are making music with at
that very moment; music is the aesthetic manifestation of “we”.
More
and more research which confirms that a (if not the) fundamental
function of music-making is social bonding.
Our concern is that as other (literally more sophisticated) means of
building and maintaining social connections which allow us to be a healthy
society become less effective over time (which seems to be the case more and
more), we have nearly lost the capacity to utilise the original and best of all
means of social bonding available to us.
Indeed, we have forgotten all about it.
This
forgetfulness is putting us in danger.
The less we sing together, the less tangible experience we have of the
joy of being and doing with others, and so the harder it becomes to feel
connected. “Knowing” that
we need this connectivity for our healthy survival is completely different from
actually doing the activities or experiencing this phenomenon personally. In the absence of collaborative music making
in our everyday lives, we have lost the most powerful means of affirming and
celebrating our lives together, and unless we can rediscover this way of
experiencing how joyful “we” can be, our society will continue to
fracture and dissolve.
Music
may not be the (only) answer, but without it there can be no answer.
CMV - making a
sound world together.
©
Community Music Victoria Inc.