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.

No surprise then that the 'content' of music is fundamentally about connectivity - to make these sounds, we have connected, so let's celebrate the connection.

It is no big leap to imagine that the first musics 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 that make music are aware both of the good feelings making it induces in the makers (and, to a lesser extent, in the witnesses) and its making is all about establishing a sense of connection, it is no surprise that the form and the practice would rapidly be appropriated by those wishing to establish and celebrate connections far beyond those that grow between the makers.

SO, music becomes 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 footie to armed struggle, but ultimately it's about recognising the common humanity of those we are making music with at the very moment - it is the aesthetic manifestation of 'we'.

There's more and more research that 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 the connections that allow us to be a healthy society become less effective (which seems to be the case), we have nearly lost the capacity to utilise the original and best of all means - indeed, to 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 being able to experience it. Without collaborative music making as an everyday part of life, 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.

we can all make music

learning to connect

The coincidence of medium and message

making a sound world together