One of my students recently penned a passionate piece
about the growing trend of taking music out into the wider community. While he thoroughly approved of initiatives
aimed at spreading music to those sections of society who, for one reason or
another, might not feel they have access to it, he bemoaned the fact that so
many of those initiatives were not so much aimed at the wider community as one
specific segment of it. And more
especially, that the focus seemed to be almost wholly on taking music to those
which society labels as having “Special Needs”, a term he found deeply
patronising.
For some time this is an issue which has concerned me,
although it was the catalyst of the student’s impassioned comment which really got
me thinking about quite what is meant by these oft-use, politically-correct
terms “taking music out into the community” and “special needs”. I did a quick search and discovered that a
clear majority of initiatives which aim to “take music out into the wider community”
actually do nothing of the kind; they simply redirect music from one special
group to another. The principal
beneficiaries of such initiatives are usually either those with a learning or physical
disability or those suffering from some kind of degenerative condition such as Alzheimer’s
or Cancer. These are the so-called “Special
Needs” people; who, by the very fact of being so labelled, are segregated from
society. In an age when we have trained ourselves
to ignore people’s race, ethnicity, religion, gender or sexuality, it seems
perverse, to say the least, that we happily use their mental or physical
condition as a conduit of segregation. I
can’t call someone whose skin colour differs from mine as “black”, without causing
offence; why, therefore, is it correct to describe someone whose mental
capacity differs from mine as “Special”?
Let’s not, for all the tempting avenues it opens up
for a discussion on the confused state of our current society, bother about
those labels. Let’s merely say that
every single person in society is special in some way – inasmuch that none of
us is quite the same mentally, physically, emotionally or psychologically – so those
with “Special Needs” constitute the totality of society and therefore the label
is pointless (as well as offensive).
Instead, let me ask the question about the specifics
of taking music out into “the wider community”.
What do we really mean by this?
And, is the taking of music into communities comprising those who differ
in some mental or physical way from the norm, merely a palliative for those of
us privileged to possess musical skills as well as both mental and physical
characteristics which are seen by most of society as “normal”? By focusing on music’s much-vaunted
therapeutic qualities and flaunting them in front of those who have some kind
of disability, are we not in danger of turning music from high art into a
branch of medicine?
Music, from its very beginnings, was not something which
addressed the totality of society. At
one point merely the possession of gods, of the god-like and of the churches
which worshipped God, music went on to become the unique property of earthly
and spiritual rulers, of the aristocracy, of the extremely wealthy and
subsequently of the educated elite. It
was really only in the 19th century that it spread to those who had
neither the wealth to fund it nor the education to understand it, and it became
primarily a form of entertainment rather than an intellectual exercise. With the advent of recording and
broadcasting, music suddenly was accessible to all, and music education flourished
as a means of keeping alive the old elitist attitudes; the thinking was, you
may be able to hear music, but do you know how to LISTEN to it and do you
UNDERSTAND it? With the 21st
century such elitist attitudes have largely been swept away, and with it much
of the mystique of music has been demolished. There is a dominant belief that knowing
music and practising it should be open to anybody and everybody, and, as if to
support this, in the last half-century, the idea that music has very definite
therapeutic qualities has grown.
That belief that music is no longer an elitist art nor
something requiring intellectual application has been superseded by a
concentration on music as a health and well-being beneficiary. Work out in a gym, follow sport, do any of
those things that we are told are good for our health, and you find them
invariably accompanied by music. My
father’s 101 healthy years and my recent phenomenally speedy recovery from a serious
operation are explained by those who know us, not by our lifestyles (neither of
us follows any of the advised health regimens) but by the fact that we are
practising musicians. And it might be
right, although I am not at all sure it’s anything more than good luck. Music is seen as an adjunct to good health.
The corollary of that is that if you are in bad health
music can be of benefit to you. Thus, we
single out those in our society who seem physically or mentally less healthy
than the norm, and throw music at them.
And it does seem to help, even if all the research suggests that such
help is only temporary and primarily palliative. Little wonder, then, that so many feel that
by going to those groups and giving them music in one form or another, they are
doing some good to society. I believe
that they are, and from the evidence of my own eyes, it does have a beneficial
effect which is well worth all the effort and expense involved. But does this constitute “taking music out
into the wider community”?
It does not.
There are still huge swathes of society, rich and poor, educated and
ill-educated, old and young, black and white, who feel alienated from
music. Now they feel alienated not
because of their detachment from society’s elite, but because of their detachment
from society’s disadvantaged. If music
belongs to the “Special Needs”, is it relevant for the rest of us? What efforts are made to take music out to
that section of society? The answer is
some, but not much. And the way it’s
done is simply to put music on in some kind of public arena (a park or a
football stadium) and expect the musically-alienated to turn up. Nobody actually thinks that there is anything
odd about this. Surely, if you don’t
normally feel music has anything to offer you, you would not make the effort to
go out and find it, no matter in which environment it is being presented?
People with “Special Needs” are easy to address – they
are all lumped together in a single building, either as residents or as
out-patients – but the real body of society, the vast majority of those for
whom music seems an irrelevance, cannot be so easily located and therefore so conventionally
addressed. Much as I applaud efforts to
spread music to other sectors of society, let’s not kid ourselves into believing
that merely by going to the old peoples’ home or the cancer ward, we are truly
taking music out into the wider community.
Music is ubiquitous, at least in developed countries, so the only people who are not regularly exposed to some sort of music must be actively avoiding it. But I think this "wider community" stuff really means playing to those who wouldn't normally hear that kind of music. Or wouldn't experience it live.
ReplyDeleteOn the health effect of music, I can understand why there might sometimes be some benefits from playing or singing. But Is there any real evidence of benefits to passive listeners, or even active ones ?
While it is nice to think that a dose of Bach might bring healing to the sick, I would imagine that it is more prosaic. It feels good to bring happiness to those who are too old or ill, or immobile, or too busy, or too young to attend concerts - but might have wanted to.
And I suppose many individual initiatives will not provide equal coverage of this supposed wider community. They will tend to go for easily identifiable or reachable groups - in hospitals, schools, homes, prisons etc. As you say, missing out great swathes of society, who just have to make do with Netflix.
I've yet to hear of an orchestra touring unreached tribes in Borneo or the Amazon. But that would be a great project for TPO !
As a Dr, can you help me ?
ReplyDeleteEvery day I am bothered by loud noises from my neighbor's apartment. I thought it was children doing piano practice, but I've just realised that they were talking music out into the wider community.
What can I do ?
Yours, Anguised of Ang Mo Kio