We Are All in the Music Business!

There is a growing global consensus that China will likely surpass the USA and ascend the throne to become the world’s great superpower.  With this in mind, I thought it would be a good idea to familiarize myself with Mandarin to be prepared for this eventuality.  Besides, there are almost as many children studying piano in China as the entire population of France - some 50 million. So I reason that if I can get a mere 0.000005% of Chinese children to know my name coupled with an ability to communicate with them in their native tongue, I would be set for life (economically speaking that is ;)!  Nin hao! :)

In my initial Mandarin classes, I was awestruck by the tonal nature of this ancient language spoken by one-fifth of the world’s population.  The pitch placement within a given syllable of a word actually changes the meaning of the word.  This makes Mandarin amongst the most difficult languages to speak - notwithstanding studying the infinite amount of characters in its writing system.  It also makes it a more sonically interesting language to listen to than many other languages. 

Similarly, in the study of music, one is taught that to simply play or sing the correct pitch is not sufficient for effective musical communication or expression.  A musician has to also consider dynamics, articulation, phrasing, rhythm, tempo, timbre, text and more.  We call these considerations musical elements. And these parameters affect how that pitch is experienced within the context of a musical performance. In the case of my area of expertise - the piano, it is the finger that is largely responsible for controlling all of these dimensions. And when those elements come together we experience the musical arts at its zenith and its most communicative.

In the English language as in every language, the same level of specificity is available to us in verbal-linguistic communication.  However, many, particularly in the modern world, choose to operate as if our language has no ability to incorporate elements beyond the actual words we chose to communicate in a given environment.  Like a musician’s artistic choices in playing a single note or a musical phrase, we also get to choose how our words are said. And just like in an orchestra, band or choir, where there is a ‘division of labor’ between the instruments, in a community social environment we also get to choose who says what is said. And both choices are musical ones! Paradoxically, many ‘musical experts’ are among the worst offenders and refuse to bring into their verbal-linguistic communication the very elements native to the practice of musical communication and artistic expression. But that’s another rant for another time that will take us far beyond the scope of the current topic. 

When our verbal-linguistic communication is held up to the standard of comprehensiveness and nuance - most of us fall way short. Some fall short out of sheer disregard for the humanity of others, covered under the guise of “keeping it real.” We simply do not care about nor consider the sonic and spatial attributes that accompany our words. Such ignorance negatively affects our ability to communicate effectively and we unknowingly leave human emotional casualties in our wake because of it.  

Others however (a rapidly increasing number of us) fall short because of sheer lack of practice in ‘standard verbal-linguistic communication.’ This is especially so amongst we millennials and generation z’s who would rather use mobile devices to communicate (even when in the same room as the people we’re communicating with!)  As a result, we are as verbally clumsy as a toddler still learning to walk. And such inexperience leads to the same outcomes as those who simply do not care.

Even in this age of social media mavens, FB and Instagram strategists and  Whatsapp experts, we still observe hugely lacking comprehensiveness and nuance in social media and other forms of electronic communication. And this lacking clarity is across all generations - not just millennials and gen Z’s. SMS language and emojis are often misinterpreted because these visual tools are incapable of capturing the vastness, completeness and complexities of human communication. This is why SMS, textspeak, memes and even voice notes are a grossly incomplete form of communication! These modalities often leave parties involved open to misinterpretations and hence errors in subsequent exchanges.  As a result,  our thoughts, emotions and imaginations often run away with us as we creatively imagine scenarios about another person’s thoughts, feelings and intentions which are often baseless and largely incorrect. Is social media and other e-communication modes simply serving as a verbal-linguistic ‘cop out’ ? Is it now a degenerative platform for the socially lazy who do not wish to engage in the most fundamental of human experiences? Are social media platforms now largely in the service of those who lack the courage to be transparent and hide in cowardic ambiguity?

It is for these reasons that improving verbal-linguistic communication is also one of the biggest arguments for music’s full integration in society.  Music should be a core subject in the curriculum. Music should be a standard part of human resource development in institutions and businesses that serve human beings (ie. All of them!). To study music is, amongst other things, to learn every foundational element of effective communication. And the musician that understands the power of this particular skill set is an incredibly invaluable asset to any and every community they are part of. 

Historically, the study of music served as a critical foundation of a properly socialized individual, family, community and nation. Returning to my hopeful personal economic salvation, China, it has been a matter of national policy since the 1970s that the study of music be integral to educating the disciplined, high-performing citizens of the modern Chinese nation state. Today, few would argue that it has served them well.  Perhaps the study of music and its elements of communication and expression could be a critical sole in the shoes of our nation’s march toward a common loftier goal. At the very least, it will certainly improve our current verbal-linguistic reality.

Completed March 1, 2023