Musicians’ Liberation (draft 10.9.21)
Musicians’ liberation is for everyone. We are all inherently musical. As young people, we loved to explore our voices. We loved to explore the possibilities of sound and music. We were curious and creative.
The ability to create is a form of human intelligence. When we are being creative, we are connected to our full human selves. Music is a form of creativity accessible to all.
Music is important in every culture. It brings people together across languages and borders. It helps people notice it’s good to be alive. Music contradicts feelings of hopelessness, urgency, and despair. It encourages people to discharge and to reclaim joy and power. We can never have too much music.
Music and musicians have always played a significant role in revolutionary and other social change movements. Music is a powerful tool in the struggle to transform society. It brings hope, inspiration, and solidarity. It encourages cooperation. It is a model of people’s working together to create something of beauty, power, and intelligence.
MUSICIANS' OPPRESSION
Musicians experience oppression. Working musicians are part of the working class. In a capitalist society, musicians are exploited. We are pushed to work too hard and to sacrifice our bodies. We aren’t paid for the full value of our work, but rather our work is sold for profit to create wealth for the owning class. Creating music is more and more an industry instead of simply an expression of our inherent nature and part of everyday life. Within the music industry there is a class structure that allows only a few of us to become popular and wealthy, because the industry profits when only a few of us are “the good ones.”
Many people don’t consider being a musician “a real job.” Society pressures us to give up music or get busy with “more important” things. Musicians internalize this message, and it confuses us about the significance of our work.
Our oppression includes separation and isolation. We are often treated as “weird” or “special,” different from “regular” people and from “non-musicians.” The idea that music is only for the “talented” or “gifted” isolates us (and also discourages many people from creating music). Jealousy, competition, comparison, and criticism divide us from each other. “Professional” musicians are seen as separate from, and superior to, “amateurs.” Performers are separated from the audience.
Our isolation makes us vulnerable to exploitation. It also makes it difficult to organize our own liberation movement.
WESTERN DOMINATION
In many Indigenous cultures, music is part of everyday living and working, often central to the group’s way of life and its liberation. It is not a separate “hobby” or “talent.” As part of colonization, imperialism, and racism, “Western” music (like the English language) dominates worldwide. It assimilates and wipes out other musical cultures and languages in a kind of cultural genocide. For a non-dominant culture, to reclaim their music and language is a way of fighting back.
Western domination includes cultural appropriation. In this form of racism, white people take the music of other cultures and profit from it. For people of European heritage, reclaiming pride in the music and language of their own cultural heritages is a form of anti-racism work.
HOW EVERYONE CAN USE MUSIC FOR LIBERATION
Only misinformation, ridicule, and other hurts make people give up their connection to music. The connection can be reclaimed and enjoyed. Musicians’ liberation can take many forms: Being loud with our singing voices. Being joyful and enthusiastic in our music-making. Deciding, and acting, to end musical competition. Encouraging everyone to sing, play, learn, and reclaim their creativity. Offering the idea that everyone is born musical.
We who are working musicians are natural allies to those of us who are reclaiming music. Those who are reclaiming music can be allies to working musicians. Everyone, whether or not they identify as a musician, can use music as a tool for liberation and for transforming society. Everyone can remember the significance of music.
IDEAS FOR SESSIONS ABOUT MUSIC
Some ideas for everyone in sessions about music:
- Talk about your connection to music, past and present.
- Tell your stories about music: when you first noticed it, when you fell in or out of love with it; early memories about learning music, about songs and singing, and about making music in any way.
- Make music in a session; notice the sounds; notice feelings the experience brings up.
- Be pleased with yourself when you make a “mistake.”
- Notice what it’s like to be heard and seen while you make music; discharge any fear, humiliation, and embarrassment.
- Think about what place music had in your family, your heritage, your school, and your town when you were growing up. What are you proud of? What are you ashamed of? What have you lost?
Further ideas for working musicians:
- Talk about your work.
- Talk about your memories of deciding to make music central in your life and what was happening in your life at that time.
- Explore such feelings as competitiveness, superiority or inferiority, jealousy, wanting or not wanting to be thought of as “special,” and desperation connected to the identity of musician.
- Notice when you use music as a tool for avoiding feelings or procrastinating.
- Notice your body. Talk about your early body memories. Discharge on physical hurts and injuries from repetitive stress and oppressive working conditions.
- Explore any stereotypes you have about music of different cultures. Challenge feelings that make a particular kind of music or a particular culture’s music seem more or less interesting. Explore how class, race, and other identities have affected your relationship with music.