WP - Confusing Community Music with Professional Entertainment

[Inaudible] [inaudible]. This is a topic, which I find absolutely fascinating. I hope you do too, because what the heck is the difference, right? Music is music, but there is a very big difference that we're going to explore that today to figure out what's going on. So what is it that we actually mean? Well, in order to, to figure out what the differences are and why we get them confused, we need to know the definitions. We've got to kind of define what professional entertainment is and what com

munity music is. So let's start with professional entertainment. To me, in my experience across the world, professional entertainment is when somebody actually is paid to present entertainment. So this is the vast, vast majority of musicians. And what they do is they get together or they are employed by a producer or a presenter or somebody to actually be a part of an event, which is designed to give you entertainment. So a lot of these musicians spend their lives doing this. Some are semi-profe

ssional, they do other things, but they do music on the side and they're very good at it. And they, they still get paid to present an event to you. So that you're entertained. Um, one part of this is like the film industry, film industry actually buys musicians to actually record the music, uh, and in fact, compose music first, and then actually get it recorded and add it to the movie for your entertainment. So professional entertainment, um, here's another one. Uh, well, if you go to a bar or a

nightclub and they actually have live music there, most of the time, then those performers are there. They're hired by the venue. Um, not at union rights, they, they probably just a little fee and then maybe a cover charge or a percentage of takes and maybe tips, but it's not much, but anyway, they're there in order to give you entertainment, to provide background entertainment, view, background noise, create the mood of the environment, make it a welcoming place. Um, if you go to a concert, Fl

orida orchestra is professional entertainment. These people get together, they hire musicians in order to put on concerts for you to enjoy that's professional entertainment. So music in the community is a slightly different thing. This is where we take the music that exists in the community by the community members. You don't necessarily buy the main, we don't necessarily pay. Sometimes musicians are paid, but most of the time it's actually members of the community residents, visitors, um, who,

who make up that community, who present their own or participate in their own kind of music. For example, some people play an instrument. They'll, they'll join a group or they'll even play solo. Um, they're not necessarily paid. They're doing it for fun. That's music in the community. It's also applicable to listeners because even if you don't play an instrument, you want to participate in music. You can go to a professional entertainment venue, um, and see a concert, um, or some sort of event h

osted and presented to you by professionals. Or you can go to where your neighbor is performing, or maybe one of your children is performing, or maybe you've just heard something. Maybe a work colleague has given you, uh, a flyer at work about a concert coming up that they are playing in. This is community music, music that is actually in the community by the community of the community. And of course the fascinating thing for me is that every culture has its own kind. Every culture, even within

nations, there are different types of music. England, various parts of England has very different types of music than Scotland does. Then Wales does the Northern Ireland does. And yet the UK itself is a nation. It has all these different styles. So music in the community, music of the community is what I'm calling community music. So there's a big difference between community music and professional entertainer. And the problem is there is so much crossover, there's almost no fine line and say, y

ou know, decision or decision B, there's a fine line between, I mean the two. Um, but because there is so much, there are a lot of professional entertainers who participate in committee music. There are some people who do music in the community who occasionally, um, get involved with press for professional entertainment. So it's very difficult to know which is which it's very rarely obvious, which is which, um, and, and it's wow. It, it, it is, there's no fine line anymore. It's gone. And that's

why we confuse music in the community with special entertainment. The other thing is, is the fact that music in the community does way, way more, much more than just entertain. We've already explored it. The fact that there's more to music than music in a previous weekend prelude, uh, we'll go back and tell you which episode that is. So you can go back and listen to that message. Um, but there, there is a lot more to community music than there is in professional entertainment. And we're going t

o explore three of those things, but why is it that we confuse the two? Why is that fine line disappeared? I want to share with you three things. First thing is the fact that we don't necessarily know what music is that sounds really weird. And that sounds really, really quite insulting. If you wanted to, to take it that way, we can't actually describe music. This is something that, um, a lot of people forget to understand. They, they hear this noise and they hear a lot of musicians complained a

bout not working for the past seven months and all this kind of stuff. But what is it? Why is it that we can't the musicians, the people who are getting involved as listeners, okay. Listeners as much as performers. Why is it that we can't convince the decision makers of the world or other people, the value of music? Because we can't actually put music into words. Music is its own language. If we could put music into words, then we would do so. And if we could, we wouldn't need music itself. Musi

c cannot be described in the same way that it's apolitical in the same way as a religious, we can't put music into words. Now people put lyrics to music, they take words and they add them to the music and then they can sing them. But the music itself, if you take the words away and just sing sounds. Now you're talking about just the music that is in describable. There are no words. It is his own language. We call it generally the language of emotions. So we are unable to articulate what music is

and what it actually does for us in many, many ways. Lots of people have tried, and we're going to explore those in just a moment. But one of the biggest problems that we have when we confuse music in the community with professionals entertainment is the fact that we elevate supporting functions to a much superior status. The music itself, we take functions that, that were originally designed to be able to support the development and an exploration of music in the community. And we've put them

above the actual act of making music and participate in, in music as listeners, as much as performance. It makes no sense to me. There are three areas though, that, that stand down where we've done this. For example, competitions and awards, we've made participation in music. So very, very competitive that we have to beat somebody else. Um, probably the most accessible example I can give you is marching band scene. There was a time when marching bands, particularly in, in schools, uh, and the co

mmunity marching bands, how many community marching bands did exist, right? There's like two in the U S now, um, maybe a few more, but marching bands used to exist to create the mood of the community parade. That's what it used to exist for now. We've, we've grown it into high school so we can learn our instruments, all that kind of stuff. But the music has become less important than the visuals and the trophies. The trophies have triumphed because a school, a, an education department, the media

can focus in on the fact that we are the best we won. These, this trophy that's become more important than actually participating in the music aspect of what a marching band was originally intended for. So that's one way we get confused. Those awards that we, that we try and get, particularly the Grammys. Now it's very political. It's become a it's own trophy. And that's what people design records for now. Instead of making music like Elvis did made up his own songs, he took a bit of gospel. It

took a bit of blues, combined them and put them down on a record, became a huge success. Now people are designing songs in order to win awards and trophies and competitions just need to look at America's got talent, Britain's got talent, the voice, um, idol programs, all of these things that has become elevated has become more important than the actual music itself of what these people are presenting, winning those awards and competitions to seen an article. What happened to Susan Boyle? Do you

remember Susan Boyle who won? Britain's got talent, um, with a song from Lamees and then had a wonderful career for about three, four years, and then nothing, because there are new people. Now, the award, the competition has become more important than what Susan Boyle could do for you when you attend and listen to her singing, another one is going to be controversial, but you know what? BMS never shies away from controversy. Um, music education has become elevated above music. So what is music

education is to educate people about music, right? That's what it's supposed to be. But now it's become a thing where colleges and universities exist and explore the theories behind education and music and all these uniqueness. Um, there is a whole industry based on the education of music and educating educators, music education has become about teaching future teachers, not about performers, actual music participants who then can teach, but teaching has become the most important element. Now th

ere's nothing wrong with that because it does sustain music in the curriculum. There are lots of people who are very, very good at it, and they do stuff that there's nothing that I absolutely couldn't do myself. And, and believe me, I wouldn't be where I am and couldn't have done what I've done in my life without my teachers. So, um, I'm not debasing it. Um, what I'm saying is, is that we've elevated it above music education and being able to teach. And all the theory that goes on behind that ha

s become more important to our decision-makers than the actual act of participating in music. So it's very easy to confuse music in the community with professional entertainment, because music education has taken us out of both and it's become its own thing. One aspect that has become its own thing as well, which helps confuse it a little bit. But I think is just as essential is really, this is very, very important and I'm glad it now exists, but we are in danger of elevating above music is musi

c therapy. We've spent so many years trying to justify the existence of music, which is a fundamental human form of communication. There's no way around it. It's always going to exist. As long as there are humans who can talk and who actually have a pulse, there will be music in the world. Okay. Music therapy, um, or what happened was when, when de-funding started happening, um, with music in the eighties and nineties, um, people started saying, we, you know, it's just entertainment. I'm not goi

ng to pay for this or all of that kind of stuff. Musicians then started to try and make themselves relevant. So they started exploring the scientific arts behind music. What does it does? What does it do to our brains, to our thinking? Um, that's where all the studies came out about the Mozart effect about how it helps with mathematics, um, with social interaction. This is why music was kept in schools because it helps them do better in other areas. And remember that competition and awards thing

, we're using music as a tool. The expansion from that came into music therapy, where we, we discover people who have, um, illnesses and all that kind of stuff. Um, particularly outsiders, they can use music to overcome certain medical conditions. That's great. That's terrific. That's wonderful. But we are in danger of putting that above the actual act of participate in the music of literally either singing or playing or listening, listening, meaning attending concerts. So those two, those three

things, competitions on the music, education, music therapy, we're in danger of elevating these aspects of, I mean, these are support functions. You take the item itself and these are different elements underneath it. And it's almost like the world is flipping them and we're, we're putting them above the actual act of participating in the music and attending concerts. One of the difficulties is that musicians because music itself is so old. Um, I think it first was discovered when a human was b

orn. Um, it's been around so long. People have communicated their emotions, express their emotions, explored emotions through music, again, as listeners, as much as, as performers, um, that we, we just don't know how to articulate it. We don't know how to describe it. We've said before, this is, this is where that quote comes in before. If we could put music into words, we would. And if we did that, then we wouldn't actually need music, but we do need music. Cause it says stuff that we can't act

ually describe with words. So there are tons and tons of anecdotes about the impact of music on people's lives. I was just listening to a lecture this week about, um, a symphony by Gustav Mahler. Yeah. It's, he's over a hundred years old, but it's still the end of that. Symphony still has life-changing impact on people. They, I mean, if you go to a concert, a live performance, you actually getting gross and you actually focus and listen to what's going on. It is a life-changing spiritual stuff.

There's almost like a religious experience, but it's just, just a music. It isn't just music. This is a fundamental form of communication. So there are lots of stories about people's lives that have changed completely through music. We'll go back to the Alzheimer's thing where people develop that horrible disease, and yet they can still remember music. They can still connect with people in their lives, through music. It's fascinating. We also hear lots of stories about it being a therapeutic act

ivity, like the outsiders patients, if you're feeling sad or down, you can put on a song that cheers you up. If you want to create a specific mood, you can put on a particular piece of music in the background and it will change your mood. Instantly. You can create an atmosphere just last night. Um, as you went out to a little local place and we had one professional and one community musician combined to create a fabulous mood, it was an awesome time. It was so much fun, just a couple of musician

s doing their thing and create a music. It was a very particular style of music that they were playing and it created that part of the atmosphere. So I really, really appreciate them doing that made me feel better. I had a really rough day yesterday and I don't think anyone there at the party would have noticed because you know, that music just completely changed. My mood is there is a therapy it's used as therapy use. It cannot be explained. We cannot talk about music. We don't know how to, um,

thank goodness for the mute button. Sorry about that. Um, we don't know how to put music into words. You can do your best to describe it. And unfortunately, a lot of musicians end up getting very theoretical, very deep way above most people's heads. I listened to some lectures these days about particular repertoire in music. I, you know what I'm lost. I mean, this is my field. This is what I studied. This is what I've been doing for over 35 years on multiple continents. And I'm just like, what

the heck are you talking about? They're trying to describe music. We can. And because of that, we can't quantify it. We can't qualify it. We can't give it a narrative. And therefore our decision-makers in society, whether it's funding, whether it's space, whether it's time or whatever it is, resources, we can't articulate it. We don't know how to tell them how important it is and what we need and why, why they need to support it. We just don't know how to do that. So participants people who list

en and people who, who actually perform focus more on the doing then articulate and they focus more on just getting it done, then trying to find ways to, to, uh, to explain why it's important, why they're doing it, why they want to go back, why they want more, you know, how many people reached out to me saying how much they've missed music over the past seven months, both listeners and performance. It's unbelievable, but our decision-makers don't hear that because they don't understand themselve

s. If you are a musician, yes. Please consider running for public office. The more musicians we get in public office and the more support we might get. All right. And then the third thing, last thing, trying to race through a very big topic here. Um, there are in fact, and, and this is relatively new. Is this a direction that DMS is gonna start taking soon? In fact, we've just bought, appointed a program manager for our accessibility expansion program. Um, so welcome to the fold cake, glad you'r

e on board. Uh, but this is to explore the actual clinical outcomes that music has on people. So at the moment, behavioral health, mental health is AIDS. It's such a new field. I'm very familiar with it myself for the past 15 years or so. Um, but it's relatively a new field. Medical health is easy. You have this condition and you know how to deal with it. You have that condition and you're not quite sure how to deal with it, but you can figure it out because it's either this or that. And you jus

t go step-by-step to work things through mental health is very, very different and it's very, very new. And what I've been surprised about in my close connection with the, with that industry, it's how little attention is paid to emotional health. And yet music being the language of emotions, not necessarily professional entertainment. Yes, you can get affected when you attend a professional event, but when you get local, when you get down deep, when you get in a smaller intimate environment, it

has far more emotional impact on you. The house concert, the front lawn concert, well, that smaller environment where you are closer and there are fewer of you. There's a lot more communication, direct communication going on. That's going to directly impact everyone there emotionally when you let it. So we've got mental health over here, the whole industry, um, there are a lot of grants for that as a lot of money out there for, for that. And there's a lot of treatment because people need treatme

nt for their mental health. USIC over here directly impacts our emotional mental health. But so far, those two industries have never met. There's no correlation between the two. So we're going to try and see if that's possible. The biggest thing I think about, uh, live music, participate in live music, particularly community music is the fact that it is preventative. It helps you prevent getting to the point where you need mental health treatment. Maybe that's the problem. Maybe, maybe that's it

. That's why people don't want music to, to, uh, be associated with, um, all the conditions they're involved in mental health, because then that industry would lose its income. If we prevent like dentists, you know, Dan did used to make a fortune replacing teeth. Then it got into that whole prevention thing. And now they make a lot less money. I mean, that's the way the world works. So music actually helps prevent many mental health conditions identified. That means it's proven time and time aga

in, not just the brain MRI scans and the left and right brain, all that kind of stuff that on all the benefits from, from that kind of thing, but emotionally. So what are some of those conditions that I'm talking about? We're talking about anxiety. We're talking about stress, including PTSD music helps people deal with stress and anxiety changes. Their mood, music changes our mood. Have you ever been in the car in a traffic jam, listening to the radio? And you're getting really pumped up really

quite angry and annoyed and what Oh, got to get to work. You change the channel for something different, a lot smoother. Calmer, literally literally backs. It completely changes our mood in exactly the same environment. Mood is an identified condition in mental health. We need to connect the two and say, how does it affect, why does it affect depression? Music helps people with depression, loneliness, which, uh, which is a contributory factor to many other types of mental illnesses. All of these

conditions are directly impacted by music in the community. And of course, then there's also the treatment of trauma. People who go through traumatic experiences like cancer treatment. There are hospitals now around the world, including several in the USA that are playing music during cancer treatments. Why we don't know, we just know it works. We just know it makes patients feel better. If we could describe music, we could put music into words we would, but then we wouldn't need music. We woul

d just use the words. So people are recovering from physical ailments, much better, much quicker, much more easily because USIC is involved. That's not professional entertainment. That's music in the community. We confuse music in the community with professional entertainment because we've elevated the support functions of music to a superior status participants, meaning both performance and listeners, just because you don't think you know anything about music, doesn't mean to say you can't part

icipate in music. You can, and you often do more than you think, but we focus more on the doing on the attending concerts, on the performing concerts than we do in articulating what it is that we're doing. That's been a problem that causes confusion. And then of course there is matching the clinical outcomes of our health, physical and mental health that is directly affected by music, emotional impact. Those three things are ways that we confuse community music with professional entertainment. I

love this topic. There's a whole article. In fact, um, the, that I wrote with Sarah Michaels, who's a music therapist. We've, we've got this whole article here. If you want a copy of this article, just, just send us an email, go onto the Dundee music, society.org, fill out the contact form, and we'll send you this article. Um, if enough people request it, we might post it, but come and ask us for it. Okay. Facebook is fine as well. YouTube. If you're watching on YouTube right now, um, then, the

n send us an email, go to go visit, add a comment, do whatever you like. And we'll send you this article. Um, and this is absolutely fascinating. It's a huge topic. So much more to explore, but as we're doing these weekend preludes at the beginning of each month, um, I thought this will give you some meat to actually focus on and discuss with your friends, peers, other musicians, uh, neighbors, family, people. You don't even know this. Hopefully will give you something to talk about. Why do we c

onfuse community music, professional entertainment? What are the differences and how do we go about this? So, wow. [Inaudible].