Kelvin Sholar: Musician, Theorist
If we do not develop a greater sense of both self and community, we are more likely to be violent and to feel insecure or powerless in the face of violence. We are more likely to imagine a limited set of choices towards achieving a better future.
I propose that we musicians focus on the use of music as a tool to strengthen the positive sense of self and the greater community; despite any general disadvantages in personal, familial or community resources. Like José Antonio Abreu did in Venezuela with “El Sistema”, why don’t we form free social progams that offer children in disadvantaged communities musical training with expert guidance for a number of hours of the week?
What good will that do? Free musical training with expert guidance reduces the negative effects of social disadvantages on children in five ways. First, by nurturing latent musical talents and modes of self expression, commitment and responsibility. By providing safe, clean and stable environments for intensive yet playful training. By directing the attention and concentration of both male and female students equally. By exercising safe physical activities of cooperation. By intentionally developing qualities of pacification.
Despite the fact that music is an art form, it helps the disadvantaged child to do better on school work by developing practical scientific knowledge and skills relative to linguistics, cognition, logic, mathematics and natural science.
II. Background
“Music has to be recognized as an agent of social development, in the highest sense because it transmits the highest values – solidarity, harmony, mutual compassion. And it has the ability to unite an entire community, and to express sublime feelings” José Abreu- Musician, Activist
Like José Abreu, the founder of the social music program “El Sistema” in Venezuela, I sincerely believe that music is a powerful force for personal and social revolution; especially in the lives of disadvantaged children. I primarily feel this way, because music is a reliable and powerful influence in my life; despite my very humble beginnings in Detroit, Michigan.
I have a healthy sense of dignity, as I am fully aware of the deep art that my ancestors have produced, as well as the art that I add to the current stock of the world. I have been early exposed to the positive effects of music since the womb and these effects have had a tremendous impact on my life. My mother and father were both active touring musicians during my childhood; and for inspiration I regularly listen to records they made at twelve and fourteen. My siblings are game-changers: Chris is a Grammy award winning producer. Monica is owner of her own publishing company with three acclaimed books. Anastasia manages a very large company.
As a result of my parents intentionally nurturing my talents in musical arts I have won many awards for music; from performance to improvisation and education. I have been featured on over three hundred recordings as producer, performer, arranger, composer and orchestrator. I have extensively performed as leader of my own ensembles across North America, Europe, Africa and Asia. This would perhaps not have been possible without music in my life.
Yes, my family was poor. But, I was always well nourished, I saw the doctor when I was sick, I got taught by some of the best, and I always had a welcoming home. I can’t say the same for all children everywhere, and that is the biggest failure of human civilization! And this is the main problem: our children deserve a sense of self respect that comes from adequate resources (e.g. familial income, nourishment, education, health care safe, clean residence); otherwise, they are more likely to be violent, to feel insecure or powerless and more likely to imagine limited choices towards a better future. Look at the recent rise in violence and it’s clear that we need to invest in our future.
III. Method
I think that music is not only capable of transformation on a personal level; but also on a familial and social level. I work better with my family members and members of my community because I have learned to value the role that each person plays in society; just like I appreciate the roles of each instrument in a musical ensemble.
Music can even bring positive social change on a broad scale. As a basis of proof, I offer the success of “El Sistema” (also known as “Social Action for Music” in English) founded in 1975 by José Antonio Abreu in Venezuela (watch this http://www.ted.com/talks/jose_abreu_on_kids_transformed_by_music). “El Sistema” is a publicly financed music education program, focusing on classical music, which has developed from eleven musicians meeting in a parking garage in 1975 to 400 music centers educating nearly 700,000 musicians in 2015. In terms of social change, despite the change of regime: in 35 years, “El Sistema” has survived through ten different political administrations and seven consecutive Venezuelan governments- including the current president Hugo Chávez.
I believe that “El Sistema” is the model for a social program which can be applied within disadvantaged communities of major cities of the globe to similar success. Even more proof is offered by relative social programs like “El Sistema USA”, “Saint James Music Academy” in Canada, “In Harmony” of Britain, and “Orquestra Geração” of Portugal.
I think that “El Sistema” can provide a concrete model of how global communities and organizations can reverse the negative trend to abandon impoverished inner city communities to violence and relative problems of substance abuse, inequality of gender and income, and instability. To do so in a concrete way would be to place focus on acknowledged innovations in the musical arts: from instrumental composers to performers of classical to modern music. Various traditions of song and dance should be explored as well as its relationship to non traditional music and music of any given region. Each community of people can adopt a similar model based on selected curriculi of relevant art.
Perhaps we need to establish a network of community financed organizations, which are nonprofit, to help disadvantaged children through free music education. Community financing means financing from musicians who donate time, to members of society to local business and governmental sources. In all cases, revenue gained will be used to acquire meeting places or convert existing centers (e.g. churches, schools and other community centers into such locations), purchase and store instruments, settle general expenses, as well as, acquire expert music educators. As a charitable foundation; there would be no distribution of profits or dividends to any members; such an organization should be exempt from taxation.
The explicit target group of this community based music program should be musically talented youths that want to pursue music between the ages of 12 and 21. In particular, disadvantaged youths should be welcome; those who do not have adequate resources: 1: low familial income, 2. low level of nourishment, 3. low level of education, 4. low health care, 5. unsafe and unclean residence, 6. from families with problems of substance abuse (both alcohol and drugs), 7. from unstable families due to migration, uncontrollable or changing conditions and 8. from non-nurturing families due to strained relationships between children and parents. These youth need such a program the most.
Youths should have access to musical instruments, private and group lessons and educational materials free of charge; this would eliminate income inequalities. In such a music program, there should be no emphasis on the gender of trainees, and equality in all areas of involvement should be encouraged.
IV. Results
Free access and training with expert guidance sharply reduces the negative effects of social disadvantages that effect children. They are nurtured when quality time is spent between teachers and students as latent musical talents are developed over time. The child’s intellect and emotion is developed positively because attention, commitment, responsibility and concentration are directed towards the execution of music and learning of its fundamentals a given amount of time each day. Gender inequality is reduced as male and female students are treated equally within the program; males can learn dance as much as females can learn drumming.
Nonviolent physical activity is encouraged through the rigorous technical expression of musical themes on various instruments, song and dance. By training in music, children learn to develop important qualities of pacification and cooperation; these qualities are important to directly counter balance the intentional use of force against individuals within and without the community. Music is impossible without cooperation between musicians, and this cooperation is a model of how society itself should function as different people have different roles that work together for the benefit of the whole community.
V. Discussion
Instead of seeking a blunt “cure” for disadvantages and lack or resources, communities should seek for healing that comes from acceptance and embrace of deep and rich legacies of artistic achievements in instrumental, vocal and dance oriented musical arts.
Despite being seen as an elitist past time or entertainment, music education improves the child’s ability to do ordinary school work.
For example, a concrete benefit of music education is found to be in the linguistic discipline needed to not only learn to script and read the language of music in staff notation, but also the vocabulary of musical terms in natural languages (e.g. tone, beat, rest, chord, scale etc…). This is relative to the benefits of composition as internal themes and sounds need to be translated into staff notation and vocabulary to be communicated and shared with other musicians. Linguistic benefits are also relative to the benefits of performance as previously scripted music must be cognized to be reproduced accurately through technical manipulation of instruments.
Music theory is the application of logic to musical problems. Then the student’s mind is developed in terms of the ability to draw correct inferences from statements about music. Examples include deductive logic (e.g. “all tones are elements of harmony, C is a tone; thus, C is an element of harmony“), and inductive logic (e.g. given a collection of musical compositions, one can find or discover structural rules, measures of information and style or redundancy).
Music education directly influences the development of mathematical skills because musical elements can be: 1. counted (e.g. twelve tones in equal tempered harmony of western music or sixteen sub beats in common time), 2. measured in terms of pitch or duration, 3. ordered in terms of sequences of tones or beats within the octave or measure respectively, and 4. shaped in terms of linear patterns which begin and end, or circular patterns that endlessly repeat. This essentially means that free music education develops the student’s ability to do number theory in arithmetic, to explore unknown and variable quantities in algebra, and to formulate geometrical graphs and diagrams within and without staff notation.
Musical education also influences the development of physical techniques of instrumental manipulation as well as an understanding of musical physics, in terms of acoustic studies of sound generation by performance media, the propagation of sound pressure waves in mediums (like air or water), and the cognition of music when received by ears or conceived within the mind. Musical education should also include information theory and the digitalization of analogue signals into quantized reproductions on sixteen levels per discretization (or sample per stereo channel). This introduces the benefits of the digital revolution and the use of electro-technological devices like the computer, Digital Audio Workstation, sampler, drum machine and synthesizer.
Much of popular music centers around themes which reinforce factors of violence (e.g. alcohol and drug abuse, inequality of income, gender issues). However, pacification can surely be found in that music which has peace as an explicit message; this directly involves the music of spiritual and religious centers and the use of such centers as places of learning.
Music is a vehicle to express all human ideals; it needs no verbal message; no dogma. Music allows the listener to provide personal meaning to sounds.
What greater vision of the future then an orchestra of diverse musicians on various performance media- all working together towards a greater unity in the performance of that one beautiful song of humanity. Wouldn’t that truly be good?