Happy World Music/Make Music Day 2022

Happy World Music/Make Music Day! ❤🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵 🎻🎹🎸🎻🎷 The American musician, Joel Cohen, thought up the custom of playing live music on the French radio station he worked for to celebrate the beginning of summer time. However, nobody took up his idea until a couple of Frenchmen tweaked this idea and turned it into a widespread celebration of live music, produced by all musicians and accessible for all to hear, free of charge, irrespective of who they are. Music for all - What a great principle! 💖💖💖💖💖🙂 Although this Day started nationally in France in the early 80's, it has now expanded to being celebrated worldwide in over 120 countries. It's about making music and listening to music in public spaces. So grab your instrument, if you have one, and strike a few notes🎸🎻🎷🎵🎶; or sing out loud and proud👄🎵🎶🎵🎶; or turn up your MP3 player 📱👂🎵🎶🎵 and feel the stress just leave you.🙂🤗❤

It's also Humanist Day and humanists put a great deal of emphasis on the value of the arts which includes music, of course. So Happy World Humanist Day too!❤  I've written a short post on humanism, here:

https://philosophythoughtsasandwhen.blogspot.com/2022/06/celebrating-world-humanist-day-21st.html

World Music Day promotes the value of free public concerts and music events. I remember when I was visiting Prague, there were loads of easily accessible classical concerts around the city, simply advertised on a board in the street. There wasn't any formality around it, occurring very frequently, and with lots of variety and venues to choose from. Whereas I've never seen that in London (UK) - yes you can come across them but they are not prolific, not advertised out in the street so easy to miss. You have to keep looking for brochures or listings to find out what's going on and where. There is a lack of free concerts and events too, just as there is a dearth of free and accessible dance shows. And we don't all want to have to sit in a church in order to hear a free concert. Besides, these are invariably classical music concerts, not genres of pop music, so that restricts your choice of music concerts. 

So WMD is about making music accessible to all, not just the wealthy who can afford the expensive venues such as The Barbican, Sadlers Wells or the O2. Music is considered part of the good life, wellbeing and human flourishing. We can't have a society whereby wealthy can flourish by affording musical instruments, lessons and attending concerts while others completely miss out due to circumstances, lack of opportunities and a lack of diverse options for participating in music at all levels. And just because you attend concerts at expensive venues, that doesn't mean you want to be restricted to such venues all the time, you also want to attend easily affordable and free concerts regularly as well. 

Participating in music means not only that schools provide the music lessons, singing and instrumental, but also that they offer the subject at A Level as well as giving all pupils opportunities to perform. Furthermore, school pupils need to then be able to attend a music college to further their musical education and become performers. There are not enough music colleges in London never mind the whole of the UK. And those that do exist are, in a word, stuffy, and way too formal, thus not conducive to making music which should be a relaxing thing to do. If you're stressed you'll play badly. 

In this country too much value is given to certain fields such as, science, technology, engineering, finance, business and law and everything else is on a descending scale of not necessary. We heard this during the pandemic. Ballet dancers told to become IT Cyber Security specialists. Ballet is a physically demanding yet a creative, aesthetic profession whereas IT is sedentary, cerebral and repetitive one. It certainly isn't viewed as creative although sometimes it can be, for example, web design. Of course you need IT specialists but the creative industries provide much needed emotional outlet, thought provoking ideas and  relaxation. Music and other art forms  generate ideas which can set up interesting thought patterns in the brain that may not occur if the person doesn't incorporate creativity and imagination into their lives.