This is an English translation of an article published in Nikkan San on March 21, 2019, as a part of my column, “The Way of the Pianist.
“Music is beyond words“ is a common phrase. It can resonate as a synonym or be interpreted as an antonym to the phrase “music is a universal language” we discussed in my last column. Victor Hugo was a little more specific when he famously wrote “Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.”　
Maybe it was a case of sour grapes at least in part, but when I was in high school right after coming over to the States from Japan, struggling with English, I often thought about the limitations that words impose on our worldviews. With their concrete definitions, can words possibly capture the world holistically? Do not our misunderstandings and stereotypes often come from the inherent limitations of our vocabularies? I wonder if it was not my desire to connect with others beyond words, let me to the path of music.
So why is it that I write about music in a column like this, and talk about music alongside my performances at my lecture concerts? ….because I am worried that the way we experience music today is killing the potential that music has to save us and our humanity. I want to reach out to remind as many people as possible the joy of communal musical experience. I think it will remind us that what we share is greater than our differences, making us kinder towards each other, making this world more humane.
Music has always been communal until our recent history. We worshiped with music in various ritual settings. We danced to music together in festivals. We sang together to celebrate the seasons and holidays. Families listened to mothers’ lullabies together. Until the invention of phonograph in the mid-nineteenth century, musicians and listeners always shared their space and time. However, today, digitized sound that never vibrated through any air gets played through earbuds and headphones to shield each individual listeners from his/her surrounding world. This will not lead to empathy.
When was the last time you shared your time and space with a musician and his/her music? Have you ever had goosebumps from the feeling of togetherness through a communal experience of music? Music is powerful. Please come and see what I mean. On Sunday March 24th at 2PM, at Mark Taper Auditorium in Los Angeles Central Public Library in Downtown LA, my lecture concert “Melody as a Universal Language” will be presented by Los Angeles Public Library and its LA Made series. It’s half music, half talks about music. It is an audience interactive: come prepared to clap and vocalize on cue! It will be fun. The free tickets can be reserved here. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/la-made-melody-as-a-universal-language-lecture-concert-by-dr-makiko-hirata-tickets-55945372114