Societal Issues Targeted
- Challenging negative cultural norms, like the belief that people who don’t know each other in public spaces shouldn’t engage in social interaction
Video
“Music is the wine that fills the cup of silence.”
― Robert Fripp
Intro
Musical Connection involves bringing a bag full of instruments into a public space and inviting everyone there or passing by if they’d like to jam with you. This activity explores the power of music to bring people closer together, transforming boring, dull, and grey spaces—often trains, trams, or buses—into a magical oasis of creativity, fun, and expression for everyone! Through this activity, commuters can share positive social interaction and have the opportunity to play with their inner musician, an opportunity far too many people haven’t had since their school days.
The long-term goal of this activity is a cultural change towards a future where it’s normal for people to play and interact together in public spaces around games and tools, like musical instruments. Imagine how much more connected our society would be, and how many fewer people would suffer from today’s epidemic of loneliness if the last two carriages of every train were known as ‘social carriages’ where people come to chat and play activities with anyone else who’s there.
How
We ask people to each bring two or more instruments (or make them out of trash—suggestions in the forum), and it is your mission to give out one of them to the people you meet as we go, and to invite them to play music with us. We usually hold an Instrument-Making Workshop somewhere nearby before, so we turn up prepared to get the event going with a group of people and a big bag full of cool instruments such as yoghurt pot shakers with rice, fizzy drink bottle trumpets, drums made from big tins, and so much more. That also helps the group to gather casually rather than having people chasing across the city trying to catch you up.
Don’t worry about musical ability, this activity is about exploration and joy. Sure, having a musician or two helps set the rhythm, but the real magic happens when everyone joins in, regardless of skill.
Personally, I excel in the role of demonstrating that you can have heaps of fun with zero musical ability, like none at all.
Benefits
Research in neuroscience shows that music can impact our intellectual, social, and personal development. Scientific findings reveal that there is considerable evidence that musical participation sharpens the brain’s encoding of sound, leading to enhanced performance on a range of listening and aural processing skills, which in turn contribute to enhanced verbal memory, language skills, and enhanced literacy. There is also compelling evidence for the impact of music making on spatial skills and some elements of mathematical performance (Hallam, 2015).
Pro-Tips
- In countries where busking is normal, people will try to give you money! It’s a nice compliment, but it changes the message we are trying to spread, so I’d recommend wearing or carrying signs saying “We don’t want money – we want you to experiment with music with us!” (cardboard with some string around your neck works well for this).
- Shakers and simple instruments are great for people who are a little hesitant to join in. You’ll find that many people are cautious to experiment with an instrument they aren’t sure how to play, but they’ll happily rock out with a rice shaker!
- Trains have more space than buses.
- We’ve used rally points during the event, but they don’t work well. There is a lot of extra work needed to organize, and the day can be stressful waiting and running around finding people; lots of people intentionally miss the start because they know they can find you later.
- I find it a lot more enjoyable and relaxing to just jump on a train and go wherever the music takes us. If lots of people join in, stay with them. If you find a crowd too nervous to play, get off and try another route.
- Our event in London usually finishes in one of the city’s music venues and turns into a jam night to keep the party going. Everyone is always way too high on positive vibes to just go home!
Awareness of Others’ Needs
One of the core rules of the Public Happiness Movement is that:
“Your rights stop where someone else’s rights begin.”
You have the right to have fun and promote closer-knit communities by bringing musical instruments into a public space, and the right to invite others to jam and experiment with music with you.
There’s no expectation of not running into lively people having fun when in public spaces, sometimes it’s going to happen, but there are some people who will not want to join in, or who might be struggling with anxiety or mental health issues which make traveling in public spaces challenging, and it’s important to give them the option not to join in, or to avoid the activity completely. This is why it would be fantastic if certain spaces embraced this idea and made it clear where people should avoid if they don’t want to be involved, like having the last two carriages on a train as the ‘fun carriages’.
I address this by announcing loudly what we intend to be doing, and when we will start. Giving anyone who is going to be uncomfortable plenty of time to casually move to somewhere else. A stop and a half on a train, usually. Once you’ve begun it’s no issue as anyone who doesn’t want to be involved will avoid you anyway.
Also, you’ll want to avoid the busiest times and routes where people might not be able to move away if they want to.