The Music Settlement Musings: Only Through Art Can We Get Outside Ourselves

“Only through art can we get outside of ourselves and know another’s view of the universe… which would otherwise have remained unknown to us like the landscapes of the moon.” - Marcel Proust

Happy Moon Day! July 20^th, 1969 is a day I will always remember vividly. I was 12 years old and absolutely fascinated with the space program, with which I had familiarized myself by building dozens of plastic models of Mercury/Gemini/Apollo space capsules, lunar modules (known as the “LM” and pronounced “lem” for its early name, the “Lunar Excursion Module”), Atlas, Redstone, and Saturn V rockets, and anything else I could get my hands on. I was a total space geek. I remember watching the broadcast from the moon as if it was yesterday, and inwardly I still felt it was yesterday, until the last couple of days…

It’s hard to not feel old when the seminal event of your youth is celebrating its fortieth anniversary (I have vague memories of JFK’s assassination, and was too young to attend Woodstock - though I wanted to!). It really didn’t hit me hard, though, until I read about the death of the man who I will always associate with the space program - Walter Cronkite. Those two events pushed me into the realization that my youth is irrevocably in the past.

But my personal descent into dotage does not diminish what the momentum felt like in July of 1969. While I was certainly aware that we were attempting to do what never had been done before, it felt to me like the inevitable culmination of an irresistible force, rather than a risky effort that may or may not go as planned. We, as a people and as a world, seemed determined to move forward, to reach beyond, and to find solutions as we needed them, doing so by the seat of our pants. It may be this same spirit that I’ve missed most over the years since, as much of the progress I took for granted at the time became clouded by economic, social, and historical reality. But even that sobering realization has given me strength, because I have come to recognize that for success to be achieved, it must be shared by all. Maybe we got a little ahead of ourselves in 1969, for, even as we reached the unreachable, many of us were closing our eyes to war, poverty, racism, and intolerance. I don’t mean to get too preachy, but if we are going to celebrate something as an achievement on behalf all mankind, as Neil Armstrong said, then our goal should be to think, speak, and act on behalf all mankind as well.

Well, enough about that worldly stuff! Last week at The Music Settlement, we capped off our Annual Meeting in a very innovative way! After reading the reports, electing the officers, and celebrating the achievements, we asked members of the audience to join us in a drum circle. As we all chanted a celebratory song adapted from the Bombera people of Mali in West Africa, facilitator and faculty member Beau Lisy led our hearty volunteers in creating a percussion experience that was both moving and fun. I’ve included some snapshots with this article that give you a peek at the variety of board members, faculty, staff and friends who participated. This kind of experience bridges cultural and geographical gaps and gives us a glimpse of how music and celebration can mix together in the soul. It was exhilarating!