“You’re so lucky to play music”

The poignant song ‘Everything is free’ by Gillian Welsh skilfully captures a dynamic where we as musicians can be damned when faint praise replaces a full appreciation of worth. It can feel that the glistening tip of the iceberg is sometimes the only aspect appreciated by even loyal fans.

Anyone involved in music though will surely recognise that it takes conviction, passion, a sense of vocation and a dose of bravery to achieve the recognition and commercial success that many of us require for our practice to be sustainable to us.

These are themes that recur in discussion with my MA Music and the Environment students. These students tend to be established practicing musicians from a variety of genres and distributed across many time zones in different countries. This imperative to convey the full ‘iceberg’ of value that our music truly represents is not confined to just the UK.

The recent Scottish ratification of the UNESCO Convention for the safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage and numerous reports detailing the benefits of music at the societal and economic realms do not seem to protect the sector from funding cuts and demoralising news of valued institutions falling by the wayside. Yet, Scottish traditional groups have sold out large venues from the OVO Hydro in Glasgow to Carnegie Hall in New York.

So, to embark on any musical journey without a visible destination there needs to be a sense of conviction and bravery to invest our cherished time and energy in developing and honing our practice despite the difficulties.

“Walk on air against your better judgement” as the poet Seamus Heaney implored of us as his epitaph.

My University of the Highlands and Islands colleague Professor Roxanne Permar introduced me to the work of Martinican poet and philosopher Édouard Glissant and his work on Archipelagic Thinking. Rhizomatic, without centre, shared identity and values can bond and facilitate collaboration between disparate though connected islands.

This metaphor resonated with the reality of my MA students who successfully collaborate and create music online though often without meeting in person. Bonds and common cause can be found as a basis for group creativity demonstrating adaptability, resilience and shared appreciation for the value of music in and of itself.

To celebrate the wonderful outputs of this cohort we will meet in person in a public event on Wednesday 15^th January to showcase this and other work in The Bungalow in Paisley.

Feel free to join us to explore these themes and find out more about what this course can offer, and you can also watch the event on the venues Facebook page either at the time or afterwards.

https://www.uhi.ac.uk/en/courses/ma-music-and-the-environment/