music and politics two completely
different things
music that’s something we all enjoy we
love to hear it sometimes we sing along
to it it makes us feel like dancing and
many of us love to make music politics
well that’s a different story
nobody wants to hear it who sings it in
the shower you certainly can’t dance to
it and most of us want nothing to do
with it
so two completely different things music
whether it’s rock or hip-hop or
classical or jazz
it’s got melody it’s got harmony it’s
got rhythm and just sounds and feels so
good to us
well politics the debate discussion and
process that which we make policy
decisions and govern ourselves as the
people well we don’t want that in our
earbuds aside from the fact that both
music and politics permeate and affect
our lives every single day they seem to
have little in common however I believe
that actually are intriguing
similarities between music and politics
and by tuning in to those similarities
we could compose a better politics and
brighten our world with the music of
dialogue now I came up with this idea
because I’m a composer in a former
Chicago punk rocker who was elected
mayor of a Utah town that was bitterly
divided and polarized by its politics
Springdale Utah the Gateway to Zion
National Park a beautiful town picture
it the virgin river flowing through a
magnificent Red Rock Canyon 3,000 feet
high decline of a red-tailed hawk
the sweet song of the canyon Wren quiet
peaceful paradise
but when I moved there the County
Sheriff came to town meetings to keep
fistfights from breaking out the mayor
and the council sued each other nearly
bankrupting the town somebody got so mad
at the mayor they threw a dead chicken
onto his lawn so I did what any punk
rocker would do
I drove headfirst into that mosh pit and
ran for mayor but the surprising thing
was that over the next eight years the
things I loved about music helped me
tune in to the controversies I faced as
mayor it started when I went house to
house knocking on doors for my first
election folks invited me into their
living room soon we sat down together
but I didn’t really talk so much as
listen I asked what are your concerns
how do you feel about the town what do
you think the town needs right now and I
listened because I felt if I was elected
I would know my town much better and
could serve it better well this is the
same approach the same way of engaging
that I take with every band I’m in
whether it’s rock folk classical
especially if I’m the bandleader
because music is all about collaboration
and collaboration is all about listening
do you know the one thing that never
happens at a public hearing you never
have a public that’s hearing I got that
from a book by Daniel chemists who
inspired my political thinking we come
to advocate our point of view we don’t
put the same effort into hearing the
other points of view so we don’t take
responsibility for coming to an
agreement to solve our problems we need
to turn toward each other and listen
like musicians do like we all do and we
listen to music we hear the different
voices
the baseline the drums the guitar the
harmony the counterpoint whether it’s
music or politics when we actively
listen we stay together and we have
better ideas like jazz musicians they’re
a great example of this why they’re up
there having a musical conversation in
real time and they improvise their ideas
on the spot but they don’t do that in a
vacuum they know that to play a great
solo you’ve got to listen to the whole
band if you ever expect to say something
that’s from a book by Ingrid Monson a
jazz scholar and we could take that
advice when we go to a public hearing or
any kind of meeting we could say to
ourselves
I’m gonna listen to the whole band
before I say something because when we
speak from a foundation based upon true
listening when we really get what’s
going on in that music or that
discussion then when it’s our turn to
take a solo we can really fly like Miles
Davis or John Coltrane and we will add
something new and valuable to the
conversation
I finally remember the night before my
election after walking all day going
house-to-house from one end of the town
to the other I was tired and I was
hungry so I was grateful when on my very
last visit a sweet elderly couple Larkin
and Ruth gifford invited me into their
home for a sandwich and a glass of milk
the Larkin pulled out his harmonica and
handed me a guitar I listened to his
tunes figured out how to accompany him
and we played some old-time songs
together now I was still a newcomer so
making music with a longtime resident of
the town I felt so welcome so at home
the next day I was elected and over the
following months and years the whole
town became my band we jammed together
and I listened to every one of them but
more important I asked them to listen to
each other and they did and we
collaborated like a good jazz er of
bluegrass band and through our act of
listening we solved our problems and
healed the town but of course politics
continued it always does
we still had issues to discuss and
resolve but you know what happened as I
conducted those meetings I began to hear
certain themes and patterns that
resembled musical form one meeting could
be like a blues song another like a
classical Sonata
for example I remember one town meeting
when a developer proposed that we change
our zoning to let him build a large
commercial building in a quiet
residential area that sounded to me like
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
then another citizen rose to respond and
he said please don’t change that zoning
keep our green space as it is that
sounded like now I just played the two
contrasting themes from Beethoven’s
fifth where they get argued back and
forth just like the two contrasting
themes in our Tom meeting that’s the
Sonata form often used by classical
composers as a way of organizing and
presenting their ideas first there’s a
main theme then there’s a contrasting
second theme then there’s this long
section where those themes get explored
in greater detail heard from different
angles reconsidered rephrased sometimes
transformed that’s exactly what happens
in town meetings that’s the music of
dialogue of political debate now staying
with that zoning issue let’s tune into
the sound of common ground there are
folks in town who agreed with the
developer and thought we should allow
his building let’s take three of them
and represent them with these three
notes now these folks agreed with each
other so when you put them together they
harmonize like this that’s the sound of
agreement of people with similar views
but there are other folks who loved our
green space and didn’t want that
building let’s take three of them and
give them these three notes they too
harmonized like this that’s also the
sound of agreement but what happens when
we put those two groups or those two
chords together
[Music]
that’s the sound of disagreement
but are there really any wrong notes
there does one group have to change its
views change its tomb to coexist with
the other or can we find a way to
accommodate those differences in music
that’s the sound of Pali tonality many
different keys or chords all at once in
politics that’s the sound of pluralism
of people with different interests
values and traditions living together in
one society and there’s something very
interesting in this / allistic card that
helps us find agreement within those
differences it’s this note and what’s
interesting about this note is that it
has a place in both chords the developer
card
the green space card and if we put that
note on top we can hear even better
it sings when we listen for it we can
hear it
now when I was mayor I really listened
for notes like that notes that can
smooth the differences between
conflicting opinions and on this zoning
issue
I heard that note its name was Stephen
Ross Stephen was a builder in town so he
had a place in the development card
[Music]
there’s Stephen he harmonized with their
dues but Stephen was also an artist so
he shared some perspectives with the
green space card there he is again
he harmonized with those groups when we
listened for it we can easily hear it
[Music]
and we can hear that note even better if
you put it at the bottom underneath
those cords
it provides a foundation
a home for different people different
opinions
that’s the sound
of common ground thanks thank you
that’s what I tried to do is there find
that sound
turn it up until everyone could hear it
then whenever we needed to we could tune
back into it and no matter how far we
may have strayed we could come back home
to our common ground so those are three
ways we could think about politics
musically listen to the whole band hear
the music of dialogue tune into the
sound of common ground music is a lens
to which I see the world each of you has
your own lens your own unique
perspective that the world needs to hear
when I came to Utah I heard a wonderful
story about a wonderful Navajo story
about the song dog the song dog a coyote
who sang the whole world into existence
just like that just found its voice and
sang I love that story
we all have that power and capability be
that coyote find your voice and sing
compose your own song and together we
can sing a politics of possibility and
create a brighter future we’re not only
citizens of this world
we’re composers of it I’m fascinated by
how we compose our lives and our
communities when we come home to our
common ground when we hear the music of
our shared dialogue when we listen to
each other’s songs and sing our own then
we are collaboratively composing a
better world and to that brave new
musical world then we sing and to exist
in
together we can rightly say Bravo thank
you thank you
singer saw thank you
different things
music that’s something we all enjoy we
love to hear it sometimes we sing along
to it it makes us feel like dancing and
many of us love to make music politics
well that’s a different story
nobody wants to hear it who sings it in
the shower you certainly can’t dance to
it and most of us want nothing to do
with it
so two completely different things music
whether it’s rock or hip-hop or
classical or jazz
it’s got melody it’s got harmony it’s
got rhythm and just sounds and feels so
good to us
well politics the debate discussion and
process that which we make policy
decisions and govern ourselves as the
people well we don’t want that in our
earbuds aside from the fact that both
music and politics permeate and affect
our lives every single day they seem to
have little in common however I believe
that actually are intriguing
similarities between music and politics
and by tuning in to those similarities
we could compose a better politics and
brighten our world with the music of
dialogue now I came up with this idea
because I’m a composer in a former
Chicago punk rocker who was elected
mayor of a Utah town that was bitterly
divided and polarized by its politics
Springdale Utah the Gateway to Zion
National Park a beautiful town picture
it the virgin river flowing through a
magnificent Red Rock Canyon 3,000 feet
high decline of a red-tailed hawk
the sweet song of the canyon Wren quiet
peaceful paradise
but when I moved there the County
Sheriff came to town meetings to keep
fistfights from breaking out the mayor
and the council sued each other nearly
bankrupting the town somebody got so mad
at the mayor they threw a dead chicken
onto his lawn so I did what any punk
rocker would do
I drove headfirst into that mosh pit and
ran for mayor but the surprising thing
was that over the next eight years the
things I loved about music helped me
tune in to the controversies I faced as
mayor it started when I went house to
house knocking on doors for my first
election folks invited me into their
living room soon we sat down together
but I didn’t really talk so much as
listen I asked what are your concerns
how do you feel about the town what do
you think the town needs right now and I
listened because I felt if I was elected
I would know my town much better and
could serve it better well this is the
same approach the same way of engaging
that I take with every band I’m in
whether it’s rock folk classical
especially if I’m the bandleader
because music is all about collaboration
and collaboration is all about listening
do you know the one thing that never
happens at a public hearing you never
have a public that’s hearing I got that
from a book by Daniel chemists who
inspired my political thinking we come
to advocate our point of view we don’t
put the same effort into hearing the
other points of view so we don’t take
responsibility for coming to an
agreement to solve our problems we need
to turn toward each other and listen
like musicians do like we all do and we
listen to music we hear the different
voices
the baseline the drums the guitar the
harmony the counterpoint whether it’s
music or politics when we actively
listen we stay together and we have
better ideas like jazz musicians they’re
a great example of this why they’re up
there having a musical conversation in
real time and they improvise their ideas
on the spot but they don’t do that in a
vacuum they know that to play a great
solo you’ve got to listen to the whole
band if you ever expect to say something
that’s from a book by Ingrid Monson a
jazz scholar and we could take that
advice when we go to a public hearing or
any kind of meeting we could say to
ourselves
I’m gonna listen to the whole band
before I say something because when we
speak from a foundation based upon true
listening when we really get what’s
going on in that music or that
discussion then when it’s our turn to
take a solo we can really fly like Miles
Davis or John Coltrane and we will add
something new and valuable to the
conversation
I finally remember the night before my
election after walking all day going
house-to-house from one end of the town
to the other I was tired and I was
hungry so I was grateful when on my very
last visit a sweet elderly couple Larkin
and Ruth gifford invited me into their
home for a sandwich and a glass of milk
the Larkin pulled out his harmonica and
handed me a guitar I listened to his
tunes figured out how to accompany him
and we played some old-time songs
together now I was still a newcomer so
making music with a longtime resident of
the town I felt so welcome so at home
the next day I was elected and over the
following months and years the whole
town became my band we jammed together
and I listened to every one of them but
more important I asked them to listen to
each other and they did and we
collaborated like a good jazz er of
bluegrass band and through our act of
listening we solved our problems and
healed the town but of course politics
continued it always does
we still had issues to discuss and
resolve but you know what happened as I
conducted those meetings I began to hear
certain themes and patterns that
resembled musical form one meeting could
be like a blues song another like a
classical Sonata
for example I remember one town meeting
when a developer proposed that we change
our zoning to let him build a large
commercial building in a quiet
residential area that sounded to me like
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
then another citizen rose to respond and
he said please don’t change that zoning
keep our green space as it is that
sounded like now I just played the two
contrasting themes from Beethoven’s
fifth where they get argued back and
forth just like the two contrasting
themes in our Tom meeting that’s the
Sonata form often used by classical
composers as a way of organizing and
presenting their ideas first there’s a
main theme then there’s a contrasting
second theme then there’s this long
section where those themes get explored
in greater detail heard from different
angles reconsidered rephrased sometimes
transformed that’s exactly what happens
in town meetings that’s the music of
dialogue of political debate now staying
with that zoning issue let’s tune into
the sound of common ground there are
folks in town who agreed with the
developer and thought we should allow
his building let’s take three of them
and represent them with these three
notes now these folks agreed with each
other so when you put them together they
harmonize like this that’s the sound of
agreement of people with similar views
but there are other folks who loved our
green space and didn’t want that
building let’s take three of them and
give them these three notes they too
harmonized like this that’s also the
sound of agreement but what happens when
we put those two groups or those two
chords together
[Music]
that’s the sound of disagreement
but are there really any wrong notes
there does one group have to change its
views change its tomb to coexist with
the other or can we find a way to
accommodate those differences in music
that’s the sound of Pali tonality many
different keys or chords all at once in
politics that’s the sound of pluralism
of people with different interests
values and traditions living together in
one society and there’s something very
interesting in this / allistic card that
helps us find agreement within those
differences it’s this note and what’s
interesting about this note is that it
has a place in both chords the developer
card
the green space card and if we put that
note on top we can hear even better
it sings when we listen for it we can
hear it
now when I was mayor I really listened
for notes like that notes that can
smooth the differences between
conflicting opinions and on this zoning
issue
I heard that note its name was Stephen
Ross Stephen was a builder in town so he
had a place in the development card
[Music]
there’s Stephen he harmonized with their
dues but Stephen was also an artist so
he shared some perspectives with the
green space card there he is again
he harmonized with those groups when we
listened for it we can easily hear it
[Music]
and we can hear that note even better if
you put it at the bottom underneath
those cords
it provides a foundation
a home for different people different
opinions
that’s the sound
of common ground thanks thank you
that’s what I tried to do is there find
that sound
turn it up until everyone could hear it
then whenever we needed to we could tune
back into it and no matter how far we
may have strayed we could come back home
to our common ground so those are three
ways we could think about politics
musically listen to the whole band hear
the music of dialogue tune into the
sound of common ground music is a lens
to which I see the world each of you has
your own lens your own unique
perspective that the world needs to hear
when I came to Utah I heard a wonderful
story about a wonderful Navajo story
about the song dog the song dog a coyote
who sang the whole world into existence
just like that just found its voice and
sang I love that story
we all have that power and capability be
that coyote find your voice and sing
compose your own song and together we
can sing a politics of possibility and
create a brighter future we’re not only
citizens of this world
we’re composers of it I’m fascinated by
how we compose our lives and our
communities when we come home to our
common ground when we hear the music of
our shared dialogue when we listen to
each other’s songs and sing our own then
we are collaboratively composing a
better world and to that brave new
musical world then we sing and to exist
in
together we can rightly say Bravo thank
you thank you
singer saw thank you
Please follow and like us: