Everyone Deserves Music

Michael Franti and Spearhead put out an influential album titled Stay Human, a fictional account of "Sister Fatima" as told by two radio DJ's, one played by Franti. I say influential because a friend gave me that album and it didn't leave the CD player in my '84 4Runner for 8 months. An entire ski season was spent listening to this album on the way to and from the slopes everyday and it's melodies and messages are burned into my brain. I recommend this album to anyone seeking consciousness.

On the heels of this, Franti put out the incredibly titled Everyone Deserves Music. As can happen, I was so in love with Stay Human that EDM didn't really stand a chance in my mind and I only latched on to a couple of the tracks, Bomb the World being the most powerful. The title of the album, however, has always stuck with me and must be credited for an idea I've been nurturing for awhile now. The idea that music is for everyone, the creation of especially.

A long long time ago, before recorded music, everyone sang. Everyone played. Every house had some string instrument and at least one member who could play it. Music was participatory, if you wanted to hear it, you had to make it. Sheet music arrived before recorded music as a way for individuals and groups to recreate the music they'd heard on demand. Then recorded music arrived and with it, the concept of professional musicians and the basic right, responsibility even, to create music yourself, to participate in it on a visceral level was obscured by the idea that music was something that professionals did. To put it another way, good musicianship was easy to hear, you just had to put on a record, and with that, the discussion of what was good and what was not was elevated to a cultural imperative. We've been at it ever since with publications like Rolling Stone and Spin leading the charge.

As a result of the culture of professionalism in music, amateur musicianship is disappearing. Individuals who'd otherwise pick up and scrape around on a fiddle are intimidated. They're afraid to sound bad. Even teachers of music are reluctant to teach because they fear they can't help musicians "improve." But all of this misses the point. Music is for everyone. It's to be played after the work is done, it's singing while you clean house or cook, it's something to be done with friends without judgment. Everyone can sing, everyone can play, and it's goodness is not only determined by the quality of the tones, but the quality of the experience. Judged by this standard, it's all good! Everyone deserves music. Especially you. If you enjoy listening to music, you owe it to yourself to experience the joy of creating it as well as listening to it.

Here's the 'Dusters enjoying playing Magic #9, our Grammy Nominated tune.