When the music plays, everything that makes us different disappears.
observation — attributed to Mark Johnson
Johnson's founding moment for Playing for Change was a subway station encounter. Two monks painted white and wearing robes were singing. So mesmerizing that when the train came, no one got on. An elderly woman, a young girl, a homeless man, a businessman, all connected through the music. None of them knew what the monks were singing or in what language. Johnson realized two things. When the music plays, the differences disappear. And the best music he was hearing was on the way to the studio, not in it. The reframe sent him out of the studio and into the streets with mobile recording equipment. The observation generalizes for any practitioner trying to build cross-cultural connection. Music does what speech cannot, because it bypasses the categories that speech reinforces.
For arts leaders, cross-cultural conveners, and anyone thinking about how to build connection across populations that do not share language. The observation is most useful as a frame for programming choices that put music ahead of words.
subway-monks, cross-cultural, connection, music-as-leveler