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Why Music conversation? After doing a summarization of the existing definitions of the term ‘conversation’ I would define the latter as a synergistic communication between at least two people for being heard, accepted and/or understood. If this is true, is there a language that does not require a translation or interpretation for two people of different nations? Is there a language that is acceptable irrespective of religion? Is there a language that can be understood at the same time in quite different ways for thousands of people of different cultures, holding different value systems? Luckily for us that language exists, (we do have that language) and it is called the language of Music. For me it is one of the best languages in the world that needs no interpreter to be understood and is the only language that reaches the hearts of every single human creation regardless of ability of being able to listen.
Now let’s return to the first question, that is “What is the Music conversation?” or in a more practical way, how can we have a Musical conversation?
First of all I would like to divide it into two types of conversation: Music conversation that has no lyrics, like classical music, for instance and Music conversation that, together with a melody, also has lyrics, it can be a classic song or a folk song, etc.. In order to have a Music conversation, we need at least two people while the maximum number of participants or the maximum group size is not limited. A Music conversation can successfully be held at a conference, for instance: based on the audience’s priorities or on the main topic of the conference, a song with a profound and deep message can be selected as it may help the audience feel free to share their thoughts and feelings.
One of the main advantages that Music conversation has over other forms of conversation is that it enables participants to feel at ease in sharing thoughts with strangers as the topic of conversation is already established. In other words, the lyrics or the tune form the conversation that is why people can more easily discuss controversial topics such as politics, relationships, emotions etc. that may arise from the lyrics of a song. Most of us DO care what other people think which is why we choose our words carefully for fear of being misunderstood or misinterpreted, or even “rejected”. The fear of “sounding incorrect’’ has become more real with the boom of social media as it takes a minute to go online and only later on one can be ‘blessed’ or ‘blamed’, the power of judgement on social media is gaining strength day by day. For this and other similar reasons either we are not willing to have a conversation, especially with a stranger, or we cannot afford ourselves the luxury of being open and “ourselves”. I would nominate “Frankness” as the fundamental base for having a productive, enjoyable and pleasant conversation.
I do believe that the real value of water can be understood in the desert, likewise the real value of conversation will be understood the day when we human beings, will be forced to buy a humanoid to talk to in order to fulfil our desire to feel “socialised” somehow. Maybe, one of the reasons why an estimated 700 million people worldwide have a mental disorder can be that they are ‘forced’ into loneliness whilst under the illusion of ‘being connected in the high-tech world’.
Conversation is the world’s most powerful “artillery” that can heal the world by connecting its inhabitants to their natural roots and origins as social beings, thus avoiding the increase of mental health issues. In the face of this in recent years the number of deaths cause by suicides have increased significantly world-wide expecially in the western world and I would link this fact to society’s backward step as far as communication is concerned.With this article I would like to highlight once again the importance and the real value of conversation to all of us. I believe that once this “magic wand” called conversation is wrapped with a powerful cover called music it will be a stronger force enabling all human beings to feel compassion for the world in general and, in particularly for each other. And my last message is that for healing the world and making it a better place for entire human race, as in the famous song of Michael Jackson, the only thing we DO NEED to do is TO CARE - care for our environment and its living species as well as for each other…
