What is space? Outer space? Personal space? Space in time? What space you are in? Kevin Spacey? Am I spacey? Spaced out? Aware of space? Space to move? Space to think? Space to be? Home space? Office space? Musical space? Space to perform? Space to practice? Feeling of space? Illusion of space? Space between beats? Space between our teeth? Virtual space? Online space? Play space?
Really – what IS space?
Take a slow read and pause after each of the questions above and see where they situate themselves within your consciousness and body – the space of you.
When we talk about space in relation to music, and in this case, more specifically, popular music – what space does popular music occupy in our current lives? Is it a collective space that translates into a shared understanding and community? Is it something intangible? Is it a space that you are ashamed to admit you enjoy – a guilty pleasure if you will? A space you celebrate and try to figure out how it works? A space through which you teach, create, or play?
Again, pause. See how each one of these questions affects you.
I just read an interesting article by the Brain Pickings™ folks where the author was giving some insight into the fiction writer Ursula K. LeGuin’s point of view on space. She compared the awareness that dogs and cats have of space to human ideas of space. Dogs have almost no idea of the space their bodies take up – imagine how many times you’ve seen a Chihuahua trying to attack a Great Dane. Somehow, the Chihuahua thinks that it can somehow best the Great Dane – but in reality, that would be rather, um, challenging. Cats however, have a keen awareness of space – when you hold the door for them, they know where their tail is and will make you wait patiently as they pause to ensure you hold the door and do not crush their tail. Humans are similar. Some humans have no concept of bodies within space, while others have a lot. She gives the example of airline seat designers versus dancers. One having almost no awareness of the space a human body occupies and the other using their body to create story and express emotions – an almost surreal awareness of space for most of us to embody.
Similarly, popular music can situate itself within many different spaces and interactions. Interactions in this case refer to the way in which things affect each other and their surroundings. This is of course something to consider when teaching, performing, and creating music within any genre. However, as popular music has a platform that often reaches a large and often diverse demographic of humanity, there is a certain awareness of interaction that warrants discussion when working within the popular music idiom. A responsibility, if you will.
In reference to songs – whether newly created or of the popular music canon, I’m talking about questions such as: What is this song trying to say? Who is the audience for this song? Is there a social undercurrent embedded in this song? Whom might this song affect – both positively and negatively? Are there social ramifications of the song? Is the song authentic (and what in the world does that mean, anyways)? Where might this song be performed? What kind of instrumentation does this song need? How might it be envisioned within a different space? How are the musicians using space? Do the musicians seem to have an awareness of the sonic space they occupy? Do the performers of the song seem to have an awareness of the space in which they occupy physically? Does the song occupy a certain space in time, or is it timeless? What space is timeless? Can music as a whole change the spaces in which we interact? Can music change our mental space? Does a single song have that kind of power? Can we collectively use music and song to change our spaces and engage others with open conversations? Where do these songs live in the virtual world? Why does one song go viral and another simply a blip in time? Is it worth it to occupy a blip of space, or must one always strive for a viral reach? How can we use space of a song to change our world?
There are so many questions – and so many answers. Again, pause. See where these questions situate themselves in your consciousness.
I guess what I’m asking is to simply consider all these possibilities.
THINK about them. Encourage people with whom you interact – fellow musicians, students, colleagues, families, communities – to think about them, to have conversations about them, to create space for popular music in their lives and to consider what it can offer, not only themselves, but the larger, global community in which we all, somehow, have to figure out how to move through in space.
Kat Reinhert is a vocalist, educator and song-writer who splits time between New York City and Miami. She is currently the Head of Contemporary Voice at The University of Miami, Frost School of Music.