Magic and reality come together with ease in the Harry Potter world created by JK Rowling – as the quote by Albus Dumbledore suggests here.

In the TES this week (August 3rd) Graeme Barclay writes of the critical importance of music in schools as they begin to return. He cites, amongst other things, the capacity of music for escapism, resilience and inclusion. By and large, the article is referring to active music-making in schools – and the great need not to see it side-tracked in the race to “catch up” on lost months. But there is more than this. Passive participation, aka listening, has another piece to add to the unrivalled holistic attributes of music. Listening before playing enables immersion in the musical landscape before the complexities of actually learning to play an instrument force reality into the magic.

Listening without the distraction of screens and visuals can help us to find stillness, calmness, focus and energy. It enables time travel, personal and collective. It enables global travel and cultural understanding with the carbon footprint at a refreshing musical zero. It enables emotional insight and learning. In other words, a language that we can all understand and within it find pleasure and growth.

Music, however we participate, definitely holds the key to finding magic and positivity in our reality.

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August 2020