Essay on the Theory of Social Spaces (Pratt)

I wrote the following essay to expand on Mary Louise Pratt's concept of "contact zones" while I was an undergraduate student.

Music in Mary Louise Pratt's "Contact Zone"

As Mary Louise Pratt defines them, contact zones are “social spaces where cultures meet, clash, and grapple with each other” (519).  While Pratt focuses on writing in the contact zone, the concept applies to disciplines other than literature.  Just as writers find areas of connection, musicians deal with overlapping social spaces in the contact zone.  As performers, they are cultural ambassadors, utilizing poetry, science, math, and history in their social space.  Growing up in a family of musicians, I experienced first-hand the way music is complemented by other disciplines.  I also encountered others’ unrealistic ideals of the music community.

Music and poetry share many elements of composition.  Both are a combination of mechanics and illustration and though they use different mediums—words for poetry and notes for music—both rely on sounds and rhythms to create images and convey feelings.  Both can be read and represent sound.  The creation of poetry or music comes from the desire to share a thought or feeling with others.  Hungarian composer Franz Liszt was aware of the close connection between poetry and music and included poem inscriptions with his Consolations.  Because they are a means of sharing ideas and attitudes, poetry and music are ambassadorial disciplines.  In my own writing, I have been influenced by music.  A sense of rhythm, flow and movement are always important in my poems, and I often draw on music as a metaphor or subject.

Like poetry, science and math also overlap with music in the contact zone.  Most compositions, whether complex or basic, adhere to a mathematically-devised chord system.  Complex techniques such as counterpoint, which involves several lines played simultaneously, follow strict rules, while simple constructions use a more rudimentary song-formula. In studying music theory, I learned how to construct these forms and found myself using skills from earlier math classes.  Music is mathematical by nature; Note patterns and rhythms are counted and defined by their value and each note of the scale is associated with a number.  Additionally, science overlaps with music in the tuning of instruments.  String instruments are tuned by increasing or decreasing the tension of the strings, changing the frequency of the pitch.  Both math and science are essential in designing and maintaining instruments.   

While the presence of math and science in music are subtle, history is a more deliberate aspect of music.  A musician simultaneously studies history as he studies a piece, whether preparing a background on the composer or by simply playing the piece.  Inherent in the music are attitudes of composers, the characteristics of movements and time periods, and reminders of political or social events.   Singing a Bruckner mass with my high school choir gave me a sense of the religious climate of the late Romantic period while listening to a standard tune of the Big Band era in a Jazz History class speaks to the popular culture of the period.

As performers, musicians are similar to presenters of any type ranging from political speakers, to businessmen, to the best man giving a toast at a wedding.  All of these presentations require practice, memorization, and a certain level of self-awareness.  Just as a politician wishes to stir a crowd’s interest, so does a musician strive to touch his audience’s emotions.  The idea of performing was for me a significant incentive to practice and develop a sense of discipline.  To know that all my work would be culminated in a few minutes on stage instilled in me a sense of obligation. 

Because of the innate nature of presentation in music, musicians are cultural ambassadors.  Music allows one community to share with others through the works of individual composers. For instance, Moses Hogan tells stories of slavery with rousing and poignant African American spirituals and Benjamin Britten’s modern lyric works share the ideas of 20th century composers with a mass audience.  To use a clichéd but relevant phrase, music is the universal language.  It can speak to any culture, regardless of religion, language, education, or social status.  When my choir performed an English-language piece for a small community in the Italian town of Bastia, the reaction was one of fervent appreciation, even though they couldn’t understand our words.

While these comparisons seem to present an image of a unified musical community by generalizing about “all musicians,” this isn’t the case.  The Utopian ideal of the musical community is that they are a unified group of always-creative, always-productive, always-inspired artists of equal ability.  This vision of musicians puts them all on the same level.  However, there is no equality.  There is much variation among musicians in ability, resources, skill, creativity, location, background, etc.  It is because of these differences that musicians can learn from one another.        

Musicians enjoy a certain amount of fraternity, but also a significant amount of solitude.  They often get together to share ideas, collaborate or “jam,” but a great deal of time alone is necessary for the musician to develop his craft.  He has to have something original to share to be a productive member of his community.  

Another misconception of musicians surrounds the issue of liberty.  Career-wise, musicians often don’t have liberty.  Very few can achieve the kind of financial stability that will allow them to write and perform based solely on their interests.  Composers often write for certain occasions—their patron has expectations for the piece that the composer must fill.  My mother’s work as a church organist is governed by the church’s calendar.  The music she plays depends on the time of year—whether it is Lent, Easter, Christmas, etc.  Even the service itself is carefully ordered, and she performs a prelude, introit, benediction, and postlude at specified times during the service.  However, it is within these demands that she becomes a part of the community of her religion. 

While the Utopian view of the musical community may be one of fraternity, liberty, unrestrained creativity and equality, my experiences as a musician have broken down these inaccuracies.  For musicians to be completely equal, fraternal, unrestrained and constantly creative would destroy the novelty of creativity and the benefit of differences.