You are there to empathise and facilitate.” Viv Albertine is here to tell us that she “has a lot of empathy, and I think that's where mothering starts. Mary Gauthier, who made last week’s A-list playlist, talks about this in reaching out to people who have very different experiences and we can only imagine, rather than practically share: “I think it's a stereotype that soldiers don't talk, because my experience is that they will talk if they are met with empathy and no judgment.”įrom the repressed experiences of war, to another strand of human experience, motherhood. Even if songs aren't overtly political, they can make a listener more empathetic.” Most political activism has been driven by empathy for other people and the desire for a world that's less divisive. Singing is part of our humanity it is embodied empathy.”Īnd here’s Gloria Steinem getting in on the act: “All those chemicals that create empathy only work when you are in a room together.”Ĭonor Oberst meanwhile extends this fusion to songwriting, and for him, a political context: “To me, a political song is also a personal song. He’s actually joined by the writer Jay Griffiths in this regard: “Singing with others is an unmediated, shared experience as each person feels the same music reverberating in their individual bodies. That way lies empathy, the great social virtue.” says Brian. That's one of the great feelings – to stop being me for a little while and to become us. “When you sing with a group of people, you learn how to subsume yourself into a group consciousness because a capella singing is all about the immersion of the self into the community. The very act of playing together involves some form of mutual understanding, and so here’s Brian Eno, who among his many projects, is a member of a gospel choir with weekly rehearsals. And this week we have a huge crowd of musicians, writers and others wishing to reach out to each other (as well as blow their own trumpets) on this subject, and help inspire some song suggestions. On the other hand, the study shows the power of music in triggering the same complex social processes at work in the brain that are at play during human social interactions.” “The study shows on one hand the power of empathy in modulating music perception, a phenomenon that reminds us of the original roots of the concept of empathy – ’feeling into’ a piece of art. When people send messages, online or in cards, sending their ‘deepest sympathies’, or saying on Twitter that their “hearts go out to” someone, then it’s on a spectrum somewhere between genuine concern to just a click of social nicety. Sympathy is a more formal expression of pity or sorrow for another’s misfortunes. Empathy is deeper, it involves a close bond of experiences and emotions, whether they be ups or downs, but sympathy is thinner, and more detached. Empathy’s definition is somewhat different to sympathy, although the two are related. It may be inbuilt, but is also something we can learn and develop. is arguably as much a natural human trait as any tendency that’s selfish or destructive. I feel for … who? You? Me? Everyone? Empathy, defined as the ability to understand, feel, share or express the feelings of others. “The caged bird sings with a fearful trill,Īnd his tune is heard on the distant hill,įor the caged bird sings of freedom.” – Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Never, never can it be.” – On Another’s Sorrow, William Blake, Songs of Innocence and of Experience
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