Music, emotion, and community: Creating safe spaces for expression in the climate crisis

Abstract (English)

Research such as that of Alan Harvey emphasises the connection between musical engagement and the health and well-being of human society, including in its potential to foster social cohesion, facilitate trust building, and regulate emotions in response to societal crises. This paper considers these potentials of music in the context of the climate crisis. I draw on ethnographic fieldwork which explored the lived experiences and perspectives of musicians in Melbourne, Australia, including members of a local support group for climate-concerned musicians and singer-songwriters. In looking at the ways in which these people deploy music in their engagement with climate issues, I explore how music may serve as an empathetic resource for grappling with difficult emotional reactions to the climate crisis, highlighting their focus on community and solidarity building. I consider music-making as a social act of communication which can provide important opportunities for individuals to make connections and to give and receive emotional ‘uptake’ (Frye, 1983). In doing so, I respond to calls for further engagement with environmental emotions, arguing that music should not be overlooked as a potential resource for creating safe, accessible spaces to explore and cope with these emotions while connecting with community and place, tasks which may become increasingly important as we navigate an uncertain future. Understanding how and why musicians in Melbourne are harnessing the communal power of music at this particular moment in time reveals important insights into music’s entanglement with climate and contributes to moving ideas forward in existing ethnomusicological and anthropological research around the function of music in the context of the climate crisis.