Can instrumental music be protest music? We all have feelings of protest, feelings that challenge things around us and in the wider world. Is it possible to express these feelings in purely instrumental music?
Many times I am playing improvised music & thinking about a feeling that laments, or is frankly railing against something inside me. But of course that may not be what any audience member may be feeling.
If that is true then it may be just as true that anyone listening to any instrumental music, can be experiencing any emotions or feelings. Therefore they can experience rebellion and protest, without the need for words to be involved.
In fact could it be the case that a song that is clearly a protest song, may just inspire some listeners to feel happy, or simply a part of something, without at all sharing the emotions intended by the songwriter?
From a purely personal perspective I am completely at one with the notion that I may be experiencing protest feelings, deliberately because of the music I am playing. And I certainly write music from that standpoint. But it bothers me not one jot that any listener may be experiencing something completely different. And the same at any point in an instrumental performance.
In truth the lack of need to form defined thoughts in words, is something I cherish most in instrumental music. I’ve heard it said “If I could articulate it, I wouldn’t need to play it”.
So perhaps leaving the emotions hanging and sense of honesty in playing simply instrumentally, could allow people to take their emotions from piece to piece, during a concert and this could be a much more natural process than bombarding them with words, with expected responses.
I don’t always (or even often) need a verbal definition. I’m happy to just “know” that the truth is in the room and that it is being shared. “Always know” is the title of a Thelonious Monk album I had many years ago on vinyl.
Many a true word spoken in sound.