Will McDonough, Staff Writer
The Jandoli School of Communication’s new “Sharp Notes, Sharp Thoughts” platform aims to be a way for students and staff to productively discuss the moral obligation of fans of musicians, and the musicians themselves, to promote social justice.
On Oct. 19, 2020, the introductory roundtable discussion for the program took place discussing whether there were more opportunities to promote social change due to COVID-19.
Most of the discussing and debating was done by Alex Gillham, assistant professor of philosophy at St. Bonaventure University; Paul Zeke, chair of the department of media communication and visual arts at Pace University and David Freeman, a musician, producer and cultural arts educator, and faculty member at Pace University’s department of media and communication and visual arts. Stephen Wilt, Archivist at the media transfer service in Rochester, also offered input along with Rich Lee, executive director of the Jandoli Institute.
Rich Lee was the moderator in the debate and he supplied the introduction to the roundtable, later revising the discussion topic as well. He described the roundtable as, “A new project where we’re going to explore the relationship between music and social justice.”
“I really want to stress that they’re going to be discussed,” said Lee. “None of us are going to lecture for 30 minutes, expect you to sit by your computers and listen and we want to use the topic that we choose each month as a springboard for conversation. Not just among the five of us, but with whoever else is on the Zoom session.”
Zeke seemed to enter the discussion with a specific intent in mind. He spoke of how music could be a way of spreading a message, but he didn’t believe the fans had the framework to tackle such an issue.
“My primary research interest is corporate social responsibility and how corporate social responsibility is communicated,” said Zeke. “They just tell you ‘This is what we’re doing, this is how we’re good at treating others.’”
“Music tends to recycle itself,” said Steven Wilt, at the start of the discussion. He added that music can become more relevant decades after it is put out. Wilt used the example of Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” to demonstrate how relevant art can remain in life and politics.
David Freeman began by saying, “I come from a less academic approach.” His portion focused on the perspective of a “starving artist.”
“I take a holistic approach of where myself and fellow musicians participate in the creative arts field and the creative education field, and then how maybe civic or social processes or movements or activities, in how those integrate or don’t integrate into our personal lives and our creative lives,” he said.
Freeman claimed that he was discussing these problems from the perspective of someone who does not have the ability to “build a hospital in Africa,” but does have the ability to promote a social problem. This, he said, would allow for a more micro-style answer to the question of whether or not musicians should promote social change. Historically, music was used to promote social change during the Vietnam War, but the question being discussed was if they should be morally obligated to promote social change.
Alex Gillham came into the Zoom call attempting to find an answer to two philosophical questions: first, Freeman’s question of integration, and second, the idea of moral responsibility.
“Do fans have a moral responsibility to promote social justice initiatives that are somehow relevant to their fandom of that particular musician?” he said.
Gillham’s presentation aimed to generate arguments for answers and come to a conclusion based on the arguments.
Everyone who was asked described the call as positive after Rich Lee stopped recording, making the roundtable appear as a success.
“We’re going to do a Zoom session similar to this once a month on the third Monday of the month, at seven o’clock, and the five of us are going to take turns leading discussions,” said Rich Lee.
If a student is interested in being part of a future Zoom roundtable, they should contact Rich Lee in the Jandoli School of Communication.
mcdonowo19@bonaventure.edu
