Deep Listening

Musicking and Peace as Practices of Relationship

Abstract

This paper is written from a dual perspective — the author being both a policy researcher at the World Future Council and a professional musician. Building upon Arthur Schopenhauer’s view of music as a universal language, it argues that music-making is inherently a practice of relationship, capable of fostering connection across difference. Utilising Christopher Small’s concept of musicking as a verb, the paper reflects on music’s effects on social interaction, empathy, belonging, and community — through an interdisciplinary lens spanning embodied musical experience, contemporary Indigenous worldview, aesthetic and sociological frameworks, and empirical insights from neuroscience and psychology. Special focus is given to the teachings of the Moriori people of Aotearoa New Zealand — who practise peace as deep listening and view artists as intrinsic to this process, as illuminators of truth and agents of community healing. While acknowledging ever-present contextual caveats of power and agency, the paper calls for greater recognition of the arts — and their powerful capacity to foster safe, non-violent communities within education and community-building policy.