Planting a seed of collaboration
mostly through rambling
Sorry for the rambling. I wrote this on a long flight with my toddler napping on me but wanted to get it out without too much editing.
I first read “This is your Brain on Music”, by Daniel Levitin, in 2008. It’s become one of my core 20 books. I return to it a couple times a decade. I started reading it again a few days ago. It’s one of those books that seems to hold endless loops of wisdom and complexity – fitting for its subject matter; music. But it’s about a lot more than music. It’s about mind, sound and story.
We seem to be at a human crossroads right now. It feels like a monumental moment in history, which we’re living through. Good – evil, right – wrong, love – hate, humanity – genocide, living earth – dying earth; it is all circling the families and children of Palestine, as well as every other abuse on humanity whether it be through war, Capitalism, family, etc.
I sense the intensity and capacity of the infoscape at present and feel it’s my human duty to act -- in whatever small way I can – to support the possible unfolding of peace, reconciliation and justice.
So what can I do?
Well I know with certainty that there is an immense network of brilliant, loving and heart-centered people doing everything they can within the power of their own circumstance to shine the light on truth, some of whom are writers on Substack. I mentioned a handful of these brilliant writers and thinkers I’m aware of in a note last week.
I’m honestly finding it hard to keep up with all of the amazing work and something feels like it’s moving superficial within my attention. I wish there could be a meta-publication of some of us like-minded writers... perhaps collaborating occasionally, more intentionally showcasing important pieces and summarizing weekly articles. I wonder if the collaboration, itself, would amplify truth within each of us – in whatever way, small or large – and possibly also help to create words beyond ourselves which could facilitate the re-orientation of collective consciousness around a shared human ethic.
I genuinely believe it could…
So, anyway, as I’m re-reading “This is your Brain on Music”, I’m graced with an idea. In the beginning chapters Levitin describes the scientific aspects of music. I think it says a lot about the power of music and music as metaphor for cultural reshaping. Here’s a non-comprehensive synopsis of some of the definitions within the first chapter;
Pitch – purely an emergent psychological construct related to tone and note. All three – tone, note, pitch -- orient around the musical scale, but pitch is that which is completely emergent within the mind. ** A big take away here is that the musical scale is absolute and doesn’t depend on human consciousness and that the experience of music is fundamentally subjective. I believe our experience of the unfolding of narrative is the same.
Tone vs note – while pitch is purely psychological, tone and note are not. These are two terms that describe the same entity. Tone is reserved for what one hears – and – note is for what is written in the musical score. There are important questions arising from this reality. What is the musical score we’re dancing too? Is the song reflective of deeper human organization? If not, how can we tune-in and what type of feedbacks do we experience for adjusting our pitch?
Rhythm – refers to the duration of a series of notes and the way they’re grouped together into units. ** Rhythm is like a syntax for attention. It guides focus to solicit the intended weight of a message. I wonder about synching into a rhythm with other writers. Can my writing about osteopathy and practices become part of group harmonization that can take narrative one step further? How can I open myself up to others work beyond intellect?
Tempo – refers to the overall speed or pace of a piece. It is the beat you tap your foot too. ** Tempo has a huge implication for the scaffolding of tension/emotion within a song. It is often more upstream to rhythm within the ears of a composer. Is there a tempo that reaches mainstream folks more easily? If there is, how could it be leveraged?
Key – has to do with hierarchal importance that exists between tones in a musical piece. The hierarchy doesn’t exist in the world, only in our minds, yet it evokes specific emotional narrative. Is it possible for several publications to harmonize together for greater emotional impact?
Timbre (rhymes with amber) – distinguishes one instrument from another. The same relationship to the musical scale exists with innumerous methods of connection. Each attunement sounds different due to the human brain. ** Saying the same things in different ways is essential. Is there a way to collaborate on important messages, which each of us can write to within our own point of reference?
Side note ** Psychophysics is an important field of research in musicology and describes the physics of human perception and experience. This is an area, along with physiology, that I am deeply interested in. I think it has potential in deepening empathy.
Back to the idea
My idea isn’t fully worked out but I wanted to share for those of us with similar ethics and hopes. (And as an aside, social coordination and practical leadership is not really my thing (I tend to be pretty disorganized). If there’s resonance, hopefully someone could take the lead.)
So the idea could take on many forms but would probably be structured around a fluid publication in which a group of writers highlight certain pieces, collaborate on writing, host livestreams, and possibly host live events in the future.
Ultimately, I’m wondering if there is a mapping between political, biological, ecological, social and economic resonance which, when combined with a shared ethic, may be able to paint a beautiful picture or compose a human song, so to speak. Perhaps it could break through the incoherence of apathy that scaffolds our polycrisis.
If this were to be something people are interested in, here are some questions that may help us collaborate to work on shared pieces with common social goals.
How does the pitch change to resonant with different cultures and lived histories through our unique vantage point?
What rhythm speaks of mutual truth?
What tempo is respectful to people’s and each other’s self-process? What would a mechanism be to tell if it is too fast or slow?
What key would we write in? How would we attune together in time and space and through our various time-zones?
What is the process of tuning into the musical scale, given our different timbres?
What is the story of the song?
This is the type of collaboration which feels meaningful to me. If it does to you too, let’s collaborate. Hopefully a leader could emerge for the practical side. I know I do best within a very conceptual influence and always love guidance.
This is one of the core ideas behind Connection Engine — weekly rhythms, (also built over a scaffolding of and to promote action).
I reckon it’s time for that group chat to coordinate. I’ll create one later today if no one else has. We’ve been building the dashboard for months and have a sizeable waiting and volunteer list
These questions feel alive. From a coordination lens, pitch is shaped by our internal architecture; our lived experiences, memories, and culture. We don’t have to change the message for every audience, but we can offer different ways in. That’s how threads resonate without erasing difference.
Rhythm feels like how we time our contributions. It's not just pace, it's the spacing, the breath, the feedback. Mutual truth probably has a rhythm that makes space for listening, not just saying.
Tempo is tricky. Too fast and people burn out or detach. Too slow and the thread loses coherence. I think we learn the right tempo through watching where attention pools and where it slips away.
Writing in key might mean sharing an emotional tone, not necessarily agreement, but some kind of shared frequency. And across time zones? Maybe it’s less about syncing in real time, and more about layering contributions that still feel connected when picked up later.
Timbre is beautiful. That’s the soul of it. Same message, different voice. That’s not noise, it’s necessary.
And the story of the song? I don’t think it’s written yet. I think we’re all carrying parts of it, waiting to see how they weave together.
And on the idea of collaboration, I don’t think it needs to be formal to work. It could just start with people referencing each other’s work, building loose threads that start to harmonize. Not a collaboration exactly, more like a conversation that knows it’s part of something larger. This can be coordinated through something as simple as a group chat.