The Music & Reconciliation Initiative

Greetings from Lyon! This morning I wrapped up what was a very fulfilling visit at Taizé. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to come back here and to stay a second week which allowed me to go deeper in relationship with the community and with the questions I’ve been asking. I’d also like to reiterate my gratitude for everyone who has supported this project, and especially the Jakab Family and Marks Center at Juilliard for enabling the travel to Taizé. After continuing my inquiry into Taizé’s practice for a second week via reading, conversations with members of the community, and reflection on my personal experience, I’ve arrived at a working thesis on Taize’s music.

Hello! After a long journey I arrived to Taizé five days ago, and I’m so grateful to be here. I mean it when I say the people here are wonderful, the music is beautiful, and the spirit of this place is very special. My posts from Taizé will be a bit shorter than those before, as I take time to share a few simple reflections and observations while also being present in the life of the community here.

Hi again! As I have begun researching over the last few weeks a few major themes within the inquiry have become apparent, and I’m excited to be diving into the first in this post. Below I’ve articulated a core theory on this first theme of music and human nature, which I subsequently have broken down into subtopics including key research findings and reflections.

Theory: Music is fundamental to human nature, and thus participating in it with others is a powerful way of recognizing and building meaningful connections on the ground of our shared humanity.

Hello! I am very excited to be starting this project, and I’m grateful that you are here to be a part of it. In this post I’ll be providing some background and context for what’s to come. This project represents a culmination of many of my interests, so I’m excited to share what will hopefully be meaningful insights from this inquiry and experience. Knowing that you may be here out of mutual interest in these subjects, I envision this project also as the beginning of a conversation which I invite you to be a part of. Feel free to use the comment feature on this blog or to reach out directly via email (benjaminray2@outlook.com) to share any comments, suggestions, or questions that come up as the project develops.

Goal & Core Questions

The goal behind this project is to discern and articulate some valuable insights about how music can function to facilitate personal, social, political, and/or environmental reconciliation in ways that support the building and sustaining of meaningful community and increase capacity for collective action.

That’s a big subject, so I’ve broken it down to a few core questions I’m focused on here:

- How can music facilitate reconciliation in the context of diversity and division?

- How can music contribute to actions of personal, social, and environmental healing?

- How can music open hearts and minds to more life-giving ways of being?