“If music be the food of love, play on.” – Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare
Excuse the Shakespearean allusion right off the top. I am in the thick of teaching Shakespeare to our seventh graders, and nothing speaks more to the season and how winter, music, food, and love are connected than the Bard of Avon’s Twelfth Night. On the afternoon of our annual Winter Concert, the time feels right to consider how this connection is more than coincidence; it is hard-wired in us all.
Two elements of winter in New England drive us toward introspective and reflective music: the length of our days and the gathering of community. These are now the shortest days of the year. In a study by psychologist Terry Pettijohn, featured in Psychology Today, he and his team found that we are drawn toward “more complex and serious music during the harsher and more threatening seasons of fall and winter, and more lively, active energetic and rhythmic music during the less burdensome spring and summer seasons, that are rife with social activity.” Pettijohn refers to this phenomenon as the Environmental Security Hypothesis, where the music we seek helps to comfort or soothe us depending on the season. So, if you are inclined to somber or complex music in these winter months, there’s more than just your musical taste at work.
The winter season also moves us to seek community and warmth. Centuries ago, in New England and other northern places, winter meant gathering together by a fire to keep warm. While this gathering was a byproduct of a fundamental need for warmth and safety, it resulted in a particular closeness within a family or broader community. Music played a fundamental role in connection and entertainment in those darkest days.
A time-honored school tradition and the ‘food of love,’ our Winter Concert celebrated the excellence of our music and ensembles program. In the warmth of the Downing, we gathered to come in from the cold, to be in community together, and to revel in the joys of the season through music.
I hope this morning’s beautiful songs brought you as much good cheer as they did for me and that joyous music continues to play on through your holiday season.
