Beauty is something that just falls out of it having been fun.” “That it’s got to be beautiful.” In fact, he argues, that’s not the case at all. “We’ve got this aestheticised notion of what music should be,” says Ian Cross, Emeritus Professor of Music and Science and Emeritus Fellow of Wolfson College. Yet it’s easy to lose sight of our inherent musicality when society tends to exalt musical talent and expertise. And that need for music – and performance – can be traced back to the very earliest human societies. So your recorder is squeaky and your bowing is scratchy and maybe you can’t hold a harmony – or even a tune.
