Music and Humanity

Music is an indispensable part of Morag Josephine Grant's life. "Music is my companion all day long", says the 36-year-old. Private and professional matters are inextricably connected with each other for her: as a musicologist, she tries to fathom the particular effects of music in her research. "Music is one of the characteristic features of humanity. So, research on music is research on humanity as a whole."

Music has played an important role ever since her childhood and youth: "All my siblings played music." Scottish-born Grant knew very early that she wanted to pursue a career connected with music. After her initial studies at Glasgow University she went to King's College in London, where she obtained the “Master of Music in Theory and Analysis” and later the “Doctor of Philosophy in Music” degree.

In the late 1990s she moved to Berlin. She wanted to conduct research for her dissertation and her postdoctoral qualification at the Humboldt University and at the same time enjoy Berlin's musical life. "In the beginning I went to three or more concerts per week", she recalls. At present, she does not have the time to do that any more, but there is one thing she cannot do without: "I need to listen to a Mahler symphony at the Philharmonie at least once a year. The acoustics there are just amazing."

Generally, Morag Josephine Grant is not tied down to one kind of music. Apart from classical, she listens to Scottish folk music, disco music, and rap. But she is particularly interested in experimental music and 20th century classical music, which is also the topic of her Ph.D. thesis.

She is well aware of the fact that many people find the works of Karlheinz Stockhausen or John Cage inaccessible. That is why Grant sees herself as an analyst as well as an intermediary. "I try to describe this music in a theoretical scientific way, to put it into a context, and to explain what's special about it." The common music-theoretical approach does not do any good in this case, she opines. "We have to find new categories and a different language. This encompasses many aesthetical and philosophical questions."



Grant believes that sociological and psychological aspects also play an important part in the way people react to works of 20th century classical music. "I'm concerned with the question why I personally understand this music intuitively, whereas other people don't want to let it get to them in the first place." Dealing with this question is a good life exercise, she says. "This music questions many things and forces us to contemplate our prejudices. What is felt to be unwieldy by many is what fascinates her the most: 20th century classical music broaches the issue of cognitive and social circumstances of experiencing music – thus telling us a great deal about human beings.

Morag Josephine Grant wants to break away from traditional structures with her research work. Instead of adding new nuances to Beethoven or Bach research she injects all new questions into musicology, for example by occupying herself with a simple folk song: she has examined the history and reception of the best-known song from her Scottish homeland, "Auld lang syne". The lyrics by Robert Burns are relatively short, but her research findings fill many pages: "I try to explain why 'Auld lang syne' became so popular and why it is sung all over the world. There are many different traditions connected with this song in many countries, which seemingly have nothing to do with the original sense. Pondering about a little song has turned into pondering about God, the universe, and everything."

Now she can study the effects of music and what harm can be done with it even more intensely: in May 2008, Morag Josephine Grant became the leader of the junior research group "Music, Conflict and the State" at Göttingen University. The team is one of the Free Floater Groups which the University is setting up following a call for proposals not linked to any specific subject. Both the call for proposals and the University’s Institutional Strategy to Promote Top-Level Research appealed to her immediately. "There were many points you can't find elsewhere, such as the Dual Career concept. I took that as an indication that this university is serious and really wants to build something."

Grant is enthusiastic not only about the good working conditions. She is also taken with the Accouchierhaus, which accommodates the Department of Musicology and is one of the landmarks of Göttingen. "It has a very special ambience that is perfectly suited for experimental music."

It is the academic environment that fascinates her most of all, however: "I have all the necessary experts at hand: Islamic Studies scholars, psychologists, educationists, and jurists, to name just a few." Why are these disciplines of importance for her research? Because music – contrary to what many think – is not naturally "good" or unifying. "It depends on what you do with it." Grant wants to analyse the ways in which music is used to exercise violence, hate crimes, war crimes, and genocide – a burning issue. One of the earliest signs of the endangerment of human and civil rights in a country is when the Government starts to use music by subordinating it to governmental purposes. "One of the first things Vladimir Putin did was to change the national anthem." As Grant emphasises, the Germans have their own share of experience with this phenomenon: today's neonazis use music as bait in order to achieve their inhuman goals, just as the National Socialists did in the past.

In her private life too, Morag Josephine Grant is concerned with what humans do to humans: she is an active member of Amnesty International; she was among the members of the German delegation that took part in this organisation’s International Council Meeting in Mexico.