One way in which this influence can be seen in today’s society is through playing a part in social transformation. Works of art can be symbolic and draw attention to political and cultural events – often challenging the status quo. Banksy’s provocative street art and Ken Loach’s films about social issues intentionally stimulate discussion and can make people feel very uncomfortable. Musicians have written numerous protest songs and politically inspired albums (particularly in the 1960s and 70s) and in the contemporary classical world, Karl Jenkins’ The Armed Man is a clearly anti-war work, dedicated to the victims of the Kosovo crisis. It has been fascinating to observe that many concerts I have attended over recent weeks have included a performance of the Ukrainian national anthem – a wordless but very powerful statement of solidarity with Ukraine which has a strong emotional impact on the audience.

This view of art shining a light on society carries with it a certain level of responsibility upon the artist, and some have called for a rethinking of art curriculums with this in mind. I would approach this from a slightly different angle: I think that the education system (at least in the UK) narrows far too early, and that history, geography, philosophy etc. is just as important for everyone, whether aspiring to be an artist or otherwise. After all, the influence a work of art actually has on society is determined by how it is received by the so-called ‘consumers’ of art.

During my studies with the Open College of the Arts, I have noticed a difference between the inspirations and aims of music students, and those of students from the visual art disciplines. The work of the visual art students seems to touch much more on social issues; some examples that I have seen include the oppression of women, the modern ‘infodemic’, and body image. It seems to me that it is becoming less and less acceptable in today’s society to simply create good art for its own sake, it has to make a statement of some kind – a viewpoint which I strongly disagree with. I feel that music is somewhat immune from this, perhaps because of its fundamentally more abstract nature. My own creative practice has for the most part been non-representational, though I did dip my toes into a socially motivated piece of work for a commission from the University of St Andrews Centre for Energy Ethics (see my earlier blog post – The Art of Energy). The piece I composed for this commission was inspired by sources of renewable energy, as part of a wider effort to engage the public in the debate about climate change. From my perspective as a composer, the experience of writing a piece of music with such a specific inspiration was quite different from my usual way of working. My musical representations of concepts such as geothermal energy are of course very abstracted, but my hope would be that with additional cues such as the programme notes and visual artwork, a listener will be able to get a sense of what I was aiming for.

Artists are also in some sense capturing history. This is perhaps less obviously relevant to music than it is to literature and the visual arts, but I think it still holds true for music too. What composers choose to be inspired by, the form and style of the music all say something about the times we live in, and art is often considered to be an important part of ‘culture’, providing a way of connecting people to each other. I think this is particularly true of music which brings people together to play and sing, and to experience shared music making in concerts.

On a more basic level, art simply connects with us on an emotional level. This might be through the creation of a beautiful piece of abstract music or visual art, or it could be a more direct effort to elicit emotion related to a specific event such as a death or a wedding, perhaps through writing a requiem. Music seems to be particularly effective at this (although perhaps as a musician I am biased?), and it is an aspect that I am particularly drawn to as a composer. This is closely related to the idea of art as a social transformer, since emotion is a powerful persuasive tool, but artists also provide ways to help people grapple with the conflicts, challenges and tragedies in life – essentially with what it is to be human.