Mic Check Comes to Virtual Valley College by Heidi Kidon

 “Mic Check” was an online event for men to share music (women were present too). Scott Thayer, vice president of student services, conducted this barbershop type   meeting with a DJ and break out rooms on Thursday, May 6, 2021 via Zoom from 1:00p.m.-2:30p.m. Thayer pointed out how music acts as therapy to help us cope with difficult situations, including the global COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the nearing final exams for which students are now studying at San Bernardino Valley College.

SBVC Sociology instructor Anthony Blacksher was one of the core member of this group. A self-proclaimed old soul, he iterated how we have been in an extreme, isolated situation in ways education has never been before in history. Blacksher asserted, “Music brings us into an emotional space of joy and helps us keep our grounding and persevere.” He also admitted that some of us have lost loved ones recently and others have gained new family members. As we build community, we can get on the same page with vibrations. Music is heavily involved in associative memory.

Margaret Worsley, Faculty Chair of the SBVC music department, explained why music is awesome and how it works. Worsley described how sound works and that music is older than our universe; it began with a quiver. The world was empty until something trembled. Vibrations disturb air particles and enter the inner ear, tickling our cilia and our brain. Songs can resonate in a profound way. Music is not just defined by source but in the ear of the beholder. Worsley clarified, “Music is old! It has played a role in every single documented human society of the past and present, and listening to music uses the entirety of the brain.” We are all frequency, and from this frequency, everything is created.

Worsley questioned Google’s definition of music as producing beauty and form. Who determines what is beauty? What if music is created by computers? She assured that music can cause us to feel overwhelmed with nostalgia. It is processed in the same area of the brain as language, activating the brain stem and lighting up like a Christmas tree. We actively listen to music with a primal connection, and it has evolved with us since the oldest instrument was produced: 43,000-year-old ivory flute.

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