Home ›› 07 Nov 2021 ›› Opinion
Music is magic. It interacts so deeply and at so many levels that ‘music therapy’ is now a distinct sub-discipline to deal with mental and physical health conditions. One of the most moving pieces of music emerged during the dreary days of Covid, in September 2020. Paul Harvey, 80, a Sussex-based former music teacher suffering from dementia, was given four notes by his son, Nick, to improvise: F natural, A, D, and B natural. It was Paul’s old party trick; when someone would give him four random notes, he would compose something on the spot on the piano. The difference this time was that Nick recorded Paul’s improvisation and posted it on Twitter. The 2:19-minute composition stirred so many emotions in people craving good news at the time that it soon went viral, even though Paul could not play it again because he could not remember it. One thing led to another: BBC and others featured the father-son duo on prime time, the BBC Philharmonic orchestra recorded it, the composition attracted £1 million charity donation from billionaire Tom Hunter, and it topped the charts — who gets to have a hit single at 80? — while the proceeds of continuing downloads go to two charity organisations, Alzheimer’s Society and Music for Dementia.
‘Four Notes — Paul’s Tune’ is the latest example of a cause striking a chord and Britons opening their purses generously. Call it the voluntary sector, third sector, not-for-profit, or community sector, charity organisations span so many areas of life that the sector is considered crucial to the functioning of Britain’s democratic system. As Harry Nathan, member of House of Lords, who led an inquiry into the charity sector in 1952, said, “Democracy could hardly function effectively without voluntary action”, while Oxford historian Frank Prochaska believes that “no country can lay a greater claim to a philanthropic tradition than Britain”. The tradition goes back to 597 AD with the foundation of The King’s School in Canterbury, the oldest charity organisation still in existence, symbolising the “longest run of education in British history”. Perhaps the oldest surviving school in the world, it educated novelist Somerset Maugham and World War II hero Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, among others, over the course of history. The school was founded by Saint Augustine, reflecting the fact that for many centuries charity was a religious activity led and run by monastic institutions and the church.
Today, the link with the church no longer defines the sector. According to the Charity Commission, it regulates activities of over 170,000 charity organisations in England and Wales (most do not receive government funds), run by over 700,000 trustees, who volunteer their time almost always for free. The charities employ over a million people in Britain and around the world, have a combined annual income of over £84.1 billion and £82.3 billion of charity spend. Besides, much charity work takes place at the local and community levels. Funds are also raised for charity work in various countries, including in south Asia, while a large number of individuals raise millions of pounds for various causes through online platforms, including on issues related to the pandemic; the annual charity income may well be closer to £100 billion.
Says Helen Stephenson, chief executive officer of Charity Commission: “Attempts have been made to quantify the value that charities bring. And this really matters. But I’m not sure it will ever be possible to reduce the role charities play in our society to a purely economic measure, to a fact or figure. Charities support us throughout our lives, cradle to grave, they curate much of what makes life worth living in the meantime. And they are a source of immense civic pride. They bring us together. Events since last March have only served to highlight how tightly charity is woven into the fabric of our communities and our national life. In the face of national crisis, many charities stepped up to the plate, and visibly so. Assisting our emergency services. Tackling poverty. Supporting those left lonely and vulnerable. Conversely, the work of some charities became conspicuous by its sudden absence. By the many and varied acts of charity that were no longer possible when restrictions were imposed. In other words, charities have shown the difference they make, both in what they have contributed during the pandemic, and the gap that was left when their work was interrupted.”
khaleejtimes
