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​Process Philosophy and Musicking

rethinking music in dynamic, relational terms
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​Music is something we listen to—but listening itself is part of the music. So too is the community of listeners who share in that act. Music is not a static object but a dynamic, social event in process. The ethnomusicologist Christopher Small puts it this way:

“To music is to take part in a musical performance, whether by performing, by listening, by rehearsing or practicing, by providing material for performance (what is called composition), or by dancing.”

For Small, and for a process-relational view more broadly, music is not merely a product but a participatory act—an unfolding of relationships in time. To music is to engage in a shared becoming, where sound, movement, presence, and feeling converge in a living, social event.

What is music? For centuries, Western thought has treated it as a noun—a fixed object like a score, a symphony, or a song. But in Musicking: The Meanings of Performing and Listening (1998), New Zealand musicologist Christopher Small proposed a radical rethinking. He invited us to consider music not as a thing but as an activity—something people do. To name this activity, he coined the verb musicking.

“To music,” Small wrote, “is to take part, in any capacity, in a musical performance.” With this simple shift, he opened up a wide field of participation. Musicking includes not only performing and listening, but also composing, rehearsing, dancing, stage managing, running sound, setting up the venue, and even selling tickets. All who contribute to a musical event are musicking. Music becomes not an object to be possessed or perfected but a shared process to be lived.

At the heart of musicking is relationship. According to Small, every act of musicking establishes a web of relationships—between performer and audience, among the performers themselves, between the music and the space, and between individuals and their cultural world. These relationships are not side effects; they are where the meaning of music lies. In this view, musicking is a form of social and even spiritual ritual, enacting values and exploring ways of being together in the world.

Small’s vision moves us from product to process, from object to event. It affirms that music is not just sound arranged in time but a deeply human act of connection. Whether in a concert hall, a church, a jazz club, or a kitchen, musicking invites us into relationship—into a moment where, through sound and silence, we become more fully present to one another and to the world.

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I Look Up as I Walk

The "Sukiyaki" Song
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上を向いて歩こう
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After the Tōhoku Earthquake and Tsunami in March of 2011, a popular Japanese song began to be sung by people of all ages around the world. The song, “I Look Up as I Walk,” became a source of encouragement—offering hope, renewal, and a vision of caring community, not only for Japan but for the world at large.

What made this movement especially powerful was the willingness of people to sing together in a language many did not understand. It revealed the transformative capacity of music to unite and uplift. This practice of communal music-making is sometimes referred to as musicking, a term coined by musicologist Christopher Small to describe the full range of relational and participatory activities that make music meaningful.
From a process-relational perspective, musicking is more than a cultural expression—it is a creative act of becoming with others. It reflects the idea that all sentient subjects, including human beings, are not static substances but momentary centers of experience, constituted by their relationships with others and the world. In singing together, individuals do not merely express existing emotions; they co-create a new shared experience through sound, gesture, and mood. Each moment of musicking is an instance of what Whitehead called “the many becoming one,” where diverse perspectives and feelings are gathered into a felt unity, however temporary.

Musicking is a form of relational power—an expression of inspiration, empathy, and friendship rather than coercion, violence, or domination. It is power through connection, where influence flows not by force but by resonance. This kind of power builds and binds communities through shared feeling.

Using the “spiritual alphabet” developed by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, one can say that the communal singing of “I Look Up as I Walk” evokes many of the most life-affirming spiritual moods: connection, hope, hospitality, imagination, love, nurturing, peace, play, and, quietly but unmistakably, a deep love of life.
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The power of the song lies not simply in its lyrics but in its sonic texture—in the tones, rhythms, and expressive contours that carry affective weight. Just as important is the meaning imparted by those who sing and those who listen. In process terms, these are acts of “feeling” or “prehending,” through which people take in the emotional qualities of an experience and respond with their own interpretive acts. In this sense, musicking becomes a spiritual practice—an improvisational weaving of beauty, solidarity, and shared becoming across time, cultures, and communities.

​Musicking

​Jazz Style

​Musicking

​Original Pop Version

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Lyrics

​Ue o muite arukou
Namida ga koborenai you ni
Omoidasu haru no hi
Hitoribotchi no yoru

Ue o muite arukou
Nijinda hoshi o kazoete
Omoidasu natsu no hi
Hitoribotchi no yoru

Shiawase wa kumo no ue ni
Shiawase wa sora no ue ni

Ue o muite arukou
Namida ga koborenai you ni
Nakinagara aruku
Hitoribotchi no yoru

[Whistling]

Omoidasu aki no hi
Hitoribotchi no yoru

Kanashimi wa hoshi no kage ni
Kanashimi wa tsuki no kage ni

Ue o muite arukou
Namida ga koborenai you ni
Nakinagara aruku
Hitoribotchi no yoru
Hitoribochi no yoru

About the Song (from Wikipedia)
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​"Ue o Muite Arukō" (上を向いて歩こう, "I Look Up As I Walk") is a Japanese-language song that was performed by Japanese crooner Kyu Sakamoto, and written by lyricist Rokusuke Ei and composer Hachidai Nakamura. Ei wrote the lyrics while walking home from a Japanese student demonstration protesting continued US Army presence, expressing his frustration at the failed efforts. In Anglophone countries, it is best known under the alternative title "Sukiyaki", a term with no relevance to the song's lyrics, as sukiyaki is a Japanese dish of cooked beef.

The song reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 charts in the United States in 1963, one of the few non-Indo-European languages' songs to have done so. It is one of the best-selling singles of all time, having sold over 13 million copies worldwide. The original Kyu Sakamoto recording also went to number eighteen on the R&B chart. In addition, the single spent five weeks at number one on the Middle of the Road charts.

​The recording was originally released in Japan by Toshiba in 1961. It topped the Popular Music Selling Record chart in the Japanese magazine Music Life for three months, and was ranked as the number one song of 1961 in Japan. 

Translation of the Lyrics into English
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I look up when I walk, counting the stars with tearful eyes, remembering those happy summer days. But tonight I'm all alone I look up when I walk. So the tears won't fall though my heart is filled with sorrow. For tonight I'm all alone. Happiness lies beyond the clouds. Happiness lies above the sky. Remembering those happy autumn days. But tonight I'm all alone. Sadness hides in the shadow of the stars. Sadness lurks in the shadow of the moon. I look up when I walk. So the tears won't fall. Though my heart is filled with sorrow. For tonight I'm all alone.