The White House has gone silent. Again.

The White House has gone silent again.

Oh  there’s a flurry of executive orders and tearing up of agreements and such. But there’s no music.

With the possibility of Kamala Harris in residence in the People’s House, I was hopeful for the return of the days when Michelle Obama created an American music series in tandem with public television. The country’s leading artists would spend a day conducting workshops with local youth before performing in front of guests on either an East Room stage or the South Lawn. There were household names like Stevie Wonder, Jennifer Lopez or Justin Timberlake. But also there were living legends like B.B. King and up-an-comers such as Leon Bridges.

Every genre had a voice in the White House: Motown, Broadway, blues, gospel, hip-hop, country, jazz and classical. I loved watching those East Room concerts. Bob Dylan singing “The Times They Are a-Changin’”. Paul McCartney serenading the First Lady with, of course, “Michelle”. Buddy Guy and B.B. King coaxing Barack Obama to sing a few lines of “Sweet Home Chicago”.

On a side note, once again and for the next four years, the President of the United States will break tradition and be absent for the Kennedy Centre Honours, which recognizes contributions to American culture through the performing arts. But I digress.

There ought to be music in any house, White or otherwise. Every level and almost every room in our house has access to a streaming service. And it is rare for the house to be completely silent. Music can create atmosphere of comfort or deliver a jolt of motivation for exercise or, yes, just cleaning a bathroom.

A house with music is, quite simply, inviting and warm. Even as background music. it can trigger memories and help concentration which are good for the brain.

So among my growing lists of sadnesses over the current American administration, the one that seems so poignant is the loss of music in what is often called the People’s House.