conclusion 405important philosophical implications. Barenboim’s and Edward Said’s
project of an orchestra in which musicians from Israel and the other
countries of the Middle East play music together gives rise to a series
of questions about our themes. One such question is raised by Baren-
boim’s description of the encounter between a Syrian and an Israeli
cellist, who are on opposite sides of the political divide. This encounter
can be taken as an allegory of our concerns. The rehearsals of the
orchestra are accompanied by discussions in which, unsurprisingly, it is
very apparent that the profound political differences between the par-
ticipants cannot be easily and immediately resolved. At the same time,
when the two cellists seek to play a particular note in the right way ‘They
were trying to do something together... about which they were both
passionate’, and an important level of communication is established:
‘having achieved that one note, they already can’t look at each other
in the same way, because they have shared a common experience’
(Barenboim and Said 2004 : 10 ). Barenboim (and the musicians
involved in the orchestra) are very clear that what they are doing may
have no real impact on the political situation. ‘Romantic’ ideas about
the harmony made possible by music (of the kind that are part of the
advertising for the recordings of the orchestra) are therefore not the
primary issue for those directly involved, though a faint hope that music
might help is present in some of the comments of the musicians.
Barenboim also observes, however, that ‘I believe in cultural
matters – with literature and, even better, with music,because it doesn’t
have to do with explicit ideas–ifwefoster this kind of contact, it can
only help people feel nearer to each other, and this is all’ (ibid.: 11 ,
my emphasis). His refusal, by saying ‘this is all’, to make theoretical
inferences from the proximity that is made possible via music-making
is important. Were he to make such inferences he would be involved in
the entailments of a discursive philosophical claim. This would again
put conceptual determination above the need to engage in the practice
required for communication to be realised. At the same time, implicit
in his refusal is a philosophical insight concerning the nature of com-
munication. For the musicians to achieve what they do, they have to
share a history of complex abilities which are not reducible to what
can be said about those abilities. Charles Taylor often contrasts propo-
sitionally expressible beliefs about the world, which can be actualised
in the absence of the objects about which the belief is held, with the
kind of ability which can only be exercised by engaging in a practice.
The world conceived of in these latter terms is not something defined