# A New Fanfare for American Workers By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2024-04-26 In 1942, Aaron Copland wrote _Fanfare for the Common Man_ for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Listening to the piece might be beneficial if one is unfamiliar with it. It provides for “the common man,” a piece of music of triumphant majesty. The score conveys preeminence and power. Would such a piece be written today? Would “the common man” hear oneself and one’s peers in the music? Maybe today, such a piece would seem ironic or propaganda. There is a need for a new fanfare for the American worker, even if our society is no longer open to hearing it. Art, in all its forms, can contribute to our collective conceptualizations and understandings. Art can inspire. Work can be a profound source of dignity. All work holds this potential. Almost no work in America is currently enacted this way. There is no need to inflate work beyond its value. There is a profound need to recognize its dignity. If it can be revived, this recognition would provide a basis for solidarity. A new worker’s art is needed to inspire and unite. Media have been coopted for entertainment. Inspiration, not entertainment, is needed for the artistic rebellion. #### Related Items [[Work]] [[American]] [[Music]] [[Solidarity]] [[Society]] [[Art]] [[Dignity]]