Well hell.
It's certainly been a day.
This afternoon, all the major American choral associations got together with a medical experts and hosted a webinar (ETA: video here) to discuss singing in the time of coronavirus. The verdict? It's not safe to do choral singing until there's a vaccine or a 95% effective treatment. This could be 1-2 years. I had a ( Read more... )
This afternoon, all the major American choral associations got together with a medical experts and hosted a webinar (ETA: video here) to discuss singing in the time of coronavirus. The verdict? It's not safe to do choral singing until there's a vaccine or a 95% effective treatment. This could be 1-2 years. I had a ( Read more... )
I think the reason no country has come out with guidelines for "this is a healthy way to gather" because we don't know that there is one, and nobody wants to be responsible for spreading dangerous advice that could potentially get people killed (except 45, it seems...). This may be an abundance of caution, but knowing what I do know about the virus, it's also the safest advice.
I get that people are tired of isolation, but I can't blame public health experts for continuing to advocate for what works just because there's an absence of national leadership on mental health and creative cures to cabin fever. I think our local authorities are doing pretty well on that, TBH, reopening beaches and parks for certain activities, keeping parking lots, playgrounds, and dog parks closed, and enforcing distancing. We can't prevent people from taking calculated risks (visiting family and friends, distanced quartets, small family birthday parties, drive-by birthday caravans), and we can't stop people from taking stupid risks like protesting without masks or having a party on a limo bus. I'm not gonna call the cops when I see neighbor kids playing together while their parents watch from their respective yards, but I sure was tempted to report that freaking party bus.
Agreed that prerecorded and Zoom services really aren't the same. I know everyone's missing it, from the clergy to the kids. I miss being physically present in that beautiful, fragrant space, of course. But mostly I miss making beautiful, meaningful music with people I care about. I've always felt it's a privilege to be part of peoples' worship, so even participating in a small way helps my mental health by helping me to approach with a grateful heart. So I guess framing it in that way has helped me cope with its loss. Still freaking sucks, tho.
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Sighs.
I'm very, very lucky in that my downstairs neighbor is a musician, too, so we hold singalongs together through the week, and I've been teaching her the major and minor blues scales so we can jam together via my balcony (she's on her front porch, just below me, or on the lawn in front).
One of the questions posed by a friend of mine this week: if you could self-isolate in any given location with one other person/family group, where would you go and why? My answer was the Chilean Lake District with my cousins' family (we hike together and all play instruments and sing), and the main reason why was that when it all comes down to it, I think the thing I need most for my own wellbeing is people to be active with and people to make music with. I can do those things on my own, but doing them with people I enjoy is where I get the most energy. And the Lake District part is because of all the kayaking and volcanoes and available cake and beer. :)
I do like the thought that we're all going to emerge from this social hibernation with a deeper sense of gratitude for one another. May that time come soon, and may we all stay safe in the meantime!
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I'm pretty happy self-isolating in San Diego, TBH. Though it would be perhaps a bit nicer to self-isolate in a house with a fenced-in yard for the dogs in a neighborhood with wide, quiet streets and sidewalks that's walking distance from scenic places. Also with air conditioning (it's rather summery today). But where I am now is quite close to grocery stores and restaurants, so that's a really nice benefit. That may be a failure of imagination on my part, but eh, anxiety eats imagination, so the failure is perhaps not surprising.
Oh man, I am gonna cry so hard the next time I get to sing in person with people. <3 That tends to be how it is for me and music. I can get by reasonably well without it, but oh man, I'm so much happier doing it regularly.
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Me, too, friend. :)
This whole isolation makes me think so much about embodiment and community, you know?
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But it's also been a good, if not always pleasant thing, to be forced to not run myself ragged. I'm better about overscheduling than I used to be, but I have still been known to overestimate my physical and mental capacity.
I mean... when was the last time in my life when I took an hour (sometimes more!) every single day to do something resembling physical activity? I doubt I'd do it if it weren't also for the dogs, but usually, that was a once-a-week kind of activity, if that. Plus weekly Zoom yoga with ProChoir weren't a thing before. Since the pandemic started, I have been more active, read more books, and made myself far more meals at home when I don't have to rushing to get to work and then get to rehearsal.
So while I've been of course missing my people and my community and making music, I've also been trying to take thoughtful stock of things as they are and seeing how I might be able to better balance things. Or at least that's what I'm telling myself!
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