It has been a year since my first and previous blog post. So much has happened since then. I finished a music bibliography course, applied to graduate programs in musicology and ethnomusicology, and visited some potential schools. I was excited and ready to take the next step of my academic journey.
But then the pandemic happened, and musicology was suddenly not my priority anymore. During the quarantine, I thought I would have plenty of time to catch up on my reading and writing. But with the future of the world so uncertain, musicology no longer felt relevant, and I felt unmotivated to read or write about anything musicology-related. This feeling both scared and disturbed me. I found myself questioning and reevaluating the importance of musicology in the grand scheme of humanity, and the humanities. Then the George Floyd incident and BLM protests brought on a whole slew of issues to be reckoned. And so I thought it would be a good first step to write about some of my fears and anxiety, starting by reflecting on music and quarantine.
First, I would like to consider the roles music has played during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Articles like the ones by Remi Chiu and Ed Prideaux remind us that people turning to music as a source of comfort, hope, distraction is one of humanity’s old habits. In his article, Chiu relates the instance of a Milanese trumpeter playing out of his window back in March to a Milan placed under quarantine during the plague about half-a-millennium before. In 1576, Cardinal Carlo Borromeo sent his clergy to instruct the citizens of Milan to sing call-and-response litanies and chants. During certain times of the day, the bells would ring, and people would come to their windows and fill the streets of Milan with song.
Chiu reflects on the power of music to bring people together during quarantine: “While most of the songs sung by neighbors today no longer carry the spiritual character of the Litany—just as Western medicine has lost its religious character—they, like the Litany, are widely known in the community and allow for participation (and sometimes in a call-and-response or alternatim manner). What’s more, many of these songs proudly invoke the shared history and culture of a place, in the same way that Litany called on local intercessors.” Similarly, musical responses to COVID-19 include people playing music from their windows and balconies, creating a shared communal experience with their neighbors. On a more international scale, the virtual concert One World: Together at Home, organized by Global Citizen and curated by Lady Gaga, connects people across the globe. In many of these cases, the songs are often well-known, allowing many to participate and sing-along. Such collective participation is a comforting reminder that, even in isolation, we are not alone.
Music doesn’t only offer comfort, but it can also offer purpose, expression, and distraction. For many musicians, the quarantine may have disrupted their normal channels of performing live. But very quickly, amateur and professional virtual concerts were curated across many platforms, like Instagram, Youtube, and Zoom. Bob Morris, writing for Town&Country, observes that for such concerts, “Community rather than virtuosity is the point—the imperfect harmony of self-expression in self-exile.” During difficult times, music has been used to channel grief, fear, and trauma, and as a reminder of joy and hope.
It is clear that music has played and continues to play important roles during the pandemic. Yet, this does not mean that the music industry is thriving under such circumstances. What are some of the challenges facing musicians and musicologists during quarantine, and how will this affect music making and musicology going forward? What follows is really a list of questions rather than answers.
In the past few years, technology and online resources have become increasingly integrated in teaching music, which has hopefully eased some of the transition to online teaching. But challenges to teaching and learning music online still exist. How does online teaching and learning affect student engagement? What sort of musical knowledge is lost through online learning? Which aspects become emphasized and/or ignored? Lag times and sound quality are some concerns regarding teaching private lessons through platforms like Zoom and Skype. I know of at least one website, such as Muzie, which attempts to address such problems. What kind of online resources will develop or become available for musicians from now on? What kind of possibilities to learning music will this lead to down the road?
Will in-person concerts ever happen again? An article on Mashable by Mark Kaufman explores the idea of a “dystopian future” for live concerts. Will future concerts be held only outdoors? Or in half-empty concert halls where concert-goers are spaced a few seats apart? What would it feel like to listen to music in a half-empty hall? Would the concert feel more intimate? Eerie? Surreal? What social aspects of attending concerts will be lost, or changed? Will live concerts ever happen again, and will it have the same meanings as it did?
Alex Ross notes that, “The primary challenge of online music-making will be to persuade audiences to pay for it; in order for that to happen, events must rise above the feel-good, we’re-still-here level and achieve real substance, not to mention a comfortable grasp of the medium.” Many people pay for the live, social experience of going to concerts. What sort of virtual concert or musical experience would people be willing to pay for? This is a stark reminder that, for many musicians and those part of the music industry, an already financially precarious field is made that much more difficult to navigate.
Finally, what about the musicologists? What are our fears and challenges in these regarding the world of music making and scholarship? Will we look back at this point in time as a vital turning point in the history of music making? Will quarantine concerts become a new field of study? Will conferences be held virtually? What now?
Sources:
https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/connect/togetherathome
https://www.areditions.com/news/music-under-quarantine/
https://mashable.com/article/live-music-coronavirus-shutdown/
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/05/25/concerts-in-the-void
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