Who doesn't remember that year, 2020? And what word comes to your mind when that year is mentioned..?
This afternoon, we watched a documentary about the super-powerful effects music has on us. It was a French/Canadian documentary, and apparently, it was filmed during or shortly after the pandemic. We came to this conclusion because, in many scenes, they wore the face masks we were all required to wear, and also, at the end of the program, they mentioned how important music was during the lockdown in March 2020. In the survey, the result of the question about what activity kept us up during lockdown (food, exercise, TV, social media, music, etc.), music came out as the most popular answer.
And indeed, I remember the news where people would play their musical instruments on their balconies. I did it too on one occasion, with my son. I still had a Facebook account, and there was an event that invited musicians from all over Spain to play a piece of music at midday on their balconies. So we participated too; I played on the digital piano and my son on his violin. In the other building, not so far from ours, there was someone singing opera arias, and it was also cool just to listen to that singer.
However, even though music was not absent from our home, we, like all the people all over the world, felt all the challenges a lockdown can bring. After some time, you would need to go to the grocery store, and my very first time going for food was not even remembered by the products I bought, but because of the sun I could feel on my face and the smell of the orange blossoms and other flowers. As if I had smelled spring for the first time in my life.
Time was passing, and new measures and regulations were introduced day by day. It also seemed that some regulations would last for just a day or two. One had to be attentive to the notices of the local authorities as well, as it was also different from town to town what you could do or what you should avoid.
For example, in the time when walks were still not allowed even by the sea or on the beach, but if you had a child, you could walk with him/her for an hour. So we "shared" our son (I know this sounds strange haha), I would walk with him for half an hour, and my husband for the other half an hour. We were taking turns, and that way, our son also enjoyed his outside walks. Well, once a policeman stopped us when it was my turn to be outside with him and reminded us with a question, "You don't live so far, right?" that we should not take it too long. It was better to turn back home. 🤷♀
The following photo was taken at our first mother-son walk during the lockdown.
Work-wise, it was also different. Everyone who could work did so online. You can imagine that giving piano lessons was not easy that way, but that was the only option we had. I finished very tired after the whole afternoon of lessons through Zoom or Skype. Later, when we could go back to the classrooms, we had to wear face masks. That measure stayed for quite a long time.
Children, especially teenagers, felt it weird to take off the face masks later when it was not mandatory anymore; some of my female teenage students said they felt uncomfortable not wearing it anymore, not because of health reasons, but because they could just hide half of their face with the face mask. They used it as a fashion accessory.
Maybe I felt the same to some extent... hmmm, no; breathing freely was definitely a better feeling than hiding behind the mask. But when I had to wear it, I did it. A black one when I would have a performance, to match the outfit.
Now, as I mentioned students and children - they missed a lot of in-person lessons that online lessons couldn't make up for. The very next year, my son was struggling in school with maths and some other subjects too, as a consequence of the lost semester. He had many gaps in his knowledge. And it was probably the case with the majority of children.
The good sides of that year... in my case, it was the year I joined Hive, so I anyway can't forget about it. Five years have already passed, who would say?
And how do you remember your 2020? What made lockdown a little more bearable in your case? Was music present and helpful, as the documentary I watched today said?
