BY JOSEPH ASQUITH, LEAD WRITER (EDUCATION)
It’s fair to say that COVID-19 is a global household name that triggers feelings of acute anxiety for all around the world. People everywhere are growing more and more concerned, and rightly so. It’s a multi-plot and very real problem worthy of an epic science-fiction novel.
This type of pandemic is a once-a-century phenomenon. Leaving the virus aside (I daresay) the world is becoming infected, for lack of a better word, with panic, anxiety, paranoia, and uncertainty. We see it in people stripping supermarket shelves, fastidiously wearing masks in public, sterilising doorknobs.
What is more, there is an impending economic crisis looming, with the immediate future of many lives, including musicians and artists, left uncertain. Performers rely on performing to a room full of people for their income. Instrumental teachers rely on one-on-one contact with their students. Music teachers, many of whom are casuals, teach to a classroom full of what is often more than 30 students. This is to say nothing of general freelancers, the self-employed and local businesses who will surely struggle in this time. Astoundingly, they are often told: “Well, you signed up for this lifestyle.” If you do have this sentiment, please reconsider how helpful it is in an already difficult time.
The elderly are among the first to be told to self-isolate. Whilst one can understand the logic behind the idea of a vulnerable group of people refraining from contact with others, this will spill into what will be another health crisis – one of mental health, as many elderly live on their own and will have nobody to directly communicate with.
All these bad omens loom over us; all the while, the insidious amoebic monster that is COVID-19 indiscriminately and exponentially closes in on the human population.
Self-isolation is a responsible thing to do so our healthcare system isn’t overwhelmed. I know plenty of peripatetic teachers who are offering Skype lessons. Many schools are delivering lessons online. Many performers are offering livestreams. We’re doing what we can, and in some ways, it facilitates our creativity to go by alternate methods.
We’re lucky we live in an age when we can do this. And with some in voluntary or imposed isolation, it may be an opportunity to deliver music, via correspondence, to make this time bearable for them and also perhaps have some sort of subsidisation for this. After all, music has that timeless capacity to heal the soul.
If you’re really struggling, reach out for help. It’s not your fault that you’re in this situation. It’s unprecedented. And if someone is struggling with rent, think of whether you can at least temporarily spare a couch for a friend, or do some shopping, or lend some resources. There’s no vaccine yet – our next best bet to fight this thing is compassion.
This is a testing time for all humanity and, who knows, it may be a dress rehearsal for worse disasters in future, very likely relating to climate change. The best we can do is to be compassionate, keep up a sense of humour, reach out to people, band together, and retain resilience.
We’ve proved we can do this with the recent bushfires in Australia. Let’s all, around the globe, respond calmly, logically, creatively, and compassionately to one another.
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