I am a musician, and I have been fortunate to have been able to keep working throughout the pandemic. Although the joy of performing live music disappeared, I taught daily lessons via Zoom and even started a free online choir, which I still run every Friday at 8pm (see my website for more details).
Something that I noticed was that engaging with people through music not only gave them something to pass the long hours stuck in isolation at home, but it really had a profound effect on people’s mental health.
The pandemic has had a lot of unforeseen consequences, not the least of which has been a decline in people’s mental well-being. The latest lockdown saw us forced back inside during the darkest months of the year, with no definite ending in sight. The good weather and novelty of the first lockdown long forgotten, the confused and anticlimactic Christmas of 2020 was just the start of an incredibly trying few months.
Now that restrictions are lifting and summer is around the corner, things are starting to look up. But the long-term effects of the past year will not disappear overnight.
That is why I urge people to begin engaging with music. Whether you are a total novice or a lapsed player, there has never been a better time to start getting stuck into some kind of music. It is an activity that has immensely positive benefits for both cognitive development and mental wellbeing. Take singing for example, there is an undeniable link between our voices and our emotions. If we are happy, we laugh. If we are sad, we cry. If we are scared, we scream. In fact, the first thing that any of us did in our lives was express our emotions through our voice; we were born and began to cry out, communicating our internal feelings without any knowledge of language.
This link is not something to be sniffed at. There is a catharsis that occurs if you begin to engage with music in an emotional capacity. If you are depressed and you sing a song that really lets you indulge and express those negative emotions, you can overcome them and purge them from your mind. The same goes for playing a song on an instrument; you transcend your negativity and create something very personal and very positive. I have experienced this countless times, and I really believe that it is one of the most powerful ways of pulling yourself out of the darkness.
Music is a truly unifying force in a world that has at times become divided, and now more than ever we need something positive to help us get back to normal. So take up an instrument, start a band, join a choir, or even just go to the pub and watch a band playing for the first time in a year. Engage with music and I promise, you won’t regret it.
Stay safe, Ben Goble
