Music During Covid-19
This has become a year of isolation, loss, and fear for all of us navigating our new reality during the Covid-19 epidemic. However, this reality is especially amplified for many chronically and critically ill patients in hospitals throughout the country who are bereft of visitors and social services. While many of us have not left our houses, many senior citizens have been unable to leave their rooms for months. Human connection is of the utmost importance for us all to survive this global crisis together; what better force than music to help us express the inexpressible. This is why I will dedicate time to performing private virtual concerts to patients in hospitals and those in nursing homes and assisted living centers during the crisis. Please contact me if you or somebody you know would like to connect.
A Little Background
I was fading in and out of consciousness and barely aware of a room full of yelling voices. I couldn’t see or talk but I grabbed somebody’s hand and squeezed as hard as I could. The feeling of that hand was one of the most powerful human connections I have ever felt.
Holding on to somebody’s hand seems so simple, yet so vital. I have always been drawn to music because it has allowed me to feel connected with others in a dimension that transcends the physical. I received a call from a concert organizer in England in December of 2017 with a request: Could I perform a concert for a gentleman with terminal cancer? Herb had attended two of my concerts in England and I honestly don’t remember meeting him in the reception line. I felt unbelievably humbled to receive such a request and performed a private satellite concert from the US for Herb in England a few days later. Speaking to Herb and sharing some of my favorite piano pieces brought an intimate connection I would have thought impossible. Herb passed away a few months later but his request inspired me to return to performing to help bring an element of beauty and human connection to the world. So even though I can’t physically hold your hand right now, I hope we can connect through music together.
Thank you Herb, this one is for you.
You can listen to more of this story in my interview with The Conditioned Musician.