blogcutter

Is it safe to sing in public? How about playing woodwinds or brass instruments? Public health officials have been erring on the side of caution and even in outdoor spaces like restaurant patios, singing typically is not allowed. But how much do we really know?

It is of course problematic to sing while masked, let alone play a flute or a trumpet. But can we hope for First Aid for Live Aid - or even for smaller live concerts?

Research takes time, effort, expertise and money - but there's plenty of all those resources being funnelled into the quest to make music-making safe again. In the U.K., ear nose and throat specialist Dr. Declan Costello has made some encouraging inroads with his research:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/jul/22/sing-funnel-covid-19-lab-hoping-declare-singing-safe?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Life has handed us a virus. Now let's make COVAID!

It has been pointed out by a number of international organizations that accurate documentation becomes MORE important during a crisis, not less.

This may relate to political and legal actions - we still need to know where we stand with regard to our governments and our laws, we still have basic rights and we still should be confident as citizens of a democratic society that our rights and freedoms are being upheld. In that regard, I say kudos to Trudeau fils for NOT invoking the federal Emergencies Act. He did attempt to push through some rather draconian budget provisions which would have severely restrained parliamentary oversight, but
when that happened, the opposition parties worked as opposition parties are supposed to, and those provisions were modified. With a few notable exceptions, I've been reasonably satisfied with how the politicians in Canada are working together.

On the other hand, we do still have a problematic divide in this country between the information-rich and the information-poor. Some twenty to twenty-five years since home internet became fairly commonplace, there are still a lot of communication gaps and breakdowns, particularly now that you can't go to a library or internet café or visit a friend to use e-mail or other internet. It's partly an urban/rural thing and partly a matter of income distribution and other factors too.

There are some noisy Bell trucks in our neighbourhood right now installing fibre or cable or whatever. I'm told that should give us faster and more reliable internet service although the nitty gritty techie details of it elude me!

But aside from the difficulties in accessing cold hard facts and information, there is a certain level of CULTURAL poverty that sets in during a lockdown. You can't physically visit museums or art galleries or go to concerts or conferences or gastronomic events or craft fairs even in your OWN home town, let alone travelling and seeing the world! Yes, we're very fortunate to have the option of virtual visits to all these landmarks. And to the extent that we don't, it does certainly highlight the importance of further expanding electronic documentation of our heritage and culture. People increasingly see the need for it, whereas previously they might have considered it an appalling waste of money and other scarce resources. Here are a couple of links I found interesting:

https://librarianship.ca/news/statement-duty-to-document/

https://en.unesco.org/news/turning-threat-covid-19-opportunity-greater-support-documentary-heritage

It's been said that when a new technology comes along, it doesn't necessarily supplant previous ones. For example, we still listen to the radio even though we also have TV and video and Netflix. There's still a market for vinyl records even though we have CDs and MP3s and all manners of streaming. Of course, formats do become obsolete too - think 8-tracks and diskettes amongst others.

So yes, for now it's a bonus to be able to let our thumbs do the walking. But I have to say, I'm still looking forward to getting back to some of the OLD normal!