It is always exciting to start a new project. This crisis has made people creativity explode and I found myself being part of new ideas, projects and initiatives that would probably have never been born if life was still going as ‘normal’. The old normality. When I was saying yes to new initiatives because I wanted to change the world of music with my actions rather than with my words. The last two months before confinement, I found myself in meaningful projects I thought could make a difference. I don’t think anyone, included me, understood why I would prefer do that rather than have a ‘safe’ job. I teach, I freelance, I should be happy with what I am doing. I was seeking for new approaches to answer a very complex question: what is humanity about?
I said yes to initiatives like the Philharmonicoeur, orchestrated by Nicolas Simon. I spent a week in a Paris on strike sharing Tchaikovsky’s work with populations that are always forgotten - violent suburbs area, poor social background, penitentiaries, single parents with no means, fragile adults, disabled young adults. The new Notre Dame, the new Miserable, the new Nanas. During that week, I wished Zola and Hugo were not so contemporary. But the humanity and compassion that we shared was truly beautiful. Helping each other to just get to the rehearsals and back, spending hours walking in Paris for there was no transport, car pooling with others, sharing laughters, discovering each other, drinking coffee, offering and sharing crepes with our audience. Just the simple fact of being - being human, being equal for a moment because we could all feel and try to talk about it was a magical experience.
I threw myself in the new adventures the Global Leaders Program set me up to do. Two wonderful experiences: helping a group of Mapuche Women in Frutillar - Chile to find a mean to sell their goods and live a decent life; and try and understand how to help the formidable first project of eco-music school built in Latin America on Easter Island. Without understanding a word of Spanish, I communicated with my heart for the two weeks’ missions I was set up to do. Observation, empathy, humanity again. With an open mind and an open heart, we worked tirelessly with my colleagues to find solutions in respect of the cultures we were discovering.
Or finally engaging myself in the Masterclasses/orchestra coaching I gave alongside with Korneel Bernolet in the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp - Belgium just one week before lockdown. Sharing passionately about the physical approach to play an instrument, to the more philosophical matter of a Rameau Opera with students coming from all over Europe.
How is it this different from today?
My new normality… Beside online teaching, I realised that what I actually need to be human myself was bonding. I need to feel a connection with the people I share my passion with. Posting videos online is not enough, calling is not enough, zooming is not enough, nothing is enough. I want to touch people so they feel better, so we mourn and laugh together. This is what being human is about. Feeling together.
Playing in a ‘traditional’ set up in a room with chairs and musicians spaced for security is not bonding. Social distancing is anything but bonding. Yes listening to the same music at the same time is still powerful, but how we deliver the music is going to have to change. We need to communicate differently with the public, so they can commune with us, and with themselves. Launching ‘Unlocking Baroques Memories’ with Christopher Monks, the Armonico Consort and the Alzheimer society make me hope we can reach populations in care homes. Those populations who are locked inside themselves and have no bond with the present world anymore. Reaching in for them to be able to reach out.
Being part of the ‘Thankyou NHS music’ has been an epiphany moment in this period of lockdown. (see my previous article).
Helping initiatives that take in account the environmental issues we are facing as well as the educational crisis a population finds itself entrapped in makes me feel more connected an prepared to the world 'after'. Easter Island has been the catalyst of all my revelation so far and I wish I could help their initiatives more on the ground.
What about playing? Going on a musical retreat with fellow musicians and letting us discover what this is all about. I am very much looking forward to the three days I am going to spend in France playing Jolivet and Roussel. I am absolutely certain the discussions we will have there to reinvent the concept of concerts and festivals will be enriching.
So what is humanity about? it’s reaching in so you can spread what you find within yourself to the world around you. It’s accepting to channel your thoughts and your feelings so the people you care about can finally feel supported through you. It’s being the whole rather than just yourself.