So now what?

A year of isolation, of singing in my apartment and not making music with other humans...so now what?

I'm getting my second dose of the Pfizer vaccine this week and it hit me that I could maybe start making musical safely in public again and I felt...overwhelmed. I talked with my therapist (because mental health matters) about this and she reassured me that I'm not the only one.

When the lockdown happened I went into shock. I was either sailing through or a complete depressed mess, crying every night and aching for human interaction. Now? It all seems so daunting...

Making music in a post-pandemic climate seems almost impossible, yet we've been able to create some pretty spectacular things during this time. Most importantly I hope that this time causes some music companies to make some serious changes (ie: inclusivity, abolishing yellow and black face in opera, debuting new works especially by composers of color and female identifying creators, and using virtual concerts as a serious platform). 

For educators, this new age of Zoom lessons has been a blessing because we're able to reach people that maybe though because they were out of state, or the country couldn't receive quality lessons! I for one, even though Zoom can be exhausting, have found that virtual lessons are just as constructive as in person ones! Of course, I miss seeing my students, I've been able to expand Prism to all over the U.S because it's been normalized. Making music and creating a safe space for creative minds is imperative, and if a student can find that on Zoom, then that's perfectly ok. Because, we'll need more of that in this post-pandemic world. More acceptance, more safety, more inclusivity and more compassion.

So now what?

We move forward, slowly and safely and for now you can still hear me singing opera in my apartment.

xoxo,
​Daina