Social Distancing - Nothing New

The coronavirus is forcing us to experience social distancing to the extreme, but actually we have been flirting with separating ourselves from others for quite a while. And we’ve been doing it by choice.

Several years ago I remember being shocked at seeing three young women friends together in a restaurant.  They were sitting very close to one another but were not paying attention to each other at all.  Instead, they were all talking or texting on their phones while their friends were right in front of them face to face. So instead of communicating with each other, they were interacting with their phones. Today, that has become a very common occurrence.

The social distancing that society has experienced over the last ten years or so has happened so gradually, that we have scarcely noticed it.  

Little by little we left the global community and chose to live within ourselves.

Back in the day, people trolled the shopping centers together, shopping, gabbing, going for coffee. Now the long hallways of malls are dark, quiet and almost spooky. Today, we shop alone on a computer.

People used to gather in concert halls sitting with hundreds of other people, some known- some unknown, to experience great music together. Now they listen to huge symphonic works through tiny ear buds on their phones by themselves.

Even TV was a group experience.  Although favorite shows were watched in living rooms, everyone throughout America was watching the same shows at the same moment. The next day they talked with friends, family and workmates to share thoughts about the program. It was a communal experience.

Things are different now, and they’re lonelier now. We watch what we want and when we want – on a TV, or a computer or even on the miniature screens of cell phones. Again, by ourselves.

And now that solitary lifestyle has reached its apex. The distancing we imposed on ourselves has become mandated by the government because of the coronavirus. We may object, but It’s simply an outgrowth of what society has been approaching for years.

The only difference is we have no choice. We CANNOT experience live art together and we’re suffering because of it. We understand, now more than ever, what a rich emotional experience it is, listening to a concert or watching a show AS IT IS BEING CREATED along with our community.

For music and theater, the dynamic of an audience sitting in front of the performers make a profound difference to people on both sides of the footlights and the art itself.

When I saw the great musical “Fun Home” on Broadway several years ago, it was performed in a theater-in-the-round format.  As I was watching this moving play on the stage, I was noticed other members of the audience responding to the drama at the same time I was. The experience made me appreciate that I was part of an entire neighborhood of people as I watched this performance.

Musicians and performers are frantically trying to fill the void by flooding the internet with thousands of hours of operas, concerts, plays and home concerts. And these artistic on-line events succeed in making our “jail time” more palatable.

As we remain sequestered in our homes for these many weeks, imagine what it would be like without our beloved technology. We’d drive each other crazy, if not to homicide.

Beyond the arts, people are so eager to reach out and be with their fellow humans, they are snatching up all manner of means to make it happen.

Zoom, the video conferencing app, used to be popular only for professionals attending group meetings and such.  Now, this digital  way of linking people from across town, globe, and city together on one screen has been a game changer. Not only are business folks able to do commerce on the platform while at home, but it is being stretched so we can experience concerts, attend religious services and have family get-togethers.  Zoom has now become ubiquitous.

Musicians are doing everything possible to make their music available to other music lovers.  The Metropolitan Opera is livestreaming many of its opera performances for free (https://www.metopera.org/).

WKAR FM’s Jamie Paisley released a list of livestreamed concerts of local and nationwide concerts that is so popular that the NY Times published his link  https://www.wkar.org/post/list-live-streaming-concerts

And a day doesn’t go by when I don’t receive a torrent of YouTubes of professional and amateur musicians performing their music for the entire world to enjoy. 

One popular video that was making the rounds this week was a fun family from England doing its thing with their version of a Les Miz song (“One More Day”).  To watch this talented family make music together is so delightful that they have had over 7 million views so far. TV stations and newspapers have featured them in stories in the UK and the US https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nf4XxnL4lPk

One particularly professional video was created by the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. Selected orchestra members play their individual parts to the “Ode To Joy” movement of Beethoven’s 9^th Symphony in the confines of their at-home practice rooms.  It begins with a solo instrument playing the famous melody and slowly each additional instrument is added (brilliant editing!) and then suddenly the entire choir joins them.  This video garnered 2 million views.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eXT60rbBVk

The Rotterdam video reminded me of an Academy Award winning documentary movie made in the early 70’s when a young and hot Zubin Mehta rehearsed and conducted the L.A. Philharmonic in Ravel’s “Bolero”. Even though it’s almost 50 years old, this film is still a joy to watch, and it’s also fun to see the hippie styles that were all the rage back then. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NaECceEB-M.

Also, we’ve seen Italians leaning over their balconies to sing opera together, neighbors in Buffalo singing and dancing in the streets and much more. 

People want to enjoy togetherness and the group feeling that music provides.  Yes, these creative videos popping up everywhere are a great distraction from our solitude, but let’s not forget that nothing replaces the real thing.

Nothing replaces the thrilling sound of hearing the complete harmonic spectrum of a cymbal crash, the body shaking jolt of a full ensemble hitting a FFF together, watching musicians communicating with one another on stage to make the musical phrase work just right.  And yes, it’s even exhilarating to hear a glorious mistake made by a world class soloist.  Hey folks, it’s live and the risks of making this great music is still present, even when the performer is a famous artist.  Music has been called an invisible art form.  Once it’s created on stage, it’s gone forever. Let’s savor it in the moment.

So maybe after this imposed absence from experiencing live art and being with one another, we will go back to communicating together the old way – face to face, touching each other at times, and reveling in people’s reactions and inflections during a conversation.  We’ll be together and go to artistic events together.  And social distancing will be an old phrase in our vocabulary that will fade away from memory. 

And maybe, after all this is over, people will socialize keeping  phones under wraps rediscovering a new appreciation for being and conversing with one another without restrictions. And Social Distancing will finally end.