The music is pumping through the speakers and ricocheting off the walls, off the people, off the floor. It’s all encompassing, blasting into my body like a bombshell from a cannon rocketing into my heart, causing my blood to throb through my veins. I melt into this sensation, fully surrendering my body to the bombshell. It’s magical; the feeling of being lifted into the air through music. This thrill was temporarily lost during the COVID-19 pandemic as concerts were canceled and bands were no longer able to practice in the same room together.
Throughout the pandemic, musicians have been struggling, especially musicians that were just starting their musical career in 2020. These lesser known artists rely on exposure, and due to lockdown regulations they no longer had a public image.
During lockdown, artists connected with music more than they had beforehand. With more time alone, many artists looked inward and found the reason why they play or perform, which resulted in music growing more intimate and personal for them. In the journal article, Our Rebirth: Reshaping the Music Discipline after the Covid-19, author Lisa A. Urkevich wrote “the isolation of the pandemic created a renewed burst of creative energy, a desire to connect with human kind” to combat solitude.
Many musical students sought out different methods of expressing their creativity through music. Two first-year students at Northeastern University, Maddy Westcott (she/her) and Claire Coffman (she/her), did just as Urkevich discussed: they used their musical creativity to starve off the loneliness that came with isolation.
Westcott and Coffman, both 19, recently sat with me on the floor of the film studio in Snell Library. As we discussed their coronavirus era music, purple and pink lights gleamed on our faces creating dark pink shadows beneath our chins. Westcott's sleek black and white guitar was leaning against the glass table behind us, the light sinking into the shiny black surface.
Reflecting on her time in the rock band, School of Rock, Westcott said while she has her own personal goals for her music, she explained that, “when I practiced or performed with my bandmates [before COVID], there was magic in creating one sound together - it is a power that can be felt by everyone involved.” During the lockdown, Westcott and her band continued to practice virtually, but the connection of playing in person, “could not be replicated in a virtual setting… through many lagging Zoom meetings” stated Westcott. Instead, she practiced with her older brother. They rocked out together, singing and playing guitar, but Westcott expressed that she missed performing with her band.
For Coffman, who often nodded as Westcott was speaking, the COVID pandemic led to her making music alone, “for me, singing and playing guitar was always a more solitary activity, but I always loved singing in a group of my friends and learning songs together. Before covid, music was a huge part of my day-to-day life, as I would practice daily.”
She continued, “When the pandemic hit, music became even more important as I had all this time at home, and music became not only a pastime, but a way to relieve some of the anxiety I was feeling at the time.” Many artists related to Caire, as music became an outlet for the stressors that came with the lockdown and the pandemic in general.
“In many ways, covid allowed me to dive deeper into music, and I felt more connected to it with all the time to practice and try new things. That being said, online choir classes were kind of laughable and I missed the sense of community I had built around music” Coffman expressed.
Eve Coffman (right) Claire Coffman (left)
Later I spoke with Coffman’s sibling, Eve Coffman (they/them), who is an independent singer songwriter. Eve, age 24, expressed that “before the pandemic [Eve] was mostly writing songs and learning covers alone in [their] room, but would go to the occasional open mic night to perform.”
Without the option of performing live, Eve developed what they called a “small online following.” “I was able to put a lot of time into my YouTube channel and other social medias and grow my following,” with an abundance of free time they were able to “[write] a lot and were able to put out a song during that time” They posted updates of songs they were writing on Instagram, to give their followers some insight on the behind the scenes for their music making process. YouTube is where they posted finished songs, often linking their YouTube account in their Instagram posts.
The three of them, Coffman, Westcott, and Eve, understood each other; there is a comfort in playing solo, but performing with likeminded people is a surreal experience that forms a sense of connection and community with band mates.
Unlike Coffman, Westcott, and Eve, who were at the beginning of their musical careers, Sydney Gish, age 25, was an established Indie rock musician when COVID struck in 2020. At this time, she was touring and performing live across the US. Gish creates all her songs completely on her own; she writes her lyrics, plays guitar, beatboxes, and incorporates creative forms of percussion, such as, ping-pong balls bouncing on a table or stomping feet.
I spoke to Gish who is a 2020 Northeastern University graduate, when she performed at Northeastern University’s live music venue, “After Hours Show”. We spoke about how the coronavirus shutdowns and the pandemic have affected our mental health. Gish said “I think it’s really cool that artists got really productive. And, some of the music that came from COVID was sick,” Gish elaborated, “but that wasn’t me. I kinda burnt out for a long time, you know it happens.”
She said the pandemic interfered with her songwriting creative energy, leaving her uninspired. Instead, she directed her creativity into cooking dinners for herself, family, and friends. Her inspiration for songwriting continues to be low, but as venues are opening up again, Gish’s motivation and enthusiasm for performing live has increased, “this is the longest run I have done since covid” Gish stated, referring to her tour through eastern US universities. “I’m touring around going to colleges until I have new material to tour,” she said. The COVID pandemic impeded Gish’s musical career, but it gave her the time to develop a refreshed look on her songwriting process. She needed to refine her original technique, as it was no longer effective.
Other musicians said they discovered a new voice and a new way to experience music alone, without a band or other musicians bopping alongside them. The creative challenge of the pandemic inspired “passionate artists to take back music, to lead rather than trail behind” Urkevich wrote. With this newly sparked passion, Urkevich states that “extraordinary opportunities lie before us.” Artists are ready to start anew, “the music performance world is opening back up again,” Westcott said. “Going to concerts and experiencing music live after its long hiatus has been so amazing and something that I won't take for granted again.”
The music is pumping through the speakers and ricocheting off the walls, off the people, off the floor. It’s all encompassing, blasting into my body like a bombshell from a cannon rocketing into my heart, causing my blood to throb through my veins. I melt into this sensation, fully surrendering my body to the bombshell. It’s magical; the feeling of being lifted into the air through the music. This thrill was temporarily lost during the COVID-19 pandemic as concerts were canceled and bands were no longer able to practice in the same room together.
Throughout the pandemic, musicians have been struggling, especially musicians that were just starting their musical career in 2020. These lesser known artists rely on exposure, and due to lockdown regulations they no longer had a public image. During lockdown, artists connected with music more than they had beforehand. With more time alone, many artists looked inward and found the reason why they play or perform, which resulted in music growing more intimate and personal. In the journal article, Our Rebirth: Reshaping the Music Discipline after the Covid-19, author Lisa A. Urkevich wrote “the isolation of the pandemic created a renewed burst of creative energy, a desire to connect with human kind” to combat solitude.
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