‘Apart from the obvious health risks, the COVID-19 pandemic has introduced a number of stressors’ that may necessitate costly or unavailable pandemic response strategies (eg, therapy, socialising). During the first lockdown period (April-May 2020), there was a poll conducted by the Humanities & Social Sciences Communications online journal. It was done with approximately 5000 people from three continents, to see how their music listening and music creating habits had changed.
More than half of those polled said they relied on music to help them cope. ‘People experiencing increased negative emotions used music for emotional control, whereas people experiencing increased pleasant emotions used music as a proxy for social engagement’. Using light gradient-boosted regressor models, ‘the most important determinants of an individual's use of music to cope were identified, the most intriguing of which was their interest in "coronamusic."’ Overall, the findings highlight the significance of real-time musical responses to social crises, as well as individually personalised musical behaviour modifications to suit socio-emotional demands.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, a multitude of coping mechanisms rose to prominence, but none garnered as much public support and media backing as music. ‘Videos of Italians singing from balconies quickly went viral’, spawning a slew of creative ways to listen to music during the lockdown. A Vietnamese government-commissioned music video urging good hand washing technique and social distancing procedures went viral, sparking a TikTok dance challenge. Shared narratives evolved quickly, praising music for giving social connection and comfort despite physical separation, as well as brightness and comedy in the face of an all- too-dominant backdrop of negative feelings.
‘The outpouring of musical invention was diverse, building a set of devoted repertoires and practises known as "coronamusic,"’ which refers to or is inspired by the pandemic. In a nutshell, ‘people made new pieces, themed playlists, and modified well-known songs’, all with the goal of deriving new meaning from an unexpected situation. Artists broadcast performances from their homes to tens of thousands of spectators as a substitute for live music, and professional and ‘lay music ensembles experimented’ with performing together using video-conferencing software. There were even online concerts with talented musicians that took place over Zoom and various other platforms, wherein people would have to purchase tickets just like a real-time concert.
Following that, a small survey was conducted by me in my social circle, to assess the impact of music during lockdown. According to the findings, music assisted 80 percent of the people surveyed, in dealing with stress and anxiety. By creating shared playlists, 35% of respondents used music to distract themselves from the pandemic and as a bonding mechanism. About 40% of those polled agreed that music has a healing power, that it relieves stress and makes one feel less alone.
(The information for this report is partly sourced from Neuroscience News, Nature.com, and dw.com).
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