Plato once said, “Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.” One year into the COVID-19 pandemic and being encouraged to socially distance from others, or better yet, stay at home, I cannot think of a better quote that resonates with our time today.
I am a creature of habit. My best friend loves to make fun of me for listening to the same three Broadway musical soundtracks and the same seven Queen songs on repeat. However, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, I find myself delving into my past through music in hopes of finding the same kind of comfort I had living a more “normal” life that, looking back, I realize I took for granted. I have not ventured out much since, but that’s okay because that sense of nostalgia that comes with beautiful, familiar melodies is what’s getting me through quarantine.
In 2019, I had the pleasure of watching the first performance of Hadestown on Broadway after it won the Tony for “Best Musical” that year. Hadestown has been one of my favorite musicals for over a year now and I still obsess over its soundtrack. The musical is a unique blend of folk and indie style music that tells the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice for the stage. It follows Orpheus’ journey to retrieve the love of his life, Eurydice, after she was taken to Hades’ hellish Underworld filled with factory workers building a wall between humans on Earth from the ones living in the Underworld. Orpheus, being the ever-optimistic person that he is, also believes that he can make springtime come again by singing a song that appeals to the gods. In the song “Livin’ it Up on Top,” Persephone makes a glorious return to Earth and restores the spring season for everyone thanks to Orpheus’ song. The following lyrics from that song have been my mantra for the past year: “To the world we dream about; and, the one we live in now.”
Every time I think of these lyrics, I’m instantly transported back to my state of mind when I was watching the show: the awe, the wonder, my imagination taking flight about the possibilities of the world and the possibilities in my life that will come when I turn 18 and become a legal adult. However, we all know what happens next. I turned 18 years old two weeks after the world shut down because of the pandemic spreading globally, started my college journey five months later, and made mask-wearing and social distancing my new reality. In spite of this, I feel the “wings” that make my mind soar back in time to when I first listened to this song and feel reanimated and see the “life [in] everything.” These lyrics and the feeling of nostalgia I get from them are my saving grace and remind me that it is still possible to dream of a better world by taking action and doing your part right now.
After examining my own feelings and managing to find stability during quarantine because of music, I started to become fascinated with people’s relationship with music during these times. My friend Camille from back home in Connecticut has been turning on some tunes to channel her emotions whenever life in quarantine gets overwhelming. Lately, she’s been immersing herself in the world of alternative music where new artists are showing up every day on various platforms, consequently making her music taste evolve. She told me “I’ve found a lot of great communities through music as well, since there have been so many new artists cropping up that simultaneously create songs, stream on Twitch, and do YouTube.”
My friend, Elizabeth, similarly, unintentionally branched out in terms of her music taste. She finds that music is a great way to have a connection with someone even when you’re physically apart and is able to find music that resonates with her mindset from artists like AJR, as many of their songs talk about relatable topics like establishing a life for yourself after childhood or moving away from home. She explains, “For me it’s almost like I’m listening to what the other person (in this case the artist) has to say and then responding to their side of the conversation by enjoying the music alongside them.”
I have met some friends at Kenyon who were able to relate with me in terms of listening to nostalgic music from our past as a form of indulging ourselves. Rebecca, for instance, has been listening to music that reminds her of high school as well as some 2000s pop throwbacks from elementary school. This music makes her feel “a sense of familiarity. There’s really something very comforting about listening to music you loved when you were younger because it really does transport you back to that time.” Lately, she’s been listening to some music that friends recommend for her such as Frank Ocean and Sufjan Stevens. For Maddie, however, she’s been listening to a lot of timeless, upbeat classics from the 60s, 70s, and 80s to help her “forget modern times for a moment and imagine a different time (i.e. when there was no pandemic).”
I’ve also met some people who became more invested in playing music because of quarantine. For Julia, music has “helped me feel certain emotions when I can’t quite pinpoint them myself,” and is able to find the words she’s looking for and find a new point of view because of it. She admits that she sings and has little experience playing the guitar and the piano, but says “casually recording music has given me a safe space during the pandemic to share my voice and however I’m feeling. It’s something I do just for myself and make sure there’s no pressure in it—and it acts as a way of self-soothing for me!”
When the days seem to blend together and we yearn to escape but can’t, may we all find comfort in music while we quarantine and make Plato’s sentiment about music a reality for us.