Our Virtual Tribe: Sustaining and Enhancing Community via Online Music Improvisation

Abstract

This article documents experiences of Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra’s virtual, synchronous improvisation sessions during COVID-19 pandemic via interviews with 29 participants. Sessions included an international, gender balanced, and cross generational group of over 70 musicians all of whom were living under conditions of social distancing. All sessions were recorded using Zoom software. After 3 months of twice weekly improvisation sessions, 29 interviews with participants were undertaken, recorded, transcribed, and analyzed. Key themes include how the sessions provided opportunities for artistic development, enhanced mood, reduced feelings of isolation, and sustained and developed community. Particular attention is placed upon how improvisation as a universal, real time, social, and collaborative process facilitates interaction, allowing the technological affordances of software (latencies, sound quality, and gallery/speaker view) and hardware (laptop, tablet, instruments, microphones, headphones, and objects in room) to become emergent properties of artistic collaborations. The extent to which this process affects new perceptual and conceptual breakthroughs for practitioners is discussed as is the crucial and innovative relationship between audio and visual elements. Analysis of edited films of the sessions highlight artistic and theoretical and conceptual issues discussed. Emphasis is given to how the domestic environment merges with technologies to create The Theatre of Home.

Exploring Changes in Musical Behaviors of Caregivers and Children in Social Distancing During the COVID-19 Outbreak

“…It has been shown that social interactions through music can effectively reduce feelings of loneliness and provide a sense of togetherness and belonging (Labbé et al, 2007;Laukka, 2007;Miranda and Claes, 2009;Tymoszuk et al, 2020). This may explain a general trend observed across the globe regarding the use of music through online musical gatherings (e.g., live music streams and concerts) as a positive coping strategy to deal with feelings of loneliness and social/physical disconnection (Cabedo-Mas et al, 2020;MacDonald et al, 2020;Vandenberg et al, 2021).…”

Music for hedonia and eudaimonia during pandemic social isolation

“…Many also faced unforeseen challenges managing unfamiliar software for live-streaming and remote teaching (Onderdijk et al, 2021a). MacDonald et al's (2021) interviews with members of Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra suggests that joint music making in virtual environments had the capacity to at least partly alleviate negative mental health through social connection, empowerment, and identity validation. Some affluent popular artists organized and contributed to charity benefit concerts (McIntoch, 2020).…”

A Crowd-Sourced Database of Coronamusic: Documenting Online Making and Sharing of Music During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Reminiscent of previous outbreaks such as “The Plague of Saint Charles” hitting Milan in 1576 (Chiu, 2020 ), daily routines involving balcony singing and joint, steadfast clapping for healthcare workers accompanied by loud vocalizations, whistling, and percussive use of kitchen utensils (Taylor, 2020 ) offered musical ways of imposing structure upon chaos and expressing gratitude through ritualistic behavior (Imber-Black, 2020 ). When music teaching moved online (Philippe et al, 2020 ; de Bruin, 2021 ), musical skills and social cohesion were nurtured through lockdown-compatible, video-conference-based rehearsal formats (Datta, 2020 ; Daffern et al, 2021 ; MacDonald et al, 2021 ). Governmental and private organizations commissioned and disseminated health information videos promoting hand-washing (Thampi et al, 2020 ) and similar protective measures through musical mnemonics and dance challenges.…”