This is an English translation of an article published in Nikkan San on March 5, 2020, as a part of my column, “The Way of the Pianist.
The threat of Coronavirus has been disruptive. Around the globe, schools have been closed, stock market has plummeted, and events are being cancelled. In the meantime, a letter from a school principle to his students, during a school shutdown, has been circulating on social media. He starts the letter by referring to Manzoni’s “Betrothed” a timeless classic depicting an epidemic in Milan in the seventeenth century. He then cautions his students against mass hysteria – how it can alert one to threats all around him/her, real and imagined, eventually seeking enemies out of surrounding people. We must never forget to remain calm, aspire to be better and to remember that our real treasures are in our society and humanity, and act accordingly.
Relationship between music and existential crisis including plagues can be traced back to ancient history. In the age when the mechanisms of nature remained a mystery, people relied on music as a way to pray, to sooth, to commune, and to forget. And ultimately, how much more advanced are we from our ancestors without any way of knowing our future, or what death is?
“Music is a bigger weapon for stopping disorder than anything on earth,“ said Wallace Hartley, the leader of the eight musicians who perished with Titanic. My personal memory resonates with his words. A few days into a complete blackout, my roommates who usually kept very separate lives, gathered around my piano as I practiced. It became an impromptu concert by the candle light. I refer to that memory of us smiling to each other with the music when considering my role as a musician in the context of this world.
The threat of Coronavirus will be forgotten sooner or later, but our survival instincts will keep finding the next crises. What is the role of music, and role of musicians, and how most effectively can we serve our humanity? My query continues.