Volume 26 Issue 8 - July and August 2021

FEATURE
A Turkish music trio, recording for Labyrinth’s Modal Music series,
in collaboration with Arts in the Park: Begum Boyanci, Agah Ecevit,
and Burak Ekmekçi – August 2020, in Toronto’s Monarch Park.
Existential dread
as the music threatens
to go public again ANDREW TIMAR
TRENZA DEL SUR MEDIA
At uneasy moments, I often look to nature and the
human imprint in it, in a search for equanimity. In
11 years with The WholeNote, I have repeatedly
begun my musings with a description of the view from
my window of the busy midtown Toronto park across
the street.
As I sipped my coffee this sunny morning, a coach’s shrill whistle
and shouts grabbed my attention. It gladdened my heart to see the
little league taking over the baseball diamond for the first time in a
year. The sand infield was prepped well over a month ago, but today is
as early as the provincial pandemic “Three Steps to Reopening” rules
allow for organized activity. The groomed green outfield highlights
the kids’ yellow jerseys and white knickers as they warm up. And just
beyond, behind the tall chain link fence, the community tennis courts
are full once more with bouncing singles and doubles.
I’ve been dragging my heels all week trying to get my head around
a story about what the Ontario live public music scene for the balance
of this summer might look like. I’ve done my research. But stepping
back from the data I’ve gathered, one unanswered question keeps
getting in the way: despite what has been planned, what will actually
get to happen? It’s an uneasy feeling.
Just this past week, I found myself sharing this feeling of dis-ease
with Sean Williams, an American musician, researcher and writer
currently working as a professor of ethnomusicology at The Evergreen
State College in Olympia, Washington; she had some helpful advice.
“You recognize that the exact thing you’re feeling is what all the rest of
us are feeling, right? Existential dread combined with worries about
our collective ability to be public again has made millions of us hesitant
to even go to a shop, let alone a live concert.”
Small World’s Global Toronto 2021
Prior to my chat with Williams, I had just attended Small World’s
GT21 conference (virtually of course) in the third week of June, titled
“Global Toronto Re-imagines and Shapes a Better Future for the Music
Sector.” It was run by a staff of 11, and was bigger than ever, with a motto
proclaiming “Rooted in Toronto and operating through a global lens.”
Logging into sessions all week, I listened to myriad topics straddling
the globe. Just a sampling: EDI (Equity, Diversity, Inclusion),
Indigenous-settler relations, interrogating the idea of genre, as well as
professional development sessions. A TikTok masterclass and discussions
of post-pandemic streaming strategy were also on the agenda.
The numbers GT21 published after the wrap illustrate its increased
scope this year: there were 17 international delegations and 1118
participants from over 70 countries. They could access 103 events and
232 virtual meetings, and view performances by 22 spotlight artists;
and “2,720 new connections made.”
Far more people than would likely have been able to attend a live event.
Baby steps
But in the wider frame of things, my uneasiness persists. I can’t
even figure out how I can visit my kids and toddler granddaughter
in a distant city before we’re all fully vaccinated and feel safe again.
So when can I begin to rehearse with a large ensemble or orchestra
and gig in front of a live audience? After a year and counting, and
largely out of work, how will performing artists function in the postpandemic
world? And who will sit or stand, shoulder to shoulder, to
watch and hear us play?
The yellow jerseys in the outfield in the park across the road from
my house surely signal a return to normality, doesn’t it? Yet the live
performing arts sector is struggling, still locked down for the most
part. It’s looking like the fall, or even next year, before venues will be
able to reopen with full live houses – if they can hold on that long.
So it looks like summer festivals will be largely online again,
having had a year to learn how to do it better. As Neil Middleton of
the Vancouver Symphony recently wryly commented, “We’ve spent
centuries perfecting the delivery of live presentations, and about a
year figuring out how to make it work online.”
Let’s look at a few other heartening examples of how people are
making a virtue of the virtual.
18 | July and August 2021 thewholenote.com