During lockdown, private piano lessons for
Andrea Cordero Fage’s two teenage sons in
Harrison, New York, stopped, but something
new happened. The brothers, whose interest
in music has waxed and waned over the years,
“came into their own musically,” she said. “I
would have never imagined it.”
They started playing piano for hours a day. They
researched movie soundtracks, like the one to
the 2014 science fiction epic “Interstellar,” by
Hans Zimmer, and learned the score on their
own with the assistance of sites like YouTube.
“After dinner, one would play and the other would
watch. Then they’d switch,” Cordero Fage said. “I
think they fed off each other, saw it as a challenge.”
Studying or listening to music can harness
our focus, said Melita Belgrave, associate dean
and professor of music therapy at Arizona
State University.
Throughout the pandemic, many people have
been watching concerts at home but retaining a
semblance of the shared experience. The millions
of people who streamed the movie version of the
Broadway musical “Hamilton” is an example.
“People are finding themselves drawn to the arts
and crafts,” Belgrave said. “We are learning new
ways to connect with each other.”
I haven’t figured out whether my Zoom piano
lessons will continue past the pandemic. I’ve
gone from knowing middle C to playing cusp
chords, eight-key scales and Mozart.
But even if returning to regular life interrupts
my lessons, piano will always be one of my best
pandemic memories.