Music and the Coronavirus

Catalog description

Rolling Stone publishes an article titled “How Coronavirus is Wreaking Havoc on Music,” while the World Economic Forum asks, “Why Do We Turn to Music in Times of Crisis?” Science notes that “Scientists Have Turned the Structure of the Coronavirus into Music,” and the New Yorker offers a story on “Music to Endure the Coronavirus Quarantine.” This seminar investigates the way music has been used as inspiration, solace, resistance, drug, distraction, and source of energy from the beginning of the current crisis, as well as the mostly devastating way the coronavirus has impacted the music industry, from classical orchestras to street musicians. In addition to looking at music and the virus in the broader historical context of artistic responses to calamity, the course tracks the evolution of the coronavirus and its impact on music.