My view: The sound of lockdown

Glossop Chronicle and Tameside Reporter journalist Lauren Entwistle has her own column in the paper giving her opinion on all kinds of subjects. This week, she talks about how music is helping to get her through the lockdown.

I’ve been listening to a lot of music lately. 

It’s usually an integral part of my life - even before lockdown - soundtracking the mundane sections of the day before we get to the meatier parts of dialogue in the script. 

But thanks to restrictions, life has become quieter. I hear fewer voices beyond my household, aside from scattered interviews in the working week over the phone (with each one opening with, ‘Huh, this is weird, isn’t it?’) - which has meant I’ve had to fill that space with others. 

Currently our house is full of Gregorian chanting. My mum works downstairs during the day as I man upstairs, and whatever she’s decided to play on the TV drifts to my workstation. It’s a welcome, if not sometimes eerie, change of pace. Most of the time I put my headphones on and clack away at my station, cycling through instrumental tracks like classical and chill lo-fi as I transcribe notes - you end up writing down lyrics if you get too caught up singing. 

But there is something magical about music. 

Like so many, I’ve been feeling very low during this uncertain period, especially about the large chunk of time that could have been spent Doing Things. But I can put on a track that was blasted from the main stage of a festival and find myself sun-bleached and happy with friends again without even moving from my chair. Music and memories go hand in hand, and there’s really no better time to enjoy that magic than now, when contact with friends and family is limited and your home is the stage. 

I’ve been swapping playlists with friends, too. There’s something that’s just... nice about saying, “Hey! I listened to this and I think you’ll really like it!” and packaging up some tracks to  virtually send along. 

Plus it’s always good to know that I might not be able to see them, but I can still annoy them with my specially curated selection of 80s cheese - served up to them like that slice of Stinking Bishop nobody particularly wanted. It’s personal. 

But it’s tough. 

We’ve spent over two months in lockdown by this point and frankly, we have to save up every small bit of joy that strays onto our path. 

And if that means blasting Fleetwood Mac to the detriment of my eardrums, then it would have been worth it. 

As Shakespeare most probably would have written had he been cooped up during a modern bought of plague: “If music be the food of lockdown, play on (and turn it up!)”