Cultivating creativity while coping with COVID -19

Tom Leighton

By Jeanette Arsenault

JAMS Canada is an emerging Quinte business designed to “Help Musicians Help Themselves". As part of the JAMS Canada PRO Series “Here’s What I Know” published on social media every week, several artists were asked to share how they are managing during isolation.

Here are some excerpts:

Tom Leighton: Musician, arranger, orchestrator, conductor

With the general absence of most deadlines, we have had a very easy time coping with isolation. When not looking out the window at my beautiful surroundings, I have been blessed with being able to wander from instrument to instrument playing whatever comes to mind, plus time to develop music sketches that I keep in various notebooks. I have also set up a modest recording set up in a room to myself and have been working daily on a new collection of tunes and some songs. Normally finding time to do this has been difficult, as doing projects for others takes priority.

Suzanne Pasternak: Singer, songwriter, writer, documentary filmmaker

Creators of large works spend a lot of time alone. Due to the fact that I am currently researching and writing a documentary there is no shift in my work habits. That being said, I had a booming career as a lecturer which crashed with COVID-19, so that hurts financially. Being socially isolated from friends is very lonely for a single person.

Fraser Hardman: Musician, songwriter

Probably my greatest musical satisfaction comes through playing live; obviously that has ground to a halt and shows no sign of improving any time soon.

However, I have had more focused time to write, and have practiced more than I normally do. Also, I have learned some new technical skills in the area of video and audio recording.

And with one of the bands I play with we have learned a completely new song to performance level complete with harmonies and instrumental arrangement, solely through sharing audio files - we have never been in the same room together and played it! Lastly I have some ideas for a couple of other projects that could be worked on at this time. Boredom is one thing that I have definitely not experienced through this self-isolation.

Janet Kellough: Crime and mystery novelist

Writers only look like they’re alone. In fact, they’re interacting with their characters, who sometimes seem more real to them than real people, so we’ve probably handled the stay at home thing better than most. Even so, things like book signings, launches, conventions and guest speakerages make up a large part of a writer’s life, and those have gone by the board.

There is also a great deal of uncertainty in the publishing world right now: releases have been delayed, publishing houses are pulling back on the number of titles they’re willing to invest in, many of the standard marketing approaches are very difficult right now. But it’s okay. It’s like I’ve been given permission to go slow and in some ways it’s almost a relief. Instead of trying to be more productive I’ve let myself slack off a little. We’ll see what the upshot is, but for right now I’m oddly quite happy.

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