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KEN HESKETH

What lies ahead?

hen asked, most kindly, to contribute to an edition of Winds magazine on the topic of my activities
since the Covid-19 lockdown, I had to pause and stop. It has become so necessary to normalise the
W ways of dealing with the bizarre and extreme times we have all been plunged into, to try and ‘get
through it’ (for my son’s sake more than anything else) that having to think about it cumulatively unnerved me.

numerating the ways that so many people’s lives have changed since March of 2020, those thousand
not-so-natural shocks of adjustments - of lost work, of time and isolation, the new rituals (from NHS
E clapping to Zoom teaching, performance watching, and anger management due to social media), the
frustration at our leaders’ procrastination and infuriating incompetence - brought back to me how unprepared
we were for what erupted. The uncertainty was and still is bad enough, especially as the worry for the safety
of family members, students and their careers, our artistic institutions, societies and organisations remains.

usical postcard pieces online, multiple-overdubbing recordings and the occasional offbeat arrange-
ment for 50 bassoons et al form a small snapshot of how musicians have sought to keep their spir-
M its raised. Of late, of course, some live music has occurred (I write as the Last Night of the Proms
is broadcast, Tête à Tête opera moves forward with its new season, the reduced Aldeburgh Festival season
concluded and choirs and ensembles perform in a socially distanced manner) and this is a reason for hope,
reminding us of our art’s ability to give succour, provocation and context and, dare I say, some respite to a
wider society through these bizarre times (if a reminder were needed of art’s power and reason for being!).

try to temper my bouts of pessimism for my own sanity as well as those I live with; but it has been reveal-
ing to me to see how many seemingly-informed people have expressed their opinions on covid-19 often
I revealing more about their beliefs on science, society, the rule of law and empathy than anything else.
Not being able to un-know such details about people has led to anger and frustration, forcing me to take
stock of what has been of fundamental worth and importance, not only of late but over the last few years.

s to how I’ve been ‘keeping busy’, adults often finds ways of being incredibly active without achieving
much tangibly (an obvious truism you might say). Being busy in times of stress I find necessary and cathartic
A (something I picked up from my mother and grandmother no doubt), yet it can border on the manic at times.

o in keeping compositionally busy, I was able to complete an Oboe concerto for the phenomenal
soloist Nicholas Daniel, reworked a solo bass clarinet piece for – and now recorded by - Heather
S Roche, a performer and interpreter of incredible musicality and ability, and, on and off, working to-
wards a new piece for wind orchestra (which is as much as I can say for the moment!). I’ve lost performances
of course and the chance of travelling to work with wonderful players, but then so too have many, many col-
leagues. These projects however, actually involving real people with the promises of future performances,
have been of enormous help in keeping positive and maintaining resilience, and in this regard I feel lucky.
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