Have you ever been walking through Arcata or Old Town and heard music? This is most likely a local band or musician. There are plenty of fantastic musical artists in Humboldt County!

Every Friday Night there is a market in Old Town. This gives musicians a chance to perform what they have been practicing for most of their lives. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, these artists are unable to show their skills. They have spent the last year and a half practicing without performing. I am a musician too, and it is horrible being skilled at something and being unable to show it to the world.

March 13, 2020 - January 1, 2021) Almost no musicians have been able to perform. The whole world is shut down due to the virus. Shows have been postponed or canceled for the near future. It is a struggle just to go outside to go shopping. Everyone is masked. All of the wind players cannot play because they blow instruments. This consists of trumpets, saxophones, flutes, clarinets, trombones, baritones, and tubas. The stringed instruments do not use air to work but the musicians are in close proximity to each other. The percussionists were okay because they could wear masks and were far apart from each other. Chris Cox has some input on this topic: “We couldn’t perform. I had numerous jobs when covid first hit that we were unable to do. We had to cancel. I went a good year before I could do any public performances. It affected a lot of us.” This shows just how hard the virus impacted musicians. Chris also said “Some of the string players found that they could play. But a lot of musicians lost their concert venues. They had like parking lot concerts.” This shows how Covis-19 did not force musicians to lose interest in their passion. They still found ways around this massive obstacle. Many venues, like the Arkley Center, would not allow people to perform in their building. This caused musical artists to perform in any public spot open. Chris Cox said, “The eureka symphony for example is bringing woodwind players back for the first time in two years.” Many musicians still would not perform due to scares from the virus. These musicians would record their part and combine it with the others instead. Schools are not allowing students to perform because students are not on campus. The Eureka High Jazz Ensemble would be in an online meeting every morning listening to music and studying music theory and music history. They would continue to practice by playing scales with the instructor, Chris Cox. For some background information, Chris is a trumpet player for the Eureka Symphony and the Humboldt State University band.

January 1, 2021 - April 1st, 2021) Many musicians still are not able to perform. Venues are not open. People have not seen each other in over a year. Students are learning online and have not been on campus. Morale is at an all-time low. Then the schools open up. Half of the students can be on campus at a time. This means that the school bands can practice together for the first time. The students were split up depending on their instruments. There would be a few saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and rhythm instruments in each group. They would practice outside in a parking lot every morning to stay safe. Chris Cox had some input on this topic. “We had to rehearse outside when we finally got that back. Even then just halving half the group had a negative effect on everybody.” This small change sent huge waves of hope over the entire music community. People who were losing hope suddenly had reassurance. They would continue to practice and practice just waiting for the day that everyone could play together. About 8 weeks into this the Jazz band was told that they could practice inside. This new format was also very strange. There was tape on the ground to show where each person could be when playing. All wind instrument players were handed an instrument mask. They had a small hole in them covered by a flap to protect from the virus and to allow them to continue playing. Each instrument also had a cover to contain any large particles. It was like a mask over their instrument.

July 2021 - Present) Musicians are finally allowed to play together! The markets are opened up and any bands who want to play can. The patients of all these people were close to gone. Then the new music guidelines were posted. Musicians can play in public under certain conditions. These conditions were not very strange. It brought back a glimpse of regular life before the coronavirus pandemic. These musicians are finally allowed to continue perfecting their passion for music.