Music Still Communicates Through Plastic Cubes

Music still communicates through clear plastic cubicles.Many things about the past year of Covid nightmare have been challenging, but none more for the musician than live shows. At one point, there was a 26’ recommended distance in front of a singer. Many perform in clubs that are scarcely larger than 26 feet off the stage. And church services shut down and outdoor events handled differently everywhere, and fear driving the day.Now that we are developing long term policies for live music, it’s getting weird.We exist at our main campus of Visible Music College in a relatively open state and city of Memphis, with a rising level of vaccinations and freedom to have live music. What I experienced last night was strange, though, as the bar we visited to see our son and Visible student perform was done up in plastic cubicles. Every table in a sparsely populated dance hall club was separated by a plastic shield that made the place look like a cubicle farm in Office Space (the movie, not a recommendation) from the future with an additional distancing and a large “Subway sandwich bar ordering glass” across the band’s face. A lot of plexiglass in that place. We were listening to live music with a mostly mic’d up sound system transmitted through plexiglass and divided as in a cubicle farm, albeit clear.I’m thankful for live music in the world of plastic cubicles.#kensteorts