“The Musical Community of Squares” by Vice President Monica Boruch was published in the Spring 2021 magazine of the American Recorder Society.
The Musical Community of Squares
For all the teachers who rallied to keep giving us these sorely needed classes.
March began the meetings of squares.
When we became one with our rectangles
To stay safe from the virus.
In February zoom was the sound of fast moving vehicles.
Zoom in April a new household word
joining the world together in realtime.
With instruments in hand, faces in boxes,
We lined up in neat rows, side by side,
Ensembled together to make music, albeit alone.
Talk of mute, latency, chat, screen sharing,
Became the new vocabulary norm
That joined us in electronic virtual waves.
From season to season, green to brown,
fans to sweaters, sunlight to dusk,
We gathered. Connected. Harmony aplenty.
Canonic, duet, estampie, improv, chanson
Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, bird-like modern.
Van Eyck, Telemann, Purcell, Dufay, and Susato.
Recorder, viol, crumhorn, lute and harp,
Breathing, bowing, battement and blowing.
Mode, meter, melody and memory.
Pandemic. Lockdown. Racial injustice.
Wildfires. Presidential election. Vaccines.
2020. History in the making.
Through all this. We sang. We played.
Sorrow to joy. Tears to laughter.
Music….our lifeline, anchor, solace.
Hope is in the air.
Touching shoulder to shoulder.
We will play together again.
Monica Boruch
December 27, 2020