A group of London, Ont., musicians are showing their appreciation for front-line workers battling the novel coronavirus pandemic through the sound of music.
Trombonist Karl Hermann and several others performed Aaron Copland’s 1942 song Fanfare for the Common Man virtually as a way to say thanks.
Hermann, who also produced the final video, spoke with Mike Stubbs on 980 CFPL’s London Live with Mike Stubbs on Friday.
“For the past few months, myself and a lot of my musician friends have been frustrated because we can’t go to rehearsals and we can’t play in our normal bands,” said Hermann.
“For brass players specifically, the phrase is we ‘lose our chops’ — we don’t practise enough and the playing (level) goes down a bit.”
Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Hermann says he and a few other fellow musicians would play music together virtually.
“(But) this (project) was a little bit more ambitious. It was about 15 players, including percussion.”
Hermann says the group chose the song Fanfare for the Common Man because “it’s inspirational.”
“I got to think about all of the front-line workers that have been doing so much hard work for all of us over the past couple of months, and I thought I would throw this together into a video, and it was a fun project.”
Hermann says the group is currently working on a similar project.