Stay strong: February 2021 Editorial

Here we are again, older and hopefully wiser in the third lockdown. Let's hope this is one of those third-time repeats where we can all, after a few familiar licks, jump to a coda with a clear end in sight.

There will be teacher-assessed grades for GCSE, AS and A Level this year, and Gavin Williamson has promised that these will be led by ‘teachers rather than algorithms’. Predictably, there is little clarity as yet. At the time of writing, the only people who can be taught in person are vulnerable children and the children of critical workers (as ever, you should be led by the most recent advice from the government and a professional organisation such as the ISM or MU).

Even with the rollout of vaccines, the endgame to this will be drawn out, and the repercussions on our mental and physical health will last long after lockdown. We have commissioned various articles for this issue about motivating your students, but just as important is the question of your motivation as teachers and professionals, and there are no neat answers for that.

If Lockdown 3 can be likened to the third act of a long and confusing opera, it remains to be seen whether we're in for Götterdämmerung (flames looming on the horizon), Faust (two more lengthy acts after this one), Die Fledermaus (utter farce, but all over soon), or something else entirely.

Make no mistake, the storyline we are living through is a tragedy – but as music teachers we do have the power to bring joy and beauty to the unfolding plot. Our props are makeshift, and we may not have chosen our co-stars, but the show must go on, and as Donizetti wrote to his librettist upon realising that he had just a fortnight to write L’Elisir d’amore from scratch, ‘nevertheless, we must cover ourselves in glory’.