Musicking on Balconies: Resilience in Times of COVID-19

This article analyses the musicking phenomenon on balconies during the first COVID-19 lockdown in Spain. Based on an extensive qualitative analysis, the experience of performing, sharing, and listening to music from and on balconies is presented as a socially resilient response. A desire to help and assist others was the driving force for performers; the networks created around the musical experience promoted feelings of collective empowerment and were conducive to forming new patterns regarding people's membership of, and identification with, their community. The analysis of the musicking phenomenon on balconies makes a case for using social resilience as a tool for the social analysis of pandemics. This can be focused on the complexities of social responses to large crises, and advocate the role of the arts as spaces for boosting new forms of social trust.