Passions can require discipline, but you’ll get so much in return
WE LOOK AT HOW MUSIC, FITNESS AND CREATIVE WRITING CAN BE THE PERFECT HOBBIES FOR GETTING THROUGH OUR CURRENT LOCKDOWN
As we remain in level 5 lockdown and we stay at home to protect ourselves and our community, there are things that we can do to keep ourselves entertained.
In part two of this series looking at lockdown activities, Gorey’s Kevin Doyle of Making Music gives his advice on learning an instrument, Gosia Tonewo of Club Ashdown at the Ashdown Park Hotel gives her top tips for home workouts while our own reporter David Looby discusses finding time for creative writing in your life.
It’s clear that new hobbies and activities to prevent boredom for all the family are available at our fingertips to bring us joy and so I hand you over to some Wexford experts to provide advice on activities to engage with during lockdown.
LEARNING AN INSTRUMENT - MAKING MUSIC’S TOP TIPS:
It was back in April 2020 that front man of The Blizzards Bressie launched his ukulele lessons online and saw people of all ages and musical backgrounds engage in learning the instrument from the comfort of their own homes.
Kevin Doyle of Gorey’s Making Music explained that like anything, learning an instrument just takes some time and discipline but that the rewards much outweigh the cost of any instrument.
So how quickly can someone gain confidence in learning a musical instrument?
‘Ten to twelve weeks will definitely get people up and running with playing a couple of songs. If they are going to put a bit of time to it, little and often is better than trying to burst in on it and do it for eight hours.
‘They could pick up an instrument first thing in the morning, a half an hour at lunch time, another 15-20 minutes at some point in the day, and if they were do it in those bursts every day three times a day, they’d be flying in no time,’ he said.
Although Making Music have thought about doing online lessons, Kevin suggested that a place to start is the shop’s website and social media as past pupils have shared their acoustic sessions and might provide some inspiration to others.
‘We were doing one to one lessons in the shop but that has gone with Covid-19 and we’ve been thinking about doing online lessons. There are a lot of resources online already, such as YouTube videos. If someone buys a ukulele for example and applies these steps, they could be playing a song by the end of the day. It’s as simple as that.
‘Music and learning an instrument is a lifestyle and it’s a great skill to have. It’s brilliant for the fact that it lifts up your mood. You can go to the gym and get fitter or you can pick up a musical instrument and be very disciplined about it and apply yourself to it. Music is just amazing, it’s a great gift so learning an instrument during this lockdown is a good and positive thing to do’.
With more instruments being added to Making Music’s online shop weekly, Kevin and his team continue to do click and deliver during level 5.
For more visit www.makingmusic.ie.
HOME WORKOUTS - HOW TO GET STARTED AND MOTIVATED WITH CLUB ASHDOWN:
Gosia Tonewo is the Leisure Centre Manager at the Ashdown Park Hotel in Gorey knows that fitness is a great way to improve your well being, and with both gyms and swimming pools closed, it doesn’t mean that your fitness it put on hold. ‘We know that regular physical activity is associated with lower levels of anxiety and stress,’ she said.
‘I have some top tips for at home workouts, which don’t require equipment other than your own bodyweight and this month we will be rolling this out across our Club Ashdown Facebook and Instagram pages sharing plans, motivation, tips and videos for your home workout.
‘You’ll learn you can use bodyweight exercises to work nearly every muscle in your body, from your quads, glutes, chest and core. These exercises are not just great for building strength, but bodyweight workouts can double as a cardio routine, especially when you choose moves that are easy to ramp up in intensity and perform them in such a way that challenges your cardiovascular system’.
Gosia’s top tips to stay motivated at home include: Writing down your fitness goals.
‘Whether it’s to lose weight, boost your energy or overall health - put your goals on a paper and post them in a place where you can see them each morning. Next, come up with a plan.
‘Decide which days of the week, how long and what time of day you’ll work out and schedule your home workouts just as you would a meeting at work. You’re most likely to get the best results if you treat these workouts as important appointments.
‘Finally, record your progress. This allows you to look all the way back to the beginning of your programme so you can see the bigger picture of how far you
have come, especially on days that you don’t feel like you are progressing’.
All that’s left to do is follow the Club Ashdown Facebook and Instagram page and get moving through this lockdown.
CREATIVE WRITING - AN INSIGHT FROM OUR OWN DAVID LOOBY:
‘Joseph Conrad once wrote that the job of the writer is, above all, to make you see.
The day job working as a journalist has been difficult in this respect since March. Overnight story sources dried up, but pages still had to be filled. That was ten months ago and during that time I found myself doing technical and commercial writing and was once more surprised by how many career paths being a writer can offer. Today, as I write, we’re back at square one. What has changed in the interim is my love of writing fiction has returned.
The reason, I’m ashamed to say, was a dare, a challenge I posed myself at the beginning of Lockdown two, to complete Nanowrimo.
For the uninitiated, this involved writing 50,000 words in a month.
‘I’ve always written. I enjoyed it in primary school, took refuge in it throughout secondary school, experimented with writing short stories in my wilderness twenties and almost forgot about it in my thirties as I went into full media career and Daddy mode.
‘Writing is a state of mind. It is a place where things that seem impossible to fathom find form. Writing is something that grips you: a word; an image on the fly; a mad notion and you’re not able to rest until you’ve committed that idea to paper, iPad or laptop.
‘Working in America in my twenties in a variety of menial jobs, from ice rink cleaner to office cleaner, I would scribble down stories, scenes, things that got stuck in my mind, as if by way of externalising and preserving them. They were moments in time, for I suspected I would not remain in that ice rink forever.
‘So, is writing an act of storing memory. Of remembering? I would say yes to that.
I would recommend writing to anyone. It is a wonderful way to get a fresh perspective on life and pass some time. During November I would rise at 5 or 6 a.m. and plonk myself on my recliner with a cup of hot tea, wrapped in a blanket. I had no idea what I was writing about. Had given it no thought but soon I was off. Invariably the tea beside me was cold, so lost was I in the moment; lost in my work.
‘The beauty of Nanowrimo was you can write
scenes. I finished mine on New Year’s Eve and was proud as punch. But forget Nanowrimo for now. Approach writing like you would anything new to you.
‘Dip your toe in, test the water. Write a few sentences, maybe a page and try and engage the readers’ senses for reading is a shared experience; one to be enjoyed by you as well as your person glancing into your world. The excitement lies in that connection; in the creating.
‘Writing is cathartic. It helps you process the tangled mess of thoughts bubbling and frothing in the mind, these days especially. Seeing your story take shape, whether it’s a bit of journalling or a poem; a piece of fiction or a romantic novel, is very satisfying.
‘With all of us home a lot more, the days are long so why not give writing a try this month? Writing is my happy place. I see the benefits in it and I’ll happily keep plugging away and hope to one day have a book out. Who knows, so might you.’