Nothing Brings Out the Neighbours Like Music
I live in a New Westminster neighbourhood called the West End. It’s just four blocks downriver from the Massey Theatre. It is a lovely tree-lined place with wide boulevards and carefully maintained yards, overlooking the Fraser River with views of Mt. Baker. We enjoy the large grassy areas, playground and wading pool of Grimston Park. We are a very short walk away from a Skytrain station. People there walk and cycle a lot. The West End is also multi-ethnic, a good example of people of widely diverse backgrounds living together in peace. We know our neighbours on either side of us and a few others but generally keep to ourselves. We could do a lot better at building community.
I am a working musician. I play double bass. I have a small jazz ensemble that practices at our home on Hamilton Street. We call ourselves the Hamilton Street Swing. Surprisingly, the pandemic inspired us to try an experiment at building community.
In March 2020, when the pandemic hit Canada, it had already become a serious threat in faraway places, including China and Italy. I read news stories about the lockdown in Italy. There, people were not allowed to leave their homes except on essential business. I read stories about musicians who cheered up and encouraged their neighbours by singing and playing their instruments in open windows and on balconies. I was inspired by the good that music did for those residents trapped in their homes day and night. I asked myself whether my jazz ensemble could do something similar for my neighbours by playing a concert using my front terrace above the street as a stage. I enlisted my bandmates to play with me in what I imagined would be a socially-distanced audience on the wide boulevards and sidewalks below. They were eager to do this.
These were the early days of the pandemic. We were just figuring out where to buy masks and learning how it was going to affect us. As I began to spread the news about an outdoor concert, other musicians, who were better informed than I was about the dangers of Covid, urged me to cancel my plans to avoid drawing a crowd and spreading the virus. So, I cancelled. I then used social media to send out the message that the promised concert would take place as soon as it was safe to do so.
That day comes on July 27, 2021. The Hamilton Street Swing played a concert on the front
terrace above the 1800 block of Hamilton Street in New Westminster. Fifty people came, sat on the grass and in lawn chairs. Some danced to the music. We renewed old friendships and met neighbours that we had not known before. Many people thanked us. Some sent email thank-you notes. It was a delightful and memorable evening and the only time in my 35-year residency in the West End that this many neighbours had gathered outdoors.
So, on July 9, 2022, the Hamilton Street Swing put on a repeat performance, this time with the street blocked off for dancing and a sponsorship from Family Services and the Vancouver Foundation. There were 70 in attendance this time, again with dancing in the street. With shows in 2023 and 2024, Jazz in the West End became an annual event. Next show will be July 26, 2025.
