Abstract

How might we personally and collectively contain the burnout and emotional depletion that has arisen as a consequence of COVID-19? For some, the pandemic has been a further stressor on top of pre-existing trauma. Under these circumstances, how can we continue our work of intervening into the challenges and demands that face our communities? Here, I turn to a song – called It’s Alright – written and sung not only as a response, but also as a survival strategy. I try to let its sentiments and sensations wash over me to calm my nervous system. I sing it as a way to self-soothe, to stabilise. I sing it with and for you, on the chance it might be of service.

Rights

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).

Cite as

Carless, D. 2021, 'What can a song bring? Balancing out the picture in pandemic', International Review of Qualitative Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/19408447211049529

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Last updated: 16 June 2022
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