Adapting: Harrison family livestreams concerts from their living room to cope with pandemic

Editor’s note: Adapting is a regular series spotlighting the ways a global pandemic is changing the everyday lives of people in Western Pennsylvania.

Christa Beck could not stop sharing music. It’s what she has always done as an instructor with Kindermusik, a children’s music education program.

The covid-19 pandemic and Gov. Tom Wolf’s stay-at-home order merely changed her platform.

Every Tuesday night for the past two weeks of her family’s social distancing, Beck has streamed concerts on Facebook Live from her home in Harrison, featuring her three children and a South African foreign exchange student the family is hosting.

“I wanted to continue to reach families by exposing them to different instruments and different styles of music,” Beck said. “Also, I know that music, for me, has been the light when there’s been darkness.”

The Beck living room is equipped with about a dozen musical instruments: a piano, a harpsichord, a vibraphone, an accordion, two guitars, a ukulele, a saxophone, an oboe, a clarinet and various percussion instruments, including drums and a few shakers.

Each of her children gravitates toward a different instrument. Kathryn, 21, and Carolé Franken, 16, their foreign exchange student, each sing. Franken plays the guitar. Corey, 19, is a percussionist, and Joshua, 16, plays piano and accordion.

Beck said she wanted to continue enriching families’ lives with music, especially now that interpersonal connections are so limited. Her Kindermusik lessons have also transitioned online.

“I think that with all the things that have been paused, people are realizing how that connection with the community through music is important to them,” she said.

The family has provided similar concerts in the past when the region was hit by snowstorms.

Additionally, Beck’s husband, Philip, a pastor at First United Presbyterian Church in Tarentum, has been streaming worship and prayer services. For Christa, the family concerts seemed like a natural progression.

“This is really not a lot different from what my life is,” she said. “I’m an educator, so this is what I do.”

Beck said she’s received messages of support from several community members — young mothers whose toddlers are fascinated by the vibraphone, senior citizens who appreciate seeing a teenager play the accordion.

She is hopeful the concerts offer a small comfort to those who are struggling, feeling isolated or panicked in an uncertain time.

“I keep telling people we need to be kind to ourselves, taking care of ourselves through things like listening to music and communicating with others,” she said. “We hope that the music makes a difference in that way.”