Music to Wash Your Hands to

2020

Digital video and audio

Every day from March 11 to June 18, 2020, I created a short music video to share with my friends and family. They started out as twenty-second clips of me singing a verse or two while washing my hands to model how we can all prevent the spread of the virus. The handwashing eventually gave way to choreography and other theatrics. Besides filming me, my sixteen-year-old son, Fernando, also lent his talents as a drummer, pianist, guitarist and juggler on many of the songs. My costumes and props were limited to whatever I could find around my house, where most of the videos were filmed. On the occasional day when I was not physically or emotionally up to appearing on camera, I would either show a video from my younger years or commemorate a loved one who had passed away by creating and singing along to a slideshow of them. With white garage doors as background and plenty of room to dance, my driveway became an ideal setting for dance videos. Music is a major stress reliever for me, so I looked forward to creating these videos each day. Friends would often request a particular song or artist; moreover, I usually had a week’s worth of future videos brewing in my head. By the time I posted one hundred videos, I had used up my best ideas and had tested my family’s patience long enough. Nonetheless, it was a project that brought me great joy, and my loved ones all shared with me their appreciation for helping them get through the early days of the pandemic.