The True Heroes
Keiron Anderson brings us music for the moment, and perhaps no other moment yet in the 21st Century has revealed the vulnerable nature of humanity, and the interconnectedness of our world more than the COVID-19 pandemic, officially announced on March 11, 2020 by the World Health Organization.
The True Heroes is a piece that tells a part of the dramatic story of the struggles, heartaches and triumphs of the world’s medical professionals, and all who were a part of the health care industry to whom this piece is dedicated. Using a dissonance in the chords, structured upon two perfect fifths a semi-tone apart, Anderson opens the story with suddenness and a pushed tempo that conveys an urgency and anxiety about the growing pandemic, and depicts how the health care workers are not people with super-powers, but rather individuals who are committed to self-sacrifice in using their skills to save the lives of others.
The crisis is not over as we reach the middle of the piece where the tempo slows to a more thoughtful pace, allowing the health care worker (and the listener) a moment to rest, to reflect and to meditate, and to give enough time for the emotions to mend and energy to rebuild while the pandemic rages on around them. Then the music once again resumes its original pace with growing fanfare for the health care worker and their resilience in the face of a momentous task, leading to a more dramatic and triumphal sound and force to conclude the piece.