COVID Profiles, Part II: Ava Anagnos and Lily McDermott

March 31, 2020

With Mt. Greylock closed until May 4th, many students are looking for ways to remain occupied turning this temporary break. The Echo is writing profiles on students who are pursuing activities outside of the traditional school environment.  

Shortly before school closed, eighth graders Ava Anagnos and Lily McDermott began learning how to play the acoustic guitar. Now they are using this free time to further pursue their interest.

When asked why she started this hobby, McDermott said, “It was really encouraged by my dad. He wanted me to try it, so I just picked it up.” She added, “I was learning a Taylor Swift song and asked if [Anagnos] wanted to join me. Then we just started playing together.” 

Anagnos mentioned that her dad also played a large part in her starting to learn the guitar. She said, “Once my dad heard about it he was like ‘Oh my gosh this is great.’ And then we started.”

Learning an instrument with someone else is always difficult, but is even more so when social distancing is strongly encouraged. McDermott explained how they went about doing this. “I have a book my dad gave me to learn from, so I have the book on my end of the phone, and then I tell Ava the notes we’re learning and she writes them down in her notebook.” She added, “We learn songs that way, and play them over the phone together.”

Anagnos commented on the struggle of simply picking up a new instrument: “Just getting used to it after not ever really playing [is tough]. Regularly, the hardest part for me would be finding time to practice, but now we have a lot of time.”

McDermott said, “For me, it’s not necessarily reading notes, it’s more just trying to figure out where my fingers go. It’s really memorizing the different notes and where they are on the guitar.”

Having the extra time during this break has proven helpful in pursuing their hobby. “Even when we kind of started right before this break, we couldn’t really do it consistently because we had sports and homework,” Anagnos said. “Another way this break has been helpful is even if we just get started during this break, it will come easier when we don’t have as much free time.”

“We have a lot more time on our hands just to work on it,” McDermott said. “Ava and I have been FaceTiming anywhere from an hour to two hours a day, just playing guitar together over the phone.” She added, “This time off is a really good way to learn new things, and try something you’ve never done before that you’ve always wanted to do. It’s a great opportunity to start something, even if school starts again.”