Families across Malta are getting used to spending a lot more time together as they heed health advice to remain indoors to curb the spread of COVID-19.

And one well-known musical family is using that time to practise their music together and entertain the rest of the country with a Facebook performance every day.

“It’s not possible to spend the entire day on the couch watching the news,” said dad George Curmi il-Pusé.

“We’re trying to reach out to people to provide a little bit of entertainment and connection outside of that cycle of negativity.”

The family, who are observing a voluntary lockdown, have performed an array of musical pieces, from the popular to the religious.

George, who is the son of legendary jazz musician Joe Curmi ‘Il-Pusé’, is an accomplished multi-instrumentalist in his own right, playing the violin, saxophone and less popular instruments such as the theremin and kalimba.

His wife Hilda is also a violinist, their daughter Miriana plays the piano, their son Joseph is a percussionist and their youngest, Bernard, is also a violinist.

“When things started to get serious, the entertainment industry was the first to come to a standstill and, as a full-time freelance musician, that meant all my work for the foreseeable future drying up,” George said.

“But being a musician is like being an athlete, you have to practise every day, otherwise you lose your edge. These times are also an opportunity to perform those compositions that you like but never find a good time for, or that unconventional instrument that you don’t get as many opportunities to play.

“If you can do that thing that you need to do while also bringing a little reprieve and happiness into the lives of others, I think it’s important. To keep happy and positive you have to do happy and positive things.”

While music still takes up a large part of George’s day, studies are still at the forefront of the Curmi household, as his eldest two children work on their master’s and bachelor’s thesis respectively, while his youngest son was due to sit for his O levels before the exams were cancelled.

“While we’re keeping busy in other ways, music is still a key part of our family,” Hilda says.

“More than anything, we are doing this to keep ourselves occupied but also to bring some positivity and do something good for our community.”

For Holy Week, the family are choosing more religious pieces for their lockdown practice.

“It might not be much, but from the messages of thanks and encouragement we get, it feels good to know we can still reach out to our neighbours in these difficult times,” she said.