Thursday, April 16, 2020

Getting Music Out During Our 'New Normal'

Adapting to the COVID-19 Pandemic

If you've been spending any time reading or watching information about musicians, you have undoubtedly come across something relating to the way the coronavirus has affected people in the music industry. The best way I can summarize my own experience is how suddenly I had to adapt - how I had to change my habits, my schedule, my routine, and the way I do business. I'm sure a lot of other performers, as well as music teachers, can relate to this as they probably have a similar story.

As if this wasn't enough stress, I was coincidentally in the middle of a major "life event" when things started getting really bad (I know, I have the worst timing possible). When I realized that the spread of this virus was really getting serious, I happened to be right in the middle of buying my first house. The sad part is that I ended up backing out of the deal, because I felt I needed to wait and see how the pandemic would affect my business (and the economy). So, no house! For the time being I will continue to remain but a lowly renter, all because of that pesky germ :P

Skype lessons... from the comfort of your phone :D

There has been something inspiring about this, though, and it's how cooperative people have been throughout the ordeal. I was pretty worried at first because The Music Connection (the store where I teach my piano lessons) has been closed until further notice. My first instinct was that most of my students would drop and stop taking lessons, but actually I have retained most of them. Like many other music teachers, I've been teaching my piano lessons through Skype, Zoom, and other long-distance means. I have technology to thank, I guess, and I also attribute this to the fact that many of my students are already used to this process, since they've been having Zoom meetings with their regular teachers and submitting homework through student portals on their school's websites. At this point I am doing the same thing that just about every person on the planet is doing: getting by and doing my best to endure the process, however long it takes.


Virtual Concerts (C'mon, Everyone's Doin' It!)

I'm sure I'm not the only one who steals ideas from other musicians (in fact, I know I'm not) and I recently saw two of my "Facebook friends" perform their own music on the Facebook Live feature that you can find on the app.

I've seen lots of comments about "silver linings", and there are quite a few when it comes to doing a concert like this. I performed original music on the piano via Facebook Live on Saturday, and I have to say it worked out great. Maybe it was because there was no heavy lifting :D Or, maybe it was the fact that I seemed to reach a lot more people this way. It goes without saying: more people are home, they don't have to leave home to see the concert in the first place, and I was able to reach far more people because Facebook automatically notifies people when someone is live (not to mention that, if you create a Facebook Event page, it automatically reminds every person that you invite). I was also able to get people from out of town to watch it, when they would otherwise not have been able to see the concert.

My attempt at setting up a tripod before my virtual concert.

I have read that the best way to respond to an unexpected event, like the COVID-19 pandemic, is to make the best of the situation by responding optimally. There is some great information about this in the book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey, as well as (and please pardon my French) an enormously entertaining book called The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, by an author and professional blogger named Mark Manson. In other words, according to the advice of successful people, the best thing to do is make the best of the situation (and any situation) instead of feeling paralyzed, or sulking. The virtual concert I put on definitely motivated me to do exactly that :)

(By the way, this does not give you an excuse to wear pajamas while you're performing -- unless that's part of your shtick. Haha. )


A Great Way to Promote Your Music from Home

It's interesting that even without the plight of a pandemic like the one we're experiencing now, I could have already been showcasing my music from home. Even before the outbreak, there were plenty of people who were hopelessly addicted to Facebook. I've decided to take advantage of it either way, and in about two weeks (most likely) I plan to do another virtual concert. It may be a smaller one (perhaps just a half hour long, or 45 minutes at the most) and it will feature some of my more recent work. The concert I put on last night featured mostly older songs.

And then -- yes -- in about a month from now I'm thinking of doing a concert with just covers. One thing I often tell people is that if you want to improve as a composer, you should study (and learn to play) pieces by other composers. Doing a show that includes covers will be a good way to exemplify this concept. Plus, I'll get to play some of my favorites, classical as well as modern (Chopin, Bach, Ludovico Einaudi and Leonard Cohen, to name a few).

The entire video of last night's virtual concert is still on my Facebook page, for anyone who wants to check it out (or if you want to giggle at the three minutes of technical difficulties in the beginning of the video). But hey, technical hiccups always seem inevitable. The enjoyment that I got out of putting on this concert made it well worth it.




No comments:

Post a Comment