PERFORMING, PRACTICING, AND TEACHING IN THE PANDEMIC
PART 1: PERFORMING
The last paid gig for DC Ambiance, the Gypsy Jazz Group I perform with, was March 14th, 2020 at Haydee’s in the Mt Pleasant area of DC. It was one of our regularly booked venues. As the virus, its devastation, and the warnings spread, we played our three sets with trepidation to less than the full house we normally would have had. After that, all our gigs cancelled, and rehearsals ceased. All DC area music and theater venues went dark and empty of audiences and performers alike. Musicians and actors who depended on live audiences found their livelihood severely diminished if not demolished.
I was incredibly lucky, considering. The previous year my wife and I retired from the civilian workforce and I went back full time to playing. We sold our home and downsized to a life manageable in cost and space. Like for everyone else life changed dramatically, but we learned to adjust and embrace the pace. All our planned trips were cancelled but we now had time to read more. We watched more streaming television than we thought was humanly possible. We walked the dogs so often that when we brought out their leashes they ran and hid in the back room. Unfortunately, many of my musician friends had great difficulties adjusting to the horrific circumstances brought on by the covid pandemic. No more camaraderie. No more practicing for the next gig. Several working musicians I know took jobs that left their musical talents as stagnant as the concert halls where they once performed. The sadness was profound. The isolation was unbearable.
The thing about an artist is their ingenuity and resilience. The creative drive is insatiable. In order to express themselves to perform again to a wider audience, many musicians began to seek out and learn to employ the available online technologies like YouTube, Soundcloud, or Capella to mention just a few. Online applications seeing the needs increased functionality so people could offer quality recordings or jam together in real-time with little to no lag time. Musicians began offering organized and advertised online concerts requesting that maybe their audience would pay for some play. More than often audiences were happy to comply giving them some much needed income and gratification for their performances.
Festivals whose in person venues cancelled found using online services like Zoom helped maintain their presence. The Northeast Squeeze-In, which I attended most years in the Berkshire Mountains, went virtual this past year. In so doing they increased their normal number of attendees from people not only in other parts of the US but from all over the world (one being an amazing Duet Concertina player from France). Some close friends from NESI and I started and online weekly jam via Zoom. I know of several gypsy jazz jams as well as various traditional music jams meet regularly now via JamKazam, Jamulus, or other available online apps to play together in real-time.
The most amazing and inventive online performing venue I experienced is Holidayopolis. It is the brainchild of Beth Falcone, Ritt Henn, and Roosevelt Credit, three seasoned professional musical artists/producers in NYC. Using the technology available today and inviting talent from all around the globe, they created an online experience using all six of our natural senses. Creating not rooms so much as imaginative magical places to go where one might visit an inviting fireside, a waterfall, a seaside, or participate in a cooking or yoga class or meditation. And best of all, a plethora of live concert venues. Each place at Holidayopolis represents the specific Winter Solstice Holiday that take place in various faiths and cultures from around the globe. I was contacted through the recommendation from a close friend and fellow musician to perform in Hanukkahtown. So, my 10-piece band, Ein Lanu Z’man, did a live online performance of traditional and some not so traditional holiday music. Beth then asked me to perform solo for New Years Eve.
It had been almost 9 months since my last solo performance. I took the challenge and found myself sitting in a virtual seaside café playing the EC for an hour between New Year’s Eve in Paris and Dublin. It was a personal indulgence that felt so perfect I forgot about the technology and performed effortlessly in a magical online space. After that experience and seeing the websites potential, I approached them about continuing with a weekly concert venue in their Café DiawanukKwanzmas (Café D for short). I knew it could offer some great musicians a chance to perform, rebuild their audience, and maybe make some coin while giving audiences around the world an outlet to hear live music once again. Wednesdays At Café D took off with a diversity of performers and music that is building an audience from around the globe.
I recently was contacted for a solo gig in June with the caveat that it could be cancelled due to any ongoing pandemic issues. As I and many I know are vaccinated, we become hopeful that attending jams and live performances will flourish again. That my musician friends and I get back to performing. Yet, the world is forever changed now. We have experienced ways to see, hear, and perform with people from across the globe or next door without having to leave your house, your province, or your country. I for one, am excited to see what is next.
And my dogs will be glad to take one less walk and no longer miss an afternoon nap.
Information to experience Holidayopolis and see our upcoming Wednesdays Live Concert Café Series: https://happyholidayopolis.com/
