MUSIC DURING COVID
(Pic from internet)
Musicians in general depend on live performances, gigs and audiences. The singers and instrumentalists live for the live crowds, audience appreciation and applause.
They prepare meticulously for months first with music alone, then as small groups, then with singers, later with choreography and finally in live theater with lights and sound. Mind you all these, even before going in front of the audience!
Covid has killed all this!
No crowds to watch you.
No groups to practice with.
One feels depressed and the feeling is akin to alighting alone at the village platform from a high speed express train!
It is well known that one needs to constantly practice to be in decent shape!
“If I don’t practice for one day, I know it
If I don’t practice for 2 days, my critics know it
If I don’t practice for 3 days, the public knows it!” Jascha Heifitz.
So what is the motivation for practice?
As a first rule, one must play music for oneself. Probably music came into the world for this reason, for your own joy and happiness! And then the spirituals came in when life was difficult and groups used to sing together, to overcome difficulties. It is time again, to love your own music during covid time, so that, others too would love your music, after covid is gone!
How does one go about this?
Like always, it is best to set apart time for practice.
There are no goals during covid times… no concerts, no events!
If no time is set for practice, it is easy to laze around and to fritter away the abundant time!
As for material, there is enough and more to practice!
Scales, arpeggios, studies, old repertoire, new pieces and of course Bach. If one plays by ear, there is so much of internet music to choose from.
There are enough backing tracks to make a good presentations of what you can play.
You have to set your own standard, as the famous man said, “There is no such thing as perfection. There are only standards. And when you have set a standard, you learn it was not high enough, you want to surpass it”.
So set your own standard, and keep shifting the musical goal posts all the time!
Technology has taught violinists for instance, to record on one track, even with a mobile phone; and then add the second violin to it … to make it a duet. If one plays other sting instruments, the entire string quartet can be played by a single person and recorded!
One also plays on occasions for virtual choral numbers and large instrumental pieces, but they are far and few in between. Negative aspect is that it is a bit like singing in the wilderness. You play/sing your part today and wait for many days, to hear the final product. So this really is only a minor part of practice.
As musicians , one cannot stop practicing, even when we know covid will not go away soon. It will be months before the real shows begin, concerts return and the live applause rings in the air. Till then, viral publication of your solos, your duets and the such in the social media, will not only motive yourself, but also others in continuing their own practice schedule in solitude!
David Oistrack, when asked about any new insights about violin playing, said, “Yes, …. just…play!”
And this, we must!
