Article on current music students (high school and college) and how they are handling all of “this”:
https://news.yahoo.com/performances-canceled-musicians-way-lift-165850762.html
Rassler, in the article linked above, is an alumna of CC 
Article on grief we are all experiencing, including the anticipatory kind.
https://hbr.org/2020/03/that-discomfort-youre-feeling-is-grief?utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=hbr&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR1NguB3x3HWcSjwwrXwxoQxgcAfwjS4TlsgCL35iIXDXtvg9ODO4r8Bmj8
They just announced Northwestern will not go back to in person classes in May as originally planned and will complete the term on line. I know you all have been there, but since they didn’t end until early June, D was holding out hope for at least a few normal weeks at the end of her senior year. ?
All our son’s March and April gigs have been cancelled and his month-long May tour, which he worked so hard to put together, is starting to unravel. It’s not clear whether he’ll be able to salvage any of it. The future beyond that is uncertain too.
We know people who have the virus, including people who have been seriously ill. Those who have passed away from it include several amazing musicians, including an older jazz musician with whom my son did a gig last year.
It’s a difficult time, and we wouldn’t be human if we weren’t profoundly saddened. At the same time, we try to look for joy amid the sadness. Having our son back with us is joyful, even though we know how hard it is on him.
He is practicing up a storm and we love having his music back in the house. He is giving online lessons and doing online concerts and connecting with the world the best he can. When he gets an email about a cancelled gig, he calls the venue owners to connect and commiserate. He understands how hard it is on them too.
We have to mourn the losses. They are real. But we will find a way to the other side. Hopefully with a renewed appreciation for what is important in life.
One of the reasons I hang around here is that I love hearing about the next generation of musicians. I love all the wonderful admissions news. There’s so much talent represented on this board. I’m inspired by it and I hope all of you are too.
@jazzpianodad - very well-said. I feel like an “odd duck” hanging around here too long. But like you, I love hearing about young talent. I really enjoy seeing those acceptances roll in…knowing for many on this board that they will! I also work in a small office and like the distraction. It’s often my morning coffee break. My life is really not that interesting…lol.
My D filed for unemployment (what an accomplishment, huh…welcome to adulthood). She was able to file off her “survival job” and her last theater job (and received extra pay checks from both to get her through March). She is also teaching privately. So with the private teaching and some unemployment in April, she’ll get by. Note to all aspiring musicians: think about teaching privately!! It’s what keeps many musicians afloat in good and bad times. And, my D heard about a one time grant from a city group helping artists and she applied last week. She texted me this morning that she got the grant ($500). So she continues to paste together money and find a way to survive (meaning pay her rent). She is supposed to go back to her survival job this summer and the theater will open with the cancelled opera next season…but I don’t know…will that really be possible?
One good thing (I guess) is the found time for my D to work on her voice, monologues and, in general, be creative. When you are working multiple jobs and running from one gig to the next, it’s hard to slow down and work on your music, monologues and repertoire. But my D is a classical vocalist…I feel for jazz musicians who maybe need the other musicians more…idk. Classical VP can be a singular pursuit sometimes.
Hang in there everyone. And PLEASE keep sharing great stories (and your sadness too)…we all need stories now.
Sorry to be even darker, but I can’t see people returning to concerts (or clubs) for some time. Or even orchestras being comfortable playing together. Even when the actual danger is gone, there will be a kind of post-traumatic effect with fear of crowds.
My kid is within a year of finishing what has been 6 years of post-bacc study, and I am quite sure that finish (and professional life) will be delayed for quite awhile, I won’t go into particulars. I will repeat that my main concern is survival for my kids. After that, making a living somehow. How can artistic expression continue? Not sure. I honestly think it will be a few years before music really fully comes back in concert form.
Perhaps live streaming will improve. For musicians and composers alike, sound quality is so important and nothing beats a live, in-person experience. But I am hoping that technology provides some way to continue until people again feel comfortable going to concerts and clubs. Studio recordings might help.
Perhaps smaller ensembles in smaller gatherings will work sooner. (Progressive classical aka"new music" always has small audiences, perhaps that will become an advantage.)
Maybe we will come up with ways to make people feel safer in public. Better PPE, testing, treatments, vaccine- even screening at venues. Who knows.
I do think that creative people find ways to continue to be creative. It might be in private though, or on Instagram, YouTube and Soundcloud.
Sorry folks, I woke up today kind of facing reality, and for now I accept it in light of terrible things going on for so many people. Considering the populations being hardest hit by this pandemic, it is kind of a privilege to stay healthy.
I don’t want to close negatively. I do feel that we will come up with ways to continue, but right now I don’t see a return to normalcy- as-it-was for professional musicians until there is a cure or vaccine. I really hope I am totally wrong.
I don’t know what this means for the fall for kids entering undergrad. That is a more controlled population and environment, so maybe things will work out for 2010-21.
ps I live in a town with a major music festival in June and July. They have cancelled June but are still planning to have concerts in July. Again, I hope I am wrong and that the festival happens with healthy attendance. Right now we have access to past performances online.
I find that I wake up in the morning, take my dog out around the block (the biggest outdoor excursion of the day), come in to make some coffee and breakfast, and sit down with my laptop to see what’s going on. I’ve noticed that I look at every possible usual site I can first, and then, reluctantly, go to the NY Times page to read the news. Many mornings I cry a little bit, although I would have trouble telling exactly which part of this thing makes me so sad and anxious…all of it, I guess.
My son, however, is so far holding up really well–I’m happily surprised about that. He is determined NOT to get sick, and has not been out of the house except to bring trash out to the bins for almost three weeks, and that’s just fine with me (I do wish he were getting more exercise, though). (As some of you might remember, a few years ago he struggled with some serious depression, so for me it’s really great to see him doing everything he can to stay WELL!) He’s even considering taking some of the required courses for his Berklee degree online over the summer, just to get them out of the way and perhaps graduate a little earlier and get on to grad school or whatever he ends up doing (it will also save us a chunk o’ change!). It makes ME sad that he’s not getting more of the “college experience,” but at least he–unlike some of the students just starting out, for whom I feel really bad–has had some of that already.
He was just accepted into a second summer program that was SUPPOSED to have been held in Milan, but THEY were intelligent and proactive enough early on to set it up as an online program. I agree heartily with @compmom that nothing can replace live performances, etc., but at the moment just having the luxury of something productive for him to do is something to be grateful for as well.
We’re blessed that we very recently moved into a new place with plenty of room for both of us to have privacy, and for him to practice and record. We even have a little back yard (a real perk in what is basically an NYC borough that happens to be in NJ!). I feel the weight of our “privilege” sometimes, as I know how much others are struggling, and many local businesses are probably never coming back, in spite of our town’s efforts to help them keep going somehow.
MY challenge, I realized last night, is to try to allow my son (he’s 21) to have as much of a sense of autonomy at home as possible, and to try to leave him alone until he wants to talk or hang out. I have to learn to let him be an adult, which is harder at home than it would be if he were still in Boston!
This article was in the NY Times this morning–I thought it might be of interest to some of you with their students back home (and/or the students themselves):
So I just heard, from someone I know, of a gathering on Zoom where people (actually composers, but could be instrumentalists or vocalists) shared a link to a recording on YouTube, SoundCloud or D***box. Everyone muted the Zoom, listened, then came back to Zoom and unmuted it, then discussed. Are others doing this kind of thing? I do see potential.
@compmom Essentially you described how D’s choral credits will be granted for spring term. They are taking time to discuss and study the works they were going to perform -part lecture, part listening, part discussion. There will be a few appearances by guest lecturers (living composers). They are still required to know their respective parts as well. While she would prefer to perform, this promises to be a special learning experience.
With the exception of my youngest, all of “yours, mine and ours” are out of the house and have been working for a number of years - early to mid-30s. There is a lot of Zoom music teaching going on, private, group and classroom as well as some youth orchestras doing Zoom interactions. I don’t know anyone who sees this as something for the long term, but anything in a pinch. At least for “ours” some of the private lesson income is still coming in with students agreeing to go virtual and community music schools are paying the teachers for contracted lessons.
What will be interesting is the landscape for performing groups moving forward. A number of orchestras and opera companies are making news - both for paying musicians and for not paying them. I suspect some groups will not survive the upheaval. So much funding in the US is dependent on donors. It remains to be seen if everyone will be able to continue to contribute - a number of orchestras (the kind that offer full salary and benefits to musicians) were in trouble before this. The same is true of the per service organizations. I’m sure some will fold.
Here are a couple of good articles on how composers and instrumentalists are adjusting and finding new ways to go on (if links are allowed)
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/01/arts/music/coronavirus-classical-music.html
https://www.classicfm.com/music-news/coronavirus/changed-classical-music/
I think it goes a bit far to say that the virus has changed classical music for the good, but at any rate, wanted to post something positive.
^^^^ I most certainly agree that saying “the virus has changed classical music for the good” goes much more than a simple “bit too far”!! I would also point out that the ClassicalFM publication is British. Arts organizations are funded quite differently in the UK than the US. The arts outlook perspective is frequently different.
I have yet to be convinced that Youtube with free access to professional performance and no royalties to performers is positive for the future of live music and performing musicians. If someone can prove me wrong, please do!
As far as The NY Times - Wynton Marsalis’s father has died of Covid-19. I agree with the responding poster who noted that the article highlights a handful of highly successful musicians who were well situated to survive financial loss and are likely to resume their elite careers as soon as safe. This is far from the norm for working music professionals.
@compmom - I don’t mean to attack you for posting the above! I see how you are trying to find a “bright side” and I do appreciate it. As well, it is “entertaining” to see how journalists portray musicians and the impact of the pandemic. We are all concerned for our students and adult professional offspring. The more “data points” I see, the broader my view.
Well I posted one dark post and one positive post, not for the commentary but for the examples.
After conversations with and about some young musicians that I know, many ARE doing things with Zoom, linking Soundcloud or You Tube and many are making plans for some sort of collaboration from their separate sites, on Zoom. This is not a quality replacement obviously. In fact, there is a need for audio equipment and expertise to even get something online that is worth listening to.
I don’t post about my own kid but I will make an exception here and say it is a disaster, for music, but my kid is coping well. I am now buying groceries for two out of three kids on my social security income. Not sure how this is going to go long term.
Between my dark post and my too-bright one, I think my point is that the effects of this virus are going to be a lot longer lasting than we might think, and that audiences are going to be leery for a good long time. So in the meantime, do musicians just stop?
Though those are elite musicians in those links, neverthless there are some ideas for how to continue under these conditions. Ironically, my own kid rejects virtual music at the moment and we’ll see what happens with that.
Maybe its the provenance of the young to be optimistic and naive. Maybe it’s in the DNA of musicians and artists, who are told continually, you’ll never make a living…but still go into the field anyway (really unable to imagine doing anything else). Or perhaps it’s the constant need to scrape by, have a tight budget and live month to month…and, on top of that, have no idea what you will be doing in 12 months or sometimes even 6 months out. It could most definitely be that you look “failure in the eye” most weeks…a few times.
So the future is uncertain. When was it certain? Did I miss that?!?!
This is not to minimize the risk to more established musicians and houses. It’s just another perspective. My D just doesn’t seem that bothered (even though she’s on unemployment)…as the elite institutions were not her bread and butter. I suspect that she’ll be making less from music for awhile. But if you tried to engage her a conversation about the end of music as we know it…she’d most likely ignore you and go back to collaborating and making music. She thinks that THEY will make the future…so why worry?
Her mother continues to worry…
As usual @bridgenail, great post. I was just coming back to say that the composers I know, and some of the musicians, aren’t going to make a (full) living with music performance (even after years of study and more than one degree). They teach music, teach at university, have a day job, whatever, but music is at the center. They can’t NOT do music so they are finding ways to do it together or alone or both.
I love your daughter saying “THEY will make the future.”
Meanwhile I am buying those groceries- temporarily at least.
My daughter is finishing her college senior year online. She had the lead role in an opera that was cancelled. She was chosen to be the singer at her graduation ceremony and that was cancelled. And her senior recital will be filmed in an empty auditorium - or will it be cancelled? Who knows. We’re still waiting to hear about the summer program. She’s handling the disappointments very well. Of course there have been some tears and some anxiety.
She’s home with us while my husband/her father is suffering from some health issues that may be related to the virus - we just don’t know and he doesn’t qualify to get tested.
On the other hand, she has been accepted into a great MM program (IU Jacobs). In her free time she is making masks to send to people she knows who are working in the front lines at grocery stores and other such places. She is keeping in contact with the younger students she is peer mentoring to make sure that they are doing okay. And she’s checking in on her widowed grandmother often if even at a distance.
Honestly, I couldn’t be prouder of her. Although her career expectations are even less sure than in normal times, with her character and dedication, she’s got a fine future regardless of whether it involves the big opera stage or not. We all need music, especially in hard times.
My son’s school sent an email today about a leave-of-absence policy only in this semester due to Coronavirus pandemic. If a student wants to drop this semester, school will refund 40% of tuition (a decision must be notified by next week). School also extended a deadline for leave-of-absence request for Fall semester to July. They are aware of some students’ financial challenges (Does this mean no financial aids for retuning students??) and they may be planning ahead just in case if they need to give online classes in fall semester. I asked my son if he considers leave-of-absence next fall in case “online” again. He got mad…He really wants to stick with his school and go back to school as soon as he is allowed to. He feels very connected to his school and friends and is sure his goal to be a full-time “touring” musician. He isn’t discouraged by this virus disaster…like flight cancellation, quarantine and cancelled gigs in the career. He is moving toward to his dream.
He isn’t depressed at least. He cooks and eats a lot. One kid at home 24/7, our grocery bill is skyrocketing.
Reality looms for doctoral student almost finished. Just no way forward online, academically or professionally. Thinking about taking semester or year off means loss of funding and health insurance (kid has health conditions, this is a big issue). Kid is reislient nevertheless. As long as we all come out the other end alive and haven’t starved (yes grocery bills are huge, paying for one at home and doctoral student across the country), and manage to get everyone covered by adequate insurance, it will be okay.
@bridgenail Spot on.
It’s hard not to get depressed, or to be mourning the loss of the future (or even present) planned or imagined. There’s no way to know at this point what the future of concert music is going to be. Better to be in school right now, I think, than out in the world, really.
My son was on the verge of really big things - by verge I mean there were contracts, collaborators, meetings and dates scheduled. Now it’s all on hold indefinitely - and perhaps forever - as there’s doubt about the financial state of large classical music presenters going forward, and whether they’ll be willing, or able, to take a risk on a large expensive project from a young relatively unknown composer.
It’s sad, and usually as a mom I try to come up with something optimistic and cheery - but I’m feeling at a loss here on what to say, since the future is such an unknown.