2020 Projects

In March 2020, live performances ground to a halt as the COVID-19 disease that had been infecting and killing thousands of people around the world reached the United States and was declared a pandemic. Restrictions on large gatherings and the increasing limitations on person-to-person contact outside the home devastated the performing arts industry worldwide. Within weeks, almost 95% of previously-employed musicians had lost all ability to generate income using the skills they have cultivated since elementary school (the remaining 5% are reported to be public school music teachers whose income was supplemented through occasional performance and private instruction).

Working from home, communicating through conferencing technologies, and evaluating family priorities have been necessary for everyone affected by this crisis, but musicians largely have been expected to make these adjustments without guidance from employers or organizations with supportive IT or other human resources. The nature of our work, the place we work, the tools we use to work, and the nature of our work, and the future of our work have all shifted into the unknown. Nearing the end of summer, we watch as many other nations slowly return to normal music-making activities following their own battles with the coronavirus, but the United States remained crippled.

Musicians are uniquely suited to self-guided productivity and problem-solving, but this era of COVID-19 inhibited creativity in ways previously inconceivable. However, many of us have filled our time with activities to inform our artistry, expand the scope of our music-making, refine our skills with greater attention, and devise strategies to reach new audiences. Listed below are some of the projects on which I have embarked during this period of mandatory isolation.

Playing Well

In March 2020, I participated in the pilot program of “Playing Well: Anatomy + Movement for Instrumental Musicians,” a course developed by the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University. With content created primarily by physicians and movement therapists, this course addressed common movement patterns that may lead to musicians’ injuries and disorders, movements and positions that may prevent pain and decrease the likelihood of injury, and how the body’s structure and function can impact musical performance.

TEchnology Certificate

Having used Apple products for personal and professional use for many years, getting certified as an Apple Teacher was a quick and easy process! I am also a Google Certified Educator and was part of the beta testing for the G Suite for Education (formerly, Google Apps for Education) in 2011.

ICSOM Conference - July 2020

The International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians, originally to be held in Pittsburgh in Summer 2020, convened via Zoom. I attended sessions which included “Intersection of Music, Race and Activism in our Orchestras,” led by brothers Anthony and Demarre McGill; “Health and Safety in the Workplace: Our New COVID-19 World,” a conversation with an infectious disease specialist for the United Nurses Associations of CA and Union of Health Care Professionals UNAC/UHCP, a professor of infectious disease medicine at Emory University, and an NIH research fellow in Otolaryngology; “Electronic Media in Today's Virtual Environment,” which addressed union-related concerns related to digital music-making projects; and “Orchestras of Note and Innovation: Creative Projects by Musicians’ Associations of ICSOM Orchestras during the COVID-19 Pandemic.”

Strings Educator Conference

Presented by Nat King Cole Generation Hope and the VanderCook College of Music in Chicago, this conference welcomed over 2,000 string educators from around the world. Featured on the agenda were presentations by ASTA President-Elect Dr. Rebecca MaCleod, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Associate Professor Dr. Frank Diaz, and renowned luthier Mr. William Harris Lee.  

Final Cut Pro x

I spent some time learning to use Final Cut Pro X software to produce virtual orchestra performances for students in the Young Artist Orchestra of DCYOP and small ensemble videos for the social media outreach of orchestras in Washington, DC.

Old Time Fiddle Lessons

I took fiddle lessons from old-time fiddler Emily Schaad (Blue Ridge Broadcasters, and formerly Old Buck), learning 12 Appalachian tunes in a traditional format over the course of the 8-week class. An added bonus was guest teacher Justin Robinson, fiddler from the Grammy Award-winning, old-time African-American string band the Carolina Chocolate Drops.

Filmelodic

Violinist and music technician Adam Grannick was one of the earliest to bring instrumental musicians together in a virtual way, releasing the first project of the Socially Distant Orchestra in early April 2020. I joined their roster in July to record “Stillwater” by Kelijah Dunton.

Tehran Symphony Collaboration

In April, a representative of Iran’s Roudaki Foundation contacted me to participate in a virtual orchestra and choir collaboration featuring a performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. While the final product would feature 170 musicians and vocalists from 15 different countries, only my audio (and the audio from many women outside of Iran) was allowed due to dress code restrictions imposed by the Iranian government just before the video’s release.

Excerpt from Symphony No. 9

NAt’l Symphony Broadcast

As all performances were shuttered at The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, musicians of the National Symphony Orchestra launched “NSO@Home,” informal weekly concerts featuring musicians and their families. Ben (an NSO violinist) and I performed during the 13th week of these home concerts. We also made a small guest appearance on their holiday program in December.

Songs of Comfort

Though I’ve been playing as a Musician on Call since last year at Children’s National Hospital here in DC, Ben and I have contributed to playlists that the organization broadcasts to patients of all ages. Our duet performances were also featured in a local CBS broadcast about music created by the National Symphony Orchestra and delivered to healhcare workers at the Virginia Hospital Center. In December 2020, our performances were added to MoC playlists which were sent to hospital partners around the country.

Unique Arrangements

In March, Ben and I embarked on a personal performance project to build our duet repertoire. Our duet performances are viewed daily by over 50 friends and family members through our social media accounts. Our performances of works by over 60 composers represent a wide range of genres, and the repertoire list includes many of my own arrangements. Some arrangements are inspired by current events, some are listener requests, and others have been wishlist items for special events that I’ve compiled over the years.

Educational Broadcasts

Ben and I were invited to contribute a mini lesson to the Mann Music Room, a platform created to virtually engage young audiences with performers and genres affiliated with the city of Philadelphia, where we lived and worked for many years.

MUSICIAN RELIEF FUNDRAISING

When concerts were cancelled and venues shuttered in response to COVID-19, the musicians of American Federation of Musicians Local 77 in Philadelphia launched a virtual music “Phestival.” Weekly broadcasts from their Facebook page have raised nearly $100,000 for the musicians hit hardest in Philadelphia. Ben and I had been members of this chapter for many years, and when we were asked to perform a concert in October we were happy to oblige!

Educational Blogging

At the start of the 2020/21 school year, I joined the TakeLessons staff as an educational blogger, writing posts specific to teaching and learning violin.

In Your Neighborhood

For the fall of 2020, the National Symphony Orchestra’s In Your Neighborhood program shifted to highlight the DMV’s frontline workers. Focusing on essential workers in the healthcare community, the NSO brought small, socially-distant chamber performances into healthcare facilities across the region. I had the opportunity to perform as part of an ensemble at Inova Fairfax Hospital in an itinerant capacity similar to the MoC bedside program.

CRM Training

The Tessitura Network is used by over 700 of the leading arts institutions and cultural organizations as a platform that unifies ticketing, admission, fundraising, membership, education, and many other business functions into a single database. Though I have used Tessitura while working for The Philadelphia Orchestra Association and The Pennsylvania Ballet, I took this opportunity during the COVID-19 pandemic to complete all the self-paced e-learning courses in addition to some webinar training sessions.

Hands-On Training

In Fall 2020, I completed my second development internship, this time as part of the Advancement Department of Washington Performing Arts. In this role, I managed initial solicitations and tracking for fall sponsorships, corporate, and major donors, coordinated interdepartmental announcements for The World in Our City, engaged diplomatic partners in support of Home Delivery Plus, and created digital materials related to corporate sponsor meetings and Junior Board communications.

Reading lists

While the parents of my private students have always been encouraged to supplement their child’s lessons with books and articles, I began creating structured reading lists for my studio families. Largely comprised of classic “beginning violin” books that my own parents read while I was enrolled in Suzuki Violin School, the list stretches into newer publications and addresses topics that are also applicable to older, more mature musicians.