London Cello Society Newsletter, spring 2021
On Boxing Day 2020, the New York Times ran an
article entitled: ‘A Great Cultural Depression Looms
for Legions of Unemployed Performers’.
On Boxing Day 2020, the New York Times ran an
article entitled: ‘A Great Cultural Depression Looms
for Legions of Unemployed Performers’.
On Boxing Day 2020, the New York Times ran an article entitled: ‘A Great Cultural Depression Looms for Legions of Unemployed Performers’. Without concerts or rehearsals, or indeed any reason to take up our instruments, musicians are being forced to reflect on their role in an unknown musical future. Though uncomfortable, this reflection may be long overdue.
For the past nine months, along with Italian balconies and neighbourhood streets, Zoom has been our college, our pub and our concert hall. Online platforms such as InsideOut Musician and The Exhale, initially created to meet the need of musicians to connect during this desperate time, have matured. They have torn down boundaries, creating wide open spaces. They have built communities across the globe, promoting a holistic and healthy approach to music-making, the likes of which we have never seen. In a world where performance has been caught up in greed and consumerism, they are committed to rediscovering the importance of going inwards in order to find authentic outward expression and are leading the way toward a new vision of musical learning for all.
Having taught exclusively online for almost a year, I am convinced this way of working is a gift. It is far from inferior to live interaction and will, in my opinion, always exist as a compliment. Here are just some of the advantages I have experienced:
‘’The word ‘musician’ is too often used to discourage people from participating in their birth right as sound-makers’ – Mark Stewart, Cellist, Guitarist, Paul Simon Band, Founder of Bang on a Can
On Boxing Day 2020, the same day as the New York Times article appeared heralding a depression, we were sharing a late lunch at our home in the South of France. It was already dark. The candles were lit, and the carol sheets spread upon the table. Suddenly, somewhere in between In The Bleak Midwinter and Hark the Herald Angels Sing, a voice boomed out:
Che bella cosa na jurnata ’e sole,
n’aria serena doppo na tempesta!…
Alexander, an opera singer from Paris would never, until this moment, have sung spontaneously for others. After nine months of near silence and isolation, however, it didn’t matter how, when, where or for whom it was going to happen. This musician had to express the voice inside him. It was a powerful moment to witness.
I believe there is gold in this pause we have been forced to make. Perhaps the words ‘lock down’ contain within them their opposite—open up? Perhaps this period of going inwards will, if we can rise to the challenge, herald a period of great cultural expression? I hope so.
Inside-Out Meditation
As featured in…
Transforming Stage Fright Into Stage Presence
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