Like every other profession over the last seven months, music, particularly live performance and education, has undergone significant changes. From online lessons via Zoom, major institutions furloughing their musicians, to some incredible remotely produced performances released online, it’s been fascinating to see how an entire industry has adapted to the new normal it finds itself in. This reality hit me hard over the last two weeks while I had my first in- person rehearsals with an ensemble in over half a year. Me and six other colleagues here at the Omaha Conservatory of Music met to prepare a newly commissioned work for an upcoming virtual concert titled: In Harmony: Stories from Childhood. The concert, which releases online on Sunday, October 11 at 3pm, will feature several new works played alongside the narration of children’s books. If you happen to have or know any young kids, I’d highly recommend checking it out!
The work I’ll be performing on, music to the story Fluffy the Porcupine, is for septet with an instrumentation of string quartet, piano, trombone, and trumpet. From the moment I walked into the concert hall, I can say that it was one of the most unique chamber experiences of my life. Almost the complete opposite approach to performing chamber works than I learned in school, Covid-19 necessitated not only that the performers have several feet between them but also that me and the trombonist sit in the front of the ensemble facing forward in order to direct aerosol particles towards the empty seating. This setup meant that the only musicians I could see were the trombonist and first violin with everyone else somewhere behind me. Further complicating things, it was also my first time performing wearing a musician’s mask. If you hadn’t heard of these, they are simply multilayered masks with slits cut into the material to allow a mouthpiece to reach a brass player’s mouth while still covering their face.
The first rehearsal was certainly interesting to say the least as everyone on stage responded to these new conditions. For me, playing with a mask forced me to immediately rethink how much time I needed to get my horn up to play as it seemed to take an eternity to navigate my mouthpiece through the slits (my fiancée can confirm that I am not the most coordinated person). I then ran into the second issue of playing while wearing a mask, it felt different. For one, it feels weird to play with material on your corners when you’ve spent your life not experiencing that. Two, there’s a lot more condensation on the mouthpiece when you’re breathing on it under a mask leading to noticeably less grip (and a hilariously missed entrance as it slides of your face). The setup also posed some interesting challenges. With limited visibility across the ensemble, the first violin had to lead and cue the ensemble through several entrances following narration and subito tempo changes. Due to the distance between performers, however, you had to go off what you saw rather than what you heard so that the group sounded together out in the hall.
As we spent more time under these circumstances, however, everyone got used to them and adjusted, which brings me back to my opening point about adapting to a new normal. Covid-19 has thrown the mother of all monkey wrenches in all aspects of life this year. While people have expressed legitimate concerns about how it will impact the future of the arts, I also believe that our industry will innovate to find ways to not only perform live music at a high level but also share it with the public. Whether that means practicing routine wearing a mask or trusting your eyes over your ears, each situation presents new challenges to overcome. At the end of the day, performing live music was just as fun and great as I remembered it.
That about does it for this week’s Rode Rant. Stay safe and happy playing!