What Does a Musician Do During a Pandemic

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[Music]

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what are you doing now

what are you doing now what are you

doing now

since march of 2020 this has been the

question i’ve been asked the most

let’s go back to a time when i was 16

years old

walking into a room in a place that i’d

never been before

lights flashing the ground rumbling the

walls rumbling

a temperature so hot but it didn’t

matter

a consistent sound boom boom

boom boom a crowd electrified

and energized hanging on to every word

and every action

of the musical giants on the stage in

front of us

in that moment i knew this was something

special it was something i wanted to be

a part of

and in that moment a guitar pick comes

flying from the stage

across over the crowd and i reach my

hand up to try to get it

i miss it the music’s getting louder the

pics falling to the ground

i get down on my hands and knees and i

scramble to try to get this pick for me

that pick represented everything for me

that pick was me taking home that night

being a part of that night

and guess who came up with a guitar pick

from that moment on i knew i wanted to

do everything i could to recreate that

feeling

to continue to be a part of that

exchange of energy

from artists to crowd artists to fans

15 years later i’m a musician i’ve

always aspired to be

i’ve toured all over the country i’ve

done nationwide tours as well as

international tours and i have the

incredible opportunity

to recreate that feeling throw out the

guitar pick

to a 16 year old just like myself to

engage with a crowd

to be part of that exchange of energy

march 2020 venues close

lights go out and the crowds go home

what are you doing now what am i

doing now

so i turned to social media i wanted to

continue

to utilize a platform and continue

creating that dialogue between

myself and my audience on march 18th

2020 i made a post

and i asked the fans what’s the last

concert you saw before the kovid 19

lockdowns think about that what is the

last concert

i saw before the kova 19 lockdowns

at a venue where that exchange is so

special and so unique and so unlike

anything else

i thought it was important to reminisce

on that feeling kind of

hold on to that feeling that we may not

be experiencing for a long time

then i thought about sharing i thought

about how can we all inspire each other

to continue pushing through this this

weird and interesting time

on march 28 2020 i asked

share something positive you’ve been

doing during this time

what is something positive you’ve been

doing this during this time and the

comments that came in served as

inspiration for myself

and inspiration for others in our

community we had things like

i’ve been practicing yoga daily to i

convinced my boss to

donate n95 masks to a local hospital

then live streaming became an option for

us to bring a performance to the fans

the big challenge being going from this

to this going from 4 to 500 fans at a

venue

real smiling faces to one camera lens

my challenge being how can i recreate

the energy that’s

fueled by the audience an energy that’s

fueled

from what i can hear what i can see what

i can feel smiling faces real smiling

faces

so here’s an example of that platform

i’m here in my bedroom

i’m doing an acoustic performance

offering up a q a to the fans

and there’s a chat box that you see

where fans can request the songs they

want to hear

and i’m encouraging the fans to ask the

questions i say where are you guys

tuning in from

shout out your town shout out your city

say what up to the other fans who are

tuned in on the live stream

as well as if you’re enjoying yourself

today put a bunch of smiley face emojis

put a bunch of flame emojis

palm tree emojis and you can see the

energy created as the comments come in

as the emojis come in

we’re forced to seek the connection in a

different way it’s different

than the exchange that happens at the

venue

here the energy is still created through

the emoticons

and an emoji a smiley face emoji

represents a real smile from a real fan

but social media and live streaming

didn’t quite seem to be enough

i wanted to connect to my audience in a

deeper way in a different way

i was thinking about my 16 year old self

looking up at my favorite artist

and that feeling that i had i wanted to

take that feeling to another level

i started offering music lessons

one-on-one one-hour sessions

opened it up to my audience i promoted

it on social media as well as mentioned

it in live streams

but i kind of thought i’d try to offer

something different and open up a

channel

to connect in a different way my first

lesson

was a woman from france on the other

side of the world

to have my first lesson from a woman in

france i mean it gets it makes us

ecstatic at this point

but she’s telling me about her

experiences with the music and how

reggae has impacted her life

she pulled out this ukulele and she’s

like i’d love to learn some of your

songs on this ukulele

and so i taught her some basic strumming

patterns and chords

and we hit it off and she told me her

story the big takeaway for me was

getting to know

her that much more putting a face to a

name someone that has been interacting

on social media and live streaming

but to get to know her that much more

and know her story

was everything for me that connection

that full circle

connection one of my most memorable

students is a young girl named madison

she’s 11 years old we’re going on eight

weeks

of piano lessons now she’s from chicago

by the way shout out to chicago

her and i have been learning some of the

songs from our record she’s really

enthusiastic about it she has a good

natural ear and approach to music

it’s been a joy teaching her it’s been a

joy getting to know her family

they’re big reggae fans k-ball music is

is a daily

part of their lives in their house so

teaching her is just really fluid

and connecting with her is really fluid

i wanted to show you an example of one

of our lessons here it is check it out

three times in a row three times in a

row nice and slow

peaceful let’s you can get it really

good here i think you got this you got

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this

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and

music lesson connection through these

music lessons

i’ve been able to connect to my fan base

in a different

deeper and more meaningful way i’ve done

about 160 lessons since march

with different fans of all ages and has

been incredibly rewarding

now imagine when we return to concerts

again that connection will be that much

more meaningful

knowing what we went through together we

adapted through social media

live streaming and music lessons we got

to know each other that much more

artist and fan fan and artist the full

circle

exchange of energy when we exchange

a smile at the venue at the concert

it’ll mean that much more knowing that

we know each other that much more

i’m not going to just see faces out

there i’m going to see james who took

ukulele lessons from me there’s stacy

who took guitar lessons and excelled

there’s madison and her family enjoying

the show having a good time

and she’s continuing to be a better

musician every day

knowing that we connected and that we

adapted together

won’t mean that much more before i go

i would like to ask if i could connect

with you

through song i’m gonna sing a section

and i ask that you sing along wherever

you are

your living room or your car your office

your home

i’ll sing the line first and then it’s

your turn to sing after that here we go

and then it’s your turn here you go

[Music]

and i’ll sing the line here we go

it’s super simple you got it your turn

yeah i think we can do it a little bit

louder this time

your turn here you go

open my eyes

cause there’s nothing that we can do

connection between me and you open

my eyes

[Music]

thanks so much for the opportunity to

share with you today

hope you have a beautiful day a

beautiful night

and if you have a favorite artist or

musician i encourage you to connect with

them as much as possible

peace and be well