What Does a Musician Do During a Pandemic
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
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
[Music]
this
[Music]
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