Making music together in a time of Corona
In the middle of March the world stood upside down for most musicians.
On March 12th we heard, in shock, the first official news about the cancellation of all the artistic events in The Netherlands. Within just a few days, all of our planned tours, festivals, concerts and rehearsals in The Netherlands and the whole of Europe got cancelled for an unknown amount of time. Like thousands of other artists, I couldn’t believe that the thing I love most in my artistic life — chamber music — is suddenly gone for a while.
I felt like I have to fill this big gap in my heart by doing something else. I started practising scales, études, tried to read very difficult solo repertoire. However, it simply wasn’t enough. I missed playing together with other musicians and my friends.
In the third week of March I got to know about the Virtual Ensemble — an initiative started by one of my neighbours and composer N. Kaori. I thought that if I am not able to make some music by sitting or standing close to other musicians, I could try for the first time in my life to ‘play together’ in the virtual world. This past January I decided to invest some money into a good recording device. Little did I know then, that in only a few months, it would become one of my most often used devices during the time of the Corona.
So I asked the composer to include me into the Virtual Ensemble.
I received a score with a short piece called “Mirage” written for violin and guitar, and containing precise instructions about the position of the performer and how to set the camera.
I decided to wear something that I would otherwise never think of wearing when performing: my warm, comfortable onesie. No make-up. I didn’t have any reference of how the other musician would play his part (also, I had never met him before), only a metronome mark. I tried to imagine the character and atmosphere we could create together. It felt a bit like playing chamber music — blindfolded.
The piece itself technically wasn’t difficult but very pleasurable. While playing I had a picture of dreamy people in a cafe in the 1930s, full of smoke of cigarettes and the band playing some slow blues in the background. The tempo of the piece was quite slow (quarter note=50).
It was a very interesting process to record myself and then listen and watch the video, quickly correcting things that could be improved. This time it was not only about the same musical issues that we usually focus upon, but also about how to find the right camera angle, a better light, how to become as comfortable and relaxed as possible on the video. After doing many takes, I sent a few of the best ones to the composer and waited for the final results.
The outcome of the whole process positively surprised me. Of course, it was so nice to finally hear the harmony of the other instrument and see the other player for the first time. I discovered at that moment that creating the videos in that way makes new possibilities for the performance which are not possible in normal circumstances. The pictures of both of the videos — mine and the guitar player’s — were smoothly fading into one another. Funny enough, there is a black-and-white picture of a young and elegant woman on the side of the picture frame (from video footage of the guitarist) who is indeed dressed in the 1930s style. For me it looks like a reflection of somebody’s memory and it is exactly what I was thinking about whilst doing a recording.
Since then I made five more videos for the Virtual Ensemble.
What I like the most about the Virtual Ensemble is the variety of musical styles and visual effects present in the videos. There are already five composers who write miniatures for the musicians and all of them are very different. We had a bit of contemporary music, samba, jazz, pop, improvisation and even pieces written for voice and dance. I think my favourite one: ”Quarrel?’’, which I played, involves some theatricality.
The piece was written for violin and… a frying pan with two other musicians playing in the background. It was a composition which I played with my partner, a percussionist sitting next to me in the same room. Except for musical advices, we received some extra instruction involving a little bit of acting in the certain moments of the piece. It was really fun experience to find our way of interpreting those non-musical parts of our performance. ‘How do you play a glissando on a frying pan?’
Of course, it is impossible to replace a direct, physical contact between musicians, sharing emotions in the moment, while playing music for the ‘Virtual Ensemble’. This is something I’m going to miss until the time of the social distancing is over and beyond.
Until we are not allowed to play, rehearse, perform together in one room/concert hall, this is a very good possibility to get to know new music and stay in contact or meet new musicians and composers. I hope to cooperate with them in the future until the Corona time is over.
It is also a time of gaining new skills, looking into new possibilities of making music together and go through this difficult time physically apart but virtually- together.
Aleksandra Kwiatkowska
