Freelance musicians are like trapeze artists working without a net. You have your skills, your regular gigs, and new opportunities usually pop up. So what could possibly go wrong all at once?
Plenty, as we’re witnessing right now.
Concert cancellations related to the COVID-19 coronavirus are leaving scores of classical musicians with less work or no work in the coming weeks or longer. It is a devastating financial blow to a group of performing artists, who, in many cases, are already living hand-to-mouth.
Event cancellations are affecting performers in many fields, but are especially catastrophic to classical players who derive the bulk of their income from a mix of seasonal contracts and pickup gigs. The vast majority of this work is “pay for service” — that is, when musicians don’t play, they don’t get paid.
Violinist Linda Kistler, a regular performer with the Allentown Symphony Orchestra, the Bethlehem Bach Festival Orchestra, the Pennsylvania Sinfonia, and other groups, estimates she’s already lost nearly 10% of her yearly income in canceled engagements.
“I’m so sad about the situation. I just can’t imagine not having the opportunity to get together with colleagues and make music — it’s just heartbreaking to me,” she says.
Violinist Linda Kistler(Contributed photo / TMC)
Like many freelance musicians, with the loss of performing jobs, Kistler now depends on income from her teaching responsibilities. She maintains a private teaching studio at her home and is on the faculty of Moravian College and Allentown’s Community Music School.
“Both CMS and Moravian have mandated that I can’t do face-to-face lessons with my students. With one of my CMS students I’ve recently tried a video conferencing app called Google Meet,” she says. “That worked OK, with limitations — it’s difficult to play together with someone where I can’t look over their shoulder to see their music.”
Kistler still has 4 or 5 students who come to her home. “That’s also very limited. I have to wipe down all the doorknobs and stuff in between lessons, make the students wash their hands before lessons, and try to stay six feet away,” she says. “But even then, I can’t see their music.”
Kistler still practices her usual exercises to remain musically in shape, and still practices for gigs that have a high probability of being canceled. “There’s nothing else to practice for, so I think I’ll be getting out the unaccompanied Bach partitas and playing those for my own enjoyment,” she says.
While some musicians are considering other means of temporary employment to make up for lost income, Kistler hasn’t considered anything else — yet.
“My husband says we should use the opportunity to get the house cleaned once and for all,” she jokes and notes that there are some positive aspects of video instruction. “A local friend of mine is having bandoneon lessons on Skype from an instructor in Argentina, which is kind of interesting,” she says.
But like so many musicians, what Kistler misses the most right now is the social interaction. “I still have my teaching, which is meaningful to me, but that other part – the social aspect of getting together musically with friends — is no longer there.”
Violinist Eliezer Gutman is concertmaster of the Allentown Symphony Orchestra.(Richard Peckham)
Violinist Eliezer Gutman is concertmaster not only of the Allentown Symphony Orchestra but also the Kennett Symphony of Chester County and Opera Delaware. Based in Wilmington, Delaware, he’s been a member of the Delaware Symphony Orchestra since 1994, and also performs with other local orchestras, including the Reading Symphony Orchestra.
“Obviously, it’s a great loss,” Gutman says of the income lost from canceled performances, which he estimates at around 80%, the other 20% coming from his position as a faculty member of the Music School of Delaware. Like Kistler, Gutman is teaching his students both remotely and face-to-face.
“As of now, one-on-one teaching is still allowed, but even that is awkward — you are just afraid to touch anything, even though the school uses hand sanitizers,” Gutman says. “So teaching is still going on, and believe it or not, students are still coming. But I just got a phone call today that the school is thinking about online teaching only.” Gutman recently used Skype with one student whose parents didn’t want him to attend a lesson in person. “I guess that can work, if everything goes right with it. It’s just different.”
In some ways at least, Gutman sees all his downtime as a positive. “It’s a good time to practice just what I want to practice and not what I need to. Nobody right now can use the excuse that they didn’t have time to practice! And I do violin-piano recitals in addition to my orchestra playing, so now I have time to look over the repertoire for next year,” he says. “Also, to have more time to spend with family also has some value.”
Like just about every other freelancer, Gutman misses the personal connection in a live performance. “I do like teaching, but I like performing much more, and of course I really miss everyone playing in an orchestra,” he says. “But often circumstances make the decisions for you, so maybe it’s time to rethink the possibility of doing more teaching.”
Robin Kani is principal flutist of the Bethlehem Bach Festival Orchestra.(Steve Siegel/For TMC)
Robin Kani serves as principal flutist of the Bethlehem Bach Festival Orchestra, the Pennsylvania Sinfonia, and the Allentown Symphony Orchestra. She also teaches at Moravian College, at Lehigh University, and her home studio. “The biggest problem for me is that so much of my income — at least a third — comes from performing, and it’s all been canceled,” she says. “So right now I’m depending on lessons, but that really isn’t enough. Both Larry (her husband, trumpeter Lawrence Wright) and I are feeling kind of numb.”
Kani has just started using the Zoom video conferencing app with her students. “It really works well because you can use multiple screens and put music up on the screen and share it with the other person,” she says. “The other cool thing is that I’m in my studio with all my music, which is really helpful because if I want to share something I have it here, which is not the case at Lehigh or Moravian. Just this morning I was teaching and there were a few vibrato exercises I wanted to give a student, so all I did was take a picture and share it on the screen.”
Like Kistler, Kani still has students coming to her home, but has found that most of them have taken to video lessons very well. “Somehow, it’s kind of a nice change. In some ways I have them right there and looking straight at me and I can see everything. I feel like they’re kind of captive — it’s kind of fun,” she says.
Due to school closures, all of her Moravian and Lehigh students are now taking lessons with her via Zoom, with only a single one dropping out due to computer issues.
Playing and practicing are still major activities for Kani. “I’m practicing lots! And for some reason, it’s more relaxed. I don’t feel like I’m under any pressure. So I think there are some good things to come from that,” she says. “Because I don’t have the time constraints or the pressure, I’m gradually figuring out some flute things that have been bothering me for a while. So I’m trying to think very positively.”
Discovering Zoom, in fact, has had a strong positive effect on Kani. “I’m finding that giving lessons online is quite nice. And I’ve never thought of actually advertising flute lessons online, but it could be really fun,” she says.
Steve Siegel is a Morning Call contributor.