Am I relevant ? That’ s the question I’ve been asking myself for the past few years. And now, in this age of Coronavirus, this question takes on an even greater significance.
Up until a month or so ago, I had put my self in the category, older white composer of traditional ‘classical’ music. The relevant composers seemed to be: younger in age, genders other than males , ethnicities their than white, winners of awards; recipients of lucrative commissions. This all makes sense. I got it. The age white male dominance is over.
But to give myself credit, just about at the point COVID 19 reared its ugly head, I had a number of performances on the schedule for the foreseeable future. A few rehearsals went as planned ( only about 4 or 5 people in a room. Then maybe rehearsal via Skype.. then ..‘we’ll let’s put things off for a few weeks. then nada.)
But now. a whole swath of humanity is.. irrelevant. Everyone who performs dancer actor musician. politician.
But , we are in the 21sr century. We can Zoom our ensemble. We can play our bass clarinet version of a Bach Partita on Facebook. We can play orchestral excerpts on Instagram.
I always thought that a piece of music comes to fruition when it is performed for an audience. But all the concert halls and performance venues are mute.
So now, I have my virtual music played on my computer for me, my wife and my cats to hear.Or I can send it around to my virtual friends.
