BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
Since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, the entire nature of our industry has shifted — seemingly overnight — with artists forced to abandon their live events and projects.
But despite such mass cancellations, musicians are proving they have the power to take some control over what can only be described as a horrendous situation — and adapt with ingenuity, determination, and creativity.
In this interview series, we document the COVID-19 impact on the Australian arts industry while facilitating a candid discussion about what it is like to work during this difficult time. We hope this series will bring hope and solidarity to our creative community – things we need now more than ever.
Here, award-winning recorder virtuoso, educator, and Australian music advocate Alicia Crossley tells us about her work in isolation — including why she has not yet streamed her performances, and is instead spending much of her time on a passion project championing women composers.
Alicia, how have you been?
I have been doing pretty well, given the circumstances. There have certainly been some dark days with all the turbulence of the last couple of weeks, but since I have had some time to adjust to the new ‘normal’ routine, things have calmed down.
The support of friends and family at times such as these is certainly invaluable, and it has been heartening to see so many colleagues and friends in the arts sector supporting each other through this pandemic.
Before this interview, you told me you had six months of concerts disappear within three hours. What did it feel like to hear that news?
I remember that day very well. I had an afternoon of teaching, and I was receiving email after email about concerts and work being cancelled. There was no chance to discuss alternate options or postponing events, just a short email to say ‘Due to Covid-19 this event is now cancelled’.
It was a horrible shock to see months worth of work — some projects that were years in the making — suddenly evaporate into nothing. And I know I was just one of the thousands of people across the arts sector who had the same thing happen.
Fortunately, you’ve continued working and have engaged in a few other projects — one of which is Bass Instincts. What’s this all about?
Bass Instincts is my latest passion project which will involve seven Australian female composers writing virtuosic compositions featuring my favourite instrument, the bass recorder.
I am very excited to be working with [composers] Anne Boyd, Holly Harrison, Fiona Hill, Amanda Cole, Alice Chance, Jessica Wells, and Lisa Cheney on this project, and seeing how each composer approaches writing for such a unique instrument.
I have been having workshops and FaceTime meetings with each composer as we explore various performing techniques and compositional ideas.
Bass Instincts was already underway before COVID-19, as projects like this can take three or four years to come together. But this pandemic has forced me to evaluate my artistic endeavors, and focus on what I really want to achieve as an artist. I’m taking this time to plan some other individual projects and start some new collaborations.
Like many musicians, you’ve needed to shift to online teaching. I’m interested in how this works with your school group lessons. Run us through the process.
Teaching recorder at a primary school level is very different to most other instruments since most music programs treat recorders as ‘feeder instruments’ — in other words, an ‘easy’ instrument used to start a child’s music education so they can then be fed into the school band programs or move onto a ‘real’ instrument.
In practical terms, this means that most school music programs have group lessons for recorder with no requirements to have individual lessons. This has meant that moving lessons online takes a little more preparation than individual Zoom or Skype lessons.
Considering the age of most of my students — between 7 and 9 years of age — and the issues of trying to get groups of kids online at the same time and online security concerns, most of my schools have now implemented video tutorials for their recorder lessons. Each week, I prepare a video lesson, which the parents can download and the kids can play along with as needed. The feedback from the parents has been very encouraging and the kids seem to be enjoying the video formats.
How about your other teaching? Do you have many private students at the moment? What’s this culture been like for you as you shift with them online?
I teach in three different formats: private and individual students, school groups, and finally classroom recorder teaching. In a standard week of teaching, I see around 400 students — although only 10 of these are individual students. These different formats have required different approaches with online lessons.
For my private students, the move to online Zoom or Skype lessons has been fairly straight-forward, and the parents have been very keen to continue lessons and keep their child’s learning routine as normal as possible; although, it turns out that some students will still forget their instruments for online lessons!
The schools where I teach recorder for classroom music have also been keen to move to video tutorials where parents are emailed their child’s video lesson each week, and the child can have their music lesson at home at a time that is convenient for them. Sadly however, not all schools have supported continuing their music programs with online video lessons, with some principals choosing to suspend their music programs for the foreseeable future.
Interestingly, you haven’t pursued online performances as many others have. What was behind this decision?
As COVID-19 social distancing measures began to be implemented, causing concert halls and music venues to close their doors, many musicians chose to move their content online. Short-term grants were offered to companies to film their performance content in place of live performances. We saw orchestras such as the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra stream their planned concerts, and a few concert series and festivals have followed suit providing an opportunity for musicians and crews to get paid work and satisfy ticket holders and subscribers.
But these professional opportunities have rapidly shrunk due to the current level of COVID-19 restrictions and the financial limitations of streaming events. […] All the concert series I was booked to perform with over the next six months have cancelled their events rather than film or broadcast their events.
Depending on how long these social distancing measures continue, developing a solo online recital may be an option, but for now I am using this time in isolation to plan and develop future events.
Now that your workflow has totally changed — you’ve suddenly gone from concerts to no concerts — how have you adjusted to such a dramatic change? Has it been disorienting, or a natural progression to fill your days with other activities?
It was certainly a dramatic and sudden change, and the dust is still settling. Performing is such a large part of my life, and to have that ripped away initially left an enormous void. I felt disoriented, and was left questioning the value of what I was doing, which has not been helped by our current government’s attempts to ignore the needs of the arts sector.
Thankfully, I have now settled into a work routine with online lessons and preparing video tutorials for students, and I am embracing the extra time during the day to explore new repertoire and develop future projects.
What do you like to do outside music to keep yourself calm, happy, and occupied during self-isolation?
I absolutely love baking, and I have been practising some of my cookie decorating while in self-isolation. I have also decided to try my hand at some cross-stitch, and have been reading some books by Australian authors. I just finished reading Bruce Pascoe’s Dark Emu, and am currently reading Melissa Ashley’s The Birdman’s Wife.
At the end of the day, what’s something positive you’d like to take away from this forced experience — such as something you would like to learn or achieve that you wouldn’t have done before?
Despite having much of our work cancelled, this time in isolation has really proved how essential our work in the arts is for the wellbeing of the nation. As everyone has had their world turned upside down, people have turned to the comforts provided by music, films and TV, books, and crafts to fill their days.
Everyone in the arts sector should be incredibly proud of the work we do and the enormous impact our work has on everyone’s lives.
What does this story mean to you?
If you like, you can shout us a coffee as we volunteer our time for Australian arts journalism during the COVID-19 crisis. No amount too much or little, and any amount appreciated.
[purchase_link id=”12246″ text=”Add to Cart” style=”button” color=”red”]
Images supplied.
Pay what you like via PayPal.
