You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - Being a Musician During a Pandemic

Episode Date: March 13, 2020

As the world deals with the coronavirus pandemic, Peter and Adam discuss how this global event is affecting musicians.Coming soon - a new course from Open Studio! It's the long-awaited sequel to our Rhythm Section Fundamentals course, where you'll learn how to get the piano, bass, and drums to play as one well-oiled jazz machine. Stay tuned for more details, and check out the original Rhythm Section Fundamentals to prepare for part two.Interested in more music advice? Go here to browse our catalog of jazz lessons and courses available for purchase. And be sure to check out our All Access Pass - every course from Open Studio on every instrument.Let us know what you think by leaving a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, or head over to our YouTube channel.Follow us on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Hey, Adam. Hey, I wasn't expecting to see you here. Right. Well, I got a little free time on my hands. How about you? Yeah, I do too. Okay, I hope you got some soap and water in your hands as well. I'm Adam Anas. And I'm Peter Martin. And you're listening to the You'll Hear Podcast. Daily music advice coming at you. Coming at you today, sponsored by Open Studio. Go to Open StudioJazz.com for all of your jazz

lessons, including any piano courses that you might be interested in. We do have a piano access pass where you can sample all of them. Check it out at Open StudioJazz.com. We've got some awesome players that have been spotlight. I don't know if you've seen this yet over on the Instagram. I know. The spotlight is popping off, and there's some damn good players that are open studio members. Some of them might cross over to instructors at a certain point because it's really exciting and gratifying to us.

And we just wanted to, first and foremost today, just say a big thank you guys for listening for all of the open studio. And you'll hear it in the community. Got to meet some more listeners when I was down in New Orleans. I haven't told you about that yet. And I know we didn't even think we were going to be seeing each other today. Yeah, you were supposed to be gone for like a month, but hey, global pandemics happen apparently now. Oh, that's right. And what happened?

Your tour got canceled, right? The tour got canceled. Yeah, we were supposed to leave yesterday. And then some of the European, like three and a half week tour in Europe with the Diane Reeves and her band. And some of the gigs were canceled. And then the whole tour kind of fell apart. I think probably rightfully so a lot of the venues are, you know, having trouble and people are hunkering down and trying to deal with this. And so we thought today we would kind of talk about.

just sort of how this affects. I know we have a lot of working pros, semi-pros and everything in between the listening to this, too. And fans, yeah. We want to go out to concerts. And so, like, you know, what we do here is just, it becomes so small as it should compared to what's happening in the world. And we thank you guys for spending a little time with us. And we want to send great warm greetings and a lot of love out to everybody. We hope that you are safe and that your family and loved ones.

I know a lot of people are going through trying times with jobs and schools closing and things being closed and everything. It's a crazy time right now. There's so many schools have canceled just yesterday. Right. All their classes for the remaining of the semester. You know, the NBA suspended its season. Right. It's just a really weird time. So I like that you started off with a little appreciation because I agree with you. I really want to convey, you know, my appreciation of everybody who listens and all our open studio family. It's like I'm feeling for all the pros right now. I've lost already three gigs have been canceled. I'm supposed to leave for Kansas City. in about two hours. I'm not even sure if that's going to happen.

Right. For a string of gigs. So it's just a really wild time. He's for real. He just checked his phone as he said that. Well, I am. I'm trying to update because I don't want to get to like Columbia and then have to turn around.

Right, right, right. Yeah, so it's just a lot of logistical things for folks. And I think as musicians, you know, one thing that hopefully we've stayed consistent with is always preaching, you know, kind of preparation in general. We're usually talking musical preparation. But just sort of that mindset of really honing your craft, I think is so important to us. And we stick to that a lot on the podcast because

it's what we know. It's what we believe in. And I think during these times, and this has happened before for me, you know, I'm getting up there a year. So I've been out here for a minute in different ways when you go through either natural disasters or kind of global things that affect travel especially. 9-11 was 11. 9-11, right? And then, you know, I've been in natural disasters where I was kind of displaced. So, but the idea is that you want to take whatever situation. You want to take whatever you're in and as long as you know you and your family your loved ones are safe and everything um whatever you know financial and work challenges come up you still want to if you can keep your musical development in mind i think and sometimes you can even use these type of situations if you have a little bit of

time on your hands to further develop so that when you come out you know because this will pass you you know this will pass like all things um and if you can kind of a mindset of a goal of becoming a better player when you come out, you can really hunker down and practice them. I agree. And, you know, even though concerts are being canceled, and it seems like at the time we are kind of the cream on top of the shake, right? We're the whipped cream on top of the... What I say, discretionary ticket purchases? That's going to become a big thing. We're the cherry on the Sunday. But we're also, and I can't think this, I can't over-stress this, we're also an important part of people's healing from things like this. You know, this isn't,

This is just a very weird and not, I want to say panic, but they're very stressful. People are stressed. Yeah. And they're fearful about what's going to happen, even if it's just economically because things are kind of like, you know, like sealing up. But even in that time, I don't think there's anyone more equipped to relieve people, even for an instant, of that kind of stress than musicians. Right. We are uniquely equipped to take the reality of bad situations. and turn them into joy more than almost anybody else.

So you're saying that a frown is just a smile turned upside down and vice versa? I'm saying for an improvising musician, it is. That's right. No, so I think your point of like this could be a time to hone your skill. You know, if you have some extra time, write that tune you were going to write. That's right. You know, do that arrangement you were going to do. Practice that concept you've been putting off.

This is the time to work on some stuff. It is. And just know that, you know, the world is going to need that. For sure. So, like, you know, what we do, is small and discretionary in a lot of ways, but to your point about us being healers, that really is part of our job.

For sure. You know, is to give, yeah, there's the side of it where we're sort of, even just on the surface level of being entertainers, helping people get their mind off of the woes of the world. Like we're supposed to be, we have an obligation to bring something at a minimum that's positive and entertaining on at least like a clown level,

you know, like visually interesting, but even on a deeper level to bring some meaning and some unity and sort of an antithesis to all the things that are wrong with the world. But even just the music that we come out of, you and I, and probably most of the people listening to this who are fans of black American music, of jazz music,

think about a New Orleans second line funeral dirge and what happens in that minute, that dirge. It becomes this joyous affair. Right. And it's there to help lift our spirits during that time. That's tradition that we coming out of. When we listen to Oscar Peterson geek out over that, or Keith Jared or Herbie Hancock or any of those things, they're in that tradition. We are in that tradition, and that's part of our DNA as musicians comes from that.

So, you know, go on YouTube and watch some funeral jerges if you want to see the power of what we can do with jazz. It's real. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, and I love that analogy where you have the brief period at the beginning of the solemn, laying to rest and then the release of the body up, you know, proverbially. And then the joyous music. It was funny because I was just in New Orleans earlier this week, as you know, and I was talking with someone about, like, man, there was just a funeral or something.

And I was actually going to go over because it was kind of a, it wasn't a musician I knew well, but it was a musician I kind of knew. But we were playing a gig that night, the memorial was right before. And they were doing a funeral. And we were just saying how, like, what a great place that the joy of somebody's life is truly celebrated. For sure. I mean, it's a solemn affair and it's sad that they're gone, but it ends with the lifting up of the person and the music and the community and everything.

And I think that, you know, our hope is that, as I'm sure all the listeners, hope is that as this pandemic, you know, wanes, hopefully sooner rather than later, but with the likelihood of the kind of getting worse or whatever is going to happen, we will get through it. And on the other side, our jobs as artists, bigger than just like, can you play the scale a certain way, but our jobs as, as being ready with some art to present to people to uplift them. That's really our job.

I mean, just like, you know, the grocery stores are going to have to be open. It's their job to make sure we have food and all these different things. Like, we've got to take that seriously. Yeah. This could also be a time for you to forge some relationships or strength, strengthen some relationships with musicians that you want to work with. Oh, I thought you were saying forage. I said first.

I was like, this could be, I was like, day, has it got that bad? That might be coming later. That's next week. We're going to be forage for fresh. With sugar, Rob. No, but no, but to, you know, like, Reach out to people that you haven't talked to in a while if you have a little time and you want to... Don't reach out with your hands.

No, well, I was going to say... One good thing that jazz musicians have going is we're already, like, well acquainted with the fist bump. Right. Oh, but that's a no-no now. The fist bump? How about the elbow bump? See, you've been stuck in St. Louis. You don't know about this.

I've been out of town. Oh, is it? The elbow bumps okay. It's not the preferred, but yeah. How about it? Air fist? I mean, yeah, six feet. Six feet, air fist.

Yeah. Okay, so stay away from the fist bump then. But let's talk a little bit about, on a serious note. And we reiterate we are not doctors, although we both know doctors. And we both played the song, Dr. Jazz, by Jelly Roll Morton recently. No, but a little bit of piano hygiene. Should we talk about that a little bit? Yeah. Wipe down your piano keyboard, folks.

Yeah, I mean, pandemic or not. Yeah, why are we got to tell you this? It's like all the people who are like, why are you wash your hands? Yeah, wash your hands anyway. Yeah, wash your piano and wash you. I know, exactly. And they're like, you know, sing a song. Are you really washing your hands that short that you got to sing a chorus of?

Happy birthday? Yeah. So both my kids are taking piano lessons right now. Classical piano lessons. And we have a sign on the refrigerator. Do not touch the piano until you've washed your hands. That's before a global pandemic happened. Do they abide by it?

They do because we have... Oh, it's on the fridge, meaning they don't get to eat if they don't do it. No, it's just part of the house rules. You don't get to touch the piano until you've washed your hands. Now, this should be a rule for you as well out there listening. And, you know, I try to do it as much as possible. Wash your hands on the regular before you touch the key. and wipe your keyboards down.

Even if it's just you touching it, wipe your keyboards down. It's just practical. Yeah, maybe a little bit like, I think what we did here was with those Lysol wipes, you know. I mean, the thing, it's amazing touring when they have a keyboard, or even on the piano sometimes, how many times you get these backline companies come,

and it's just like visibly dirty. Oh, yeah. You know, and they're charging like $1,800 to use these Nord keyboards. I'm like, come on. You can't wipe it down. With a disinfectant wipe. takes 30 seconds. Topps.

It's part of our gig. Okay, well, cool. Well, I think we, well, hopefully we at least solve some things. Anything's in terms of practice or whatever that you're looking to accomplish during this possible period

of gig layoff? Yeah, so I've been working on guided practice routines or guided practice sessions here at Open Studio. I've done a ton of them. I think, and this is just for our podcast listeners, I'm going to just kind of spoiler here.

Social bubble. Social bubble. It's going to be something, the guided, daily, we're going to do a daily guided practice session where you can practice with me every day. Eventually, this might be its own podcast. So look for that coming soon. I think that's going to be a thing very soon.

Yeah. Possibly even an app. Oh, I don't want to, I don't want to restate my mouth. The app is coming down. I want to talk to you about this. We won't say much more about it. But look for a guided practice session, daily guided practice session from me coming very, very soon.

That sounds good. I'll be into that. Oh, you're well past this, buddy. No, no, no. I mean, last time we did it. Oh, actually, that's true. Yeah, yeah. All right. Well, we want to say, once again, thank you guys. We love you. Thank you for listening.

We're going to try to keep, you know, as the global situation is, you know, depending on what's happening. I mean, we're going to be here no matter what. But really, just so you know, our goal is to give you just a few minutes of levity, hopefully brevity as well and a little bit of fun. But mainly just kind of keep you guys connected with the music as well as us and us, you know, all connected with the community. So we appreciate all the comments that we get on YouTube. We even got some tweets. We've got some, you know, reach out to us. We love to do that. Let's strengthen our community during this challenging times.

And if I could call an audible here, please, just real quick. If you are struggling from some of the financial fallout from this pandemic, please, and you're an open studio member, please send us an email to support at openstudio.com. Yes. And we're happy to help you out. We're happy to work something out so that you don't have to lose your open studio membership because of. Absolutely. Yeah, and in fact, this is a good kind of, because we are sponsored here, obviously, by Open Studio. And I was looking back, you know, one of our main, really our primary goal and purpose of Open Studio is to connect, you know, our global community of aspiring jazz players with great teachers and great players like Christian McBride and Adam Maness and Jeff Keeser.

We were just talking with Jeff Keeser yesterday, is to make those connections, those virtual connections, but then they become real connection. and to basically help anyone who wants to get better at playing jazz, help you get better. That's like literally what we're here for. For sure. So in challenging economic times or whatever, that's still our purpose and our goal to be here. So if that means, you know, you pay whatever you can afford or pay nothing, that's fine because we want to get this information out there. Not only do we want to get it out, it's our duty to do that.

That's kind of what we're here for. Yeah, and we definitely don't want to have financial hardship to be a barrier for you working on stuff, especially now if you have some time to work on stuff. And email the support at openstudio.com, openstudionnetwork.com. Yep. If that's the case. Good stuff. And so today's Friday, right?

Hump day. Hump day. No, dude, no. Not hump day. He's off tour for two days. He's already lost track of the days. You guys stay safe. I hope you have a beautiful weekend.

Hug your loved ones and kiss each other. I'm going to, oh, no. Yeah, your loved ones, you can do that. I'm not going to hug and kiss Adam. I do love him, but we're going to stay six feet apart. All right. Six feet fist bump, buddy. You'll hear it.