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In a way I had resigned myself to orchestras not beginning again until January - that gave me more time to prepare myself.
But I did email the organiser of the South London String Orchestra a few weeks back to suggest that at least we could all wear facemasks, whereas wind and brass players can't. He got in touch with the church that owns the hall, to ask if we could reconvene in September, and they replied we could move in at the end of July if we wanted!
Which is nice. Otoh, I'm scared because I'll be less good than I wanted. And also I need to apply for an over 60s travel pass, so I'd better get my e-Skates on.
Andrew
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We're probably going to be much more cautious in the US, given the situation here.
My orchestra has not officially canceled anything yet; officially we are still resuming normal rehearsals in our usual venue in late August.
HOWEVER... it appears unlikely that will actually happen. Orchestra management is currently exploring alternate options, all of which involve rehearsing and performing outdoors. I don't think playing indoors is even being considered now. Depending on both the coronavirus situation and the availability of appropriate venues, we may decide to perform as a full orchestra outdoors (appears unlikely), split into a string orchestra and a wind band for the fall, or organize an outdoor chamber music series. Also depending on venue, we would either play in front of a socially distanced audience or produce livestream-only concerts. An email went out to orchestra members asking for venue suggestions for both outdoor rehearsals and outdoor concerts that would allow musicians to be safely distanced.
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I agree Andrew. Unlikely that it will happen.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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Thought I would share this. Found this thing called JamKazam. It's an application you can install on your Mac or PC that allows people to play together in real-time.
You do need a digital interface though, and a decent internet connection, and not on wifi.
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@John Bracone - thanks for sharing that - it has a certain potential for those more fortunate than I ! ( although - I wouldn't exactly call it "real time" - but equally in a sense yes - or at least "close enough" on a good connection ! )
Must admit - been there with that on JamKazam - and - yes OK - "wifi" to my router (not cellular - which is even slower than my "broadband") - it's well capable of 75Mbps - but the underlying "super fast broadband" over copper to the exchange (yes, that's REALLY what they call it) - is this -
And no - it don't work here - such a shame !
Still, very well worth drawing it to folks attention - TY !
For live-streamed (solo - no "jamming with others" possible - well not "live" anyway - it can always be captured by others for a subsequent mix-down and edit...) - I fall back to StreetJelly - it "just-fits and-no-more" into my upload speed - the video and audio stream on SJ sits around 750kbps outbound - man it's close to all I got ! LOL
Thanks again for pointing that out - can be useful for many I'm sure !
I seriously recommend not copying my mistakes. D'oh - 
Please make your own, different mistakes, and help us all learn :-)
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My orchestra is back, more or less. (I'm still not rehearsing due to injury.) Rehearsing outdoors, strings orchestra only, masked and distanced.
The first concert of the season was supposed to be last night; obviously it didn't happen. The new concert program is set, but the concert date is still up in the air because the start of rehearsals was delayed by wildfire smoke, and because we're still trying to find an appropriate outdoor performance venue. For selfish reasons I don't mind the delay at all, because it gives me a decent chance of returning in time to rehearse adequately and play the concert.
Just to assure people we're still around, the orchestra released short video clips from the first two rehearsals.
Again, I'm not involved so far, but still hoping to recover from my car accident in time to perform.
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@AndrewH - good to learn that in spite of everything, the orchestra is still active, and at least some progress is being made!
I seriously recommend not copying my mistakes. D'oh -
Please make your own, different mistakes, and help us all learn :-)
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