For musicians: How to use this time to the full potential?

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It's 5:27 PM when I'm writing this.

This morning was the first time I got out of bed knowing I won't be able to go to church to practice. The entire university with the attached St John's church is closed down for at least a couple of weeks. So yesterday I packed all my short-term belongings and brought them home.

The day hasn't ended yet but I was able to do some creative work already - practiced and recorded Fuga a 3 by Beethoven using Hauptwerk 5 software on my MIDI keyboard. I didn't play from a paper score - used my iPad with forScore app for this purpose instead. Since this piece involves one complicated page turn and I don't have any device to turn the page with my foot yet I asked Ausra to use her finger to tap on the screen and turn that page.

When recording was done, I closed Hauptwerk and created MP3 file out of WAV file generated by Hauptwerk using WavePad program.

Then with the help of Movie Maker which is a default video creating program on Windows computers I slapped my photo on top of this audio file and created a video MP4 file. Then I uploaded it to my YouTube channel:

The next step for me to share the audio file on Contrebombarde.com which is a platform where organists share their recordings using Hauptwerk software.

Then I shared the link to my YouTube video on my Facebook profile and on the group called Organists. I did the same on Steempeak, Creary and LinkedIn.

Ausra also wanted to practice and record Fuga a 3 in E Minor by Beethoven so I was her page-turner. When she was done, I repeated the steps of making an MP3 and MP4 files and uploaded to her YouTube channel:

Naturally after that I shared her recording on Contrebombarde, Facebook, Steempeak and Creary.

Then I set up our Patreon page and published two posts with the links to our videos there for our patrons.

Now that all public events are being cancelled performing musicians are facing a period of time literally without work. No work often translates into no pay and loss of revenue.

My advice for musician now is to use this time to create their creative portfolios online and set alternative revenue streams using Patreon, Steem, Creary, Spotify, YouTube and other platforms.

Recently I was approached by two of my former students who are thinking about sharing their work online. I've been doing this for 9 years now, never hiding and always being vocal about the benefits such life provides.

But only now they seem to be starting to understand what I meant.

Hope this helps!

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