Lockdown Lemonade #31 by Susie Glaze

The Silver Lining

By Susie Glaze

Nobody would have wanted to bring on a global pandemic so that we would develop innovations in almost everything we do, connecting dots where, we were jolted to realize, a lot of the dots had disappeared. We had to find new ways of doing things.

And find them we did. For me, my innovation came with a simple offer: I advertised to music camps I knew that if anyone wanted singing lessons, to get in touch. I thought: what could it hurt? Even though I was in no way sure that a singing lesson over the Zoom platform would even work, I sallied forth.

It was a big learning curve, handling tech with hardly any experience or guidelines. Artists I knew traded information about streaming, and we all experimented, made mistakes and even had some “train wrecks” along the way. But we got back up on the horse. What else did we have to fill all those weeks and months with, cut off from the tangible world? And the need for connection with people was huge and still very present in our lives. (“Are you still out there…?”) And when those train wrecks inevitably occurred I came up with a phrase my students like: “What the tech happened?”

These days I see my growing roster of private students weekly and working with them and creating content for them in my twice-monthly newsletters is a joy. Most of them live far from me, and if it weren’t for our ability to meet virtually, I would have never had this chance to know them. However, the best effect of this phenomenon has been one of my own evolution. Through their patience, fortitude and dedication, my students have shown me how to be a teacher. Their friendships are icing on the cake, yes, but for me, I’ve found a new calling. This is my Lockdown Lemonade!

~Susie Glaze

Award-winning recording artist, Broadway singer, journalist, educator and critically-acclaimed powerhouse vocalist, Susie Glaze has been called “one of the most beautiful voices in bluegrass and folk music today” by Roz Larman of KPFK’s Folk Scene.  LA Weekly voted her ensemble Best New Folk in their Best of LA Weekly for 2019, calling Susie “an incomparable vocalist.”  “A flat out superb vocalist… Glaze delivers warm, amber-toned vocals that explore the psychic depth of a lyric with deft acuity and technical perfection.”  Visit www.susieglaze.com 

In an attempt to keep us connected as we continue to find our way through these often stressful times, some in our extended community have been sharing their experiences, lessons learned and hope as they’ve dealt with Covid, lockdown, boredom, lack of inspiration, etc. We are all looking for ways to make lemonade out of the many lemons! This column will continue on a weekly basis and postings will be released at 10 AM Pacific every Monday, so watch for them! For guidelines and submission details, please contact Julie Zipperer at juliez@far-west.org or Marlynn Block at marlynn@far-west.org. Submissions will be posted based on approval from the Lockdown Lemonade Committee.