The Glory-Beaming Banjo

One upshot of the coronavirus quarantine is that I've been able to push my playing streak to new heights. Usually, I would have had to travel for work by now, forcing me to take a break for a day or two. Not so in these days of COVID-19. Yesterday, my string of consecutive days playing banjo and fiddle reached 200. That means I haven't taken a break since November 8, 2019. It seems incredible. Despite being able to play at least a little bit every day during this pandemic, however, I've actually been falling behind the pace of my playing goals the last two months. With all of us stuck in the house all the time, I'm having trouble finding time to play for extended periods. When I was going to the office for work, I would take my fiddle to play during my lunch break. It was easy to get at least 30 minutes per day. Now, I'm working from home while also trying to manage my son's time, with school work and other activities so he's not staring at a scree...

Michael Ismerio is a fiddler and teacher based near Asheville, North Carolina. He's been teaching fiddle online for a number of years, and he recently launched an online fiddle course through his website. He spent the past two years developing the online course, which happened to launch shortly before the coronavirus pandemic forced us all to stay home. Over the last month, Ismerio has been hosting a free webinar on "The Secret to Old-Time Fiddling," which showcases his teaching method that uses mnemonics to learn various bowing patterns. Ismerio's next webinar it tomorrow, May 12, but he will be hosting the webinars every two weeks for the time being. You can sign up for the webinar at  michaelismerio.com/webinar-registration . GBB conducted an interview with Ismerio for our last post, " Going Virtual: Old-Time Music in the Time of COVID-19 ," but his answers seemed worth publishing in full. The following is a transcript of our email conversation....

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on every aspect of our lives. For those of us who enjoy playing old-time music, opportunities to play our instruments with others has been severely limited. No more going to jams at bars or coffee shops. No more festivals. No more workshops. No more lessons. Just sit at home and play alone. Thankfully, technology can ease some of that pain. In the last couple weeks, I participated in a couple of online fiddle workshops and a virtual old-time jam. As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, video conferencing has hit the mainstream. People using the technology for everything from remote work meetings to virtual cocktail hour with family and friends. Zoom has become the technology du jour. The online conferencing platform seems to have materialized out of nowhere with the advent of social distancing, stay-at-home orders and mass quarantines. While some old-time musicians have been offering lessons through Skype for years, many are...