How to Survive If You are a Musician in Russia

Today I'd like to tell you how musicians in Russia survive during the pandemic, which has been going on in the world for the second year.
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I play in several bands, and I have always lived mainly through music. Corporate events of large companies, birthdays and concerts in clubs are the main way of earning money for average musicians in my country. Usually, Fridays and Saturdays were always busy for me.

Sometimes it could be 2 or 3 performances a day. Two weeks before the New Year were also a very good time for artists. During these two weeks you can earn an amount equal to the salary of several months.
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But everything changed a lot in April 2020. Clubs were closed, people stopped celebrating birthdays with their friends, all concerts were also canceled. How do musicians survive in my country? It differs.

Some people were forced by circumstances to give up music and to earn money in some other way. Some people build houses while others work as taxi drivers.

Many musicians are trying to search for alternative ways. For example, concerts on-line. The musician gives a concert, and grateful listeners transfer donations to his card.
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Someone has completely gone into teaching music. They found students and teach on-line. For example, my friend is a violinist. She was constantly performing on stage, but with the arrival of the pandemic, she set up her own violin school and teaches children and adults. It's not easy.

Can you imagine how to teach a person to play the violin via the Internet? You need to have the right position of your fingers, hands and arms. Nevertheless, my friend has many students and even now when the situation has improved, she continues to work on-line.

Many musicians switched to studio work. The pandemic is the time when you can create something new, for example, compose new songs or record an album.
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Now we have a new trend in our country: wealthy people (e.g. bankers or lawyers) who compose amateur songs can afford to hire musicians and record an album with real professionals. The musicians will make arrangements, and the banker will sing.

Such rich people even organize concerts for their friends, and musicians can earn good money, because they are paid for rehearsals and concerts.

As for me, I teach English. Besides, I compose song lyrics for people and work as a session musician.
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Of course, we have concerts now, but not many of them. We really hope that this situation will change, because now more and more people are being vaccinated.

There is a saying in my country: everything that is done is for the best. Each period of life is given to us for some reason. Perhaps it's time to learn something new.

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