((PKG)) ISOLATED VIOLINIST
((Banner: Isolated Violinist))
((Reporter: Arturo Martinez))
((Camera: Margaret Batjer, Arturo Martinez))
((Map: Los Angeles, California))
((Main characters: 1 female))
((All orchestra video: Courtesy of LA Chamber Orchestra))
((NATS))
((Banner: Most of the images in this video were filmed by the
performer herself.))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Margaret Batjer, Concert Master, Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra))
Hi, my name is Margaret Batjer. I’m Concert Master of the Los
Angeles Chamber Orchestra.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Margaret Batjer, Concert Master, Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra))
I've been home due to the COVID-19 virus. Normally, I am in
downtown Los Angeles almost all week and most weekends,
rehearsing for concerts, playing concerts and teaching.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Margaret Batjer, Concert Master, Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra))
But I am home these weeks, trying to offer performances online
and also learning to teach violin lessons online. I'm going to be
recording some solo Bach tonight and it's a family affair because
of the quarantine. No one could come to professionally record
any of myself or any of my colleagues and my daughter here is
helping. She's going to be doing the video and my husband will
record the audio.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Margaret Batjer, Concert Master, Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra))
This week, I'm working to record a program for In Focus, which is
our chamber music series. Our LACO audiences, who reached
out to me in many different ways, are all very sad to not be going
to our concerts. And so, like many other artistic organizations,
we're trying to keep in touch with them and offer them some relief
from the fear and the boredom and the unknown.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Margaret Batjer, Concert Master, Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra))
Good evening and welcome to an In Focus concert presented by
LACO At Home. In these extraordinary times, these broadcasts
are, what give our musicians and hopefully you, a lot of comfort
and I do hope that you enjoy this evening's presentation of In
Focus from our homes to yours.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Margaret Batjer, Concert Master, Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra))
Offering performances online has its own set of challenges. It's
different than performing live. I do miss the audience reaction
and interaction of a live performance but there is also something
very intimate about being in your home studio and making music
for strangers. It could be a 100, it could be a 1000.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Margaret Batjer, Concert Master, Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra))
This is where I sit and do most of my teaching now, which is odd
to say, but with Skype lessons being the only possibility for me to
be able to help my students, this is where I have to do it, is sitting
at a computer.
((NATS: Margaret Batjer and Students))
((Margaret Batjer, Concert Master, Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra))
Is everybody doing okay?
((Student))
Yeah.
((Margaret Batjer, Concert Master, Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra))
Yeah? It's old. It's getting old, isn't it, this isolation? ((Student))
Oh, yeah.
((Margaret Batjer, Concert Master, Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra))
It's getting a little depressing.
((Student))
I had a really great chamber group this year, but we're not able to
meet anymore. And like end of the year recitals and things like
that being cancelled, so, it's very unexpected.
((Margaret Batjer, Concert Master, Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra))
It's very tough and my heart breaks for all of you, but we have to
do the best we can under these really difficult circumstances.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Margaret Batjer, Concert Master, Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra))
One of the hardest things for me to get used to during this
quarantine is sitting here at this desk with the computer. It's so
counter-intuitive to being an artist and a musician.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Margaret Batjer, Concert Master, Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra))
Albert.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Margaret Batjer, Concert Master, Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra))
This is one of the challenges.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Margaret Batjer, Concert Master, Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra))
Albert.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Margaret Batjer, Concert Master, Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra))
Music is such a hands-on kind of experience for the student and
the teacher and it's difficult when the sound is coming through an
electronic computer or iPad, it's not a realistic sound. But the
students are hungry and they're feeling isolated. So, their hour or
two hours a week with me, hopefully keeps them challenged and
keeps them inspired to continue to grow as young musicians.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Margaret Batjer, Concert Master, Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra))
Bravo. Very, very fine.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Margaret Batjer, Concert Master, Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra))
I can only think about what it's going to be like the first time I get
to walk back on the stage in our new normal and be able to make
music again.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Margaret Batjer, Concert Master, Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra))
What's going to be when all of this ends? Will there still be the
orchestras? Can I financially survive? Will our economy be at a
place where all of us can still do what we love to do, which is
make music? Will people come to our concerts? Will they be too
afraid to go into a hall where you have to sit shoulder to shoulder?
Those are all big questions and I think it's been tough for
everybody, not just me.
((MUSIC))
((Banner: Many orchestras have furloughed their musicians due
to COVID-19 but, so far, LACO is still maintaining their
performers))
((MUSIC))
((Banner: Isolated Violinist))
((Reporter: Arturo Martinez))
((Camera: Margaret Batjer, Arturo Martinez))
((Map: Los Angeles, California))
((Main characters: 1 female))
((All orchestra video: Courtesy of LA Chamber Orchestra))
((NATS))
((Banner: Most of the images in this video were filmed by the
performer herself.))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Margaret Batjer, Concert Master, Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra))
Hi, my name is Margaret Batjer. I’m Concert Master of the Los
Angeles Chamber Orchestra.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Margaret Batjer, Concert Master, Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra))
I've been home due to the COVID-19 virus. Normally, I am in
downtown Los Angeles almost all week and most weekends,
rehearsing for concerts, playing concerts and teaching.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Margaret Batjer, Concert Master, Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra))
But I am home these weeks, trying to offer performances online
and also learning to teach violin lessons online. I'm going to be
recording some solo Bach tonight and it's a family affair because
of the quarantine. No one could come to professionally record
any of myself or any of my colleagues and my daughter here is
helping. She's going to be doing the video and my husband will
record the audio.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Margaret Batjer, Concert Master, Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra))
This week, I'm working to record a program for In Focus, which is
our chamber music series. Our LACO audiences, who reached
out to me in many different ways, are all very sad to not be going
to our concerts. And so, like many other artistic organizations,
we're trying to keep in touch with them and offer them some relief
from the fear and the boredom and the unknown.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Margaret Batjer, Concert Master, Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra))
Good evening and welcome to an In Focus concert presented by
LACO At Home. In these extraordinary times, these broadcasts
are, what give our musicians and hopefully you, a lot of comfort
and I do hope that you enjoy this evening's presentation of In
Focus from our homes to yours.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Margaret Batjer, Concert Master, Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra))
Offering performances online has its own set of challenges. It's
different than performing live. I do miss the audience reaction
and interaction of a live performance but there is also something
very intimate about being in your home studio and making music
for strangers. It could be a 100, it could be a 1000.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Margaret Batjer, Concert Master, Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra))
This is where I sit and do most of my teaching now, which is odd
to say, but with Skype lessons being the only possibility for me to
be able to help my students, this is where I have to do it, is sitting
at a computer.
((NATS: Margaret Batjer and Students))
((Margaret Batjer, Concert Master, Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra))
Is everybody doing okay?
((Student))
Yeah.
((Margaret Batjer, Concert Master, Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra))
Yeah? It's old. It's getting old, isn't it, this isolation? ((Student))
Oh, yeah.
((Margaret Batjer, Concert Master, Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra))
It's getting a little depressing.
((Student))
I had a really great chamber group this year, but we're not able to
meet anymore. And like end of the year recitals and things like
that being cancelled, so, it's very unexpected.
((Margaret Batjer, Concert Master, Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra))
It's very tough and my heart breaks for all of you, but we have to
do the best we can under these really difficult circumstances.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Margaret Batjer, Concert Master, Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra))
One of the hardest things for me to get used to during this
quarantine is sitting here at this desk with the computer. It's so
counter-intuitive to being an artist and a musician.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Margaret Batjer, Concert Master, Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra))
Albert.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Margaret Batjer, Concert Master, Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra))
This is one of the challenges.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Margaret Batjer, Concert Master, Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra))
Albert.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Margaret Batjer, Concert Master, Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra))
Music is such a hands-on kind of experience for the student and
the teacher and it's difficult when the sound is coming through an
electronic computer or iPad, it's not a realistic sound. But the
students are hungry and they're feeling isolated. So, their hour or
two hours a week with me, hopefully keeps them challenged and
keeps them inspired to continue to grow as young musicians.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Margaret Batjer, Concert Master, Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra))
Bravo. Very, very fine.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Margaret Batjer, Concert Master, Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra))
I can only think about what it's going to be like the first time I get
to walk back on the stage in our new normal and be able to make
music again.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Margaret Batjer, Concert Master, Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra))
What's going to be when all of this ends? Will there still be the
orchestras? Can I financially survive? Will our economy be at a
place where all of us can still do what we love to do, which is
make music? Will people come to our concerts? Will they be too
afraid to go into a hall where you have to sit shoulder to shoulder?
Those are all big questions and I think it's been tough for
everybody, not just me.
((MUSIC))
((Banner: Many orchestras have furloughed their musicians due
to COVID-19 but, so far, LACO is still maintaining their
performers))
((MUSIC))
