Hello students and parents of students,

I hope you are all feeling well and are adjusting to the unforeseen circumstances and most areas of life shutting down.

I wanted to write this letter to first get in touch with you and see what you want to do regarding lessons in the next few weeks while we’re effectively all going to be staying home.

I have a few options available over the next weeks:

Video Lessons!

I am available to do lessons via Facetime and Zoom Video Chat, which both allow for screen sharing. Zoom is great if you don’t have Facetime, because all you need to do is follow a link in a web browser to get connected!!

I will have lesson plans prepared and sent to students in advance so y’all can have the sheet right in front of you while we play.

If you want to do video lessons this coming week and have a song you want to learn, please let me know and I prepare a lesson plan around it.

While I love in-person lessons, I know that many professional teachers have switched to video lessons without sacrificing quality of lessons, and feel hopeful that this can be the case for the next few weeks!

In-Person Lessons

I’m going to probably hold off on doing these starting next week. I woke up a couple days ago with sniffles and a slight cough so despite it likely just being seasonal allergies, I don’t even want to risk getting anyone sick while in this unknown phase!

I’m feeling quite well right now but I’m staying at home right now just to ensure that I don’t #BeAVector and keeping a pulse on the situation with community safety as a #1 priority.

Moving Forward

I’m sending my best wishes for our community to be resilient in the face of the unknown and to take care of each other. In addition to the impacts on elders and people with immune system issues or respiratory illness, it is also already taking a large financial hit on many people who are losing income.

If you are an employee at a company, whether you get sick or not, there are some really great resources through the State of California to make up for lost wages: https://www.edd.ca.gov/about_edd/coronavirus-2019.htm

Unfortunately there are not yet any protections for business owners and independent contractors such as myself. I’ll be fine, but I would greatly appreciate if students who are able to give the video lessons a try to help keep my business running in these times. I have a feeling it will be just as good as the in-person lessons. After all, constraints are a great medium for producing quality art 🙂

Maybe some of y’all will want to write songs about what you’re experiencing in these weeks or just have fun like we usually do.

If video lessons don’t work for you for whatever reason, no worries at all…like I said, my main priority is everyone’s safety and security in these times.

If you have been affected financially and want to continue lessons, please talk to me and we can make adjustments to lesson price as needed in the coming weeks. I get a great joy out of teaching and want to make it work for you.

Feel free to reach out by phone or text at 530-902-8223 or send me an email at david@playreadymusic.com

All the best, 🎸🎹🎤🎼
David

[: Em | C | G | D :]

Well I woke up this mornin’ with a tickle in my throat
A dry wheeze and a sneeze
Wondering if I got the corona
Or just my seasonal allergies

My hypochondriac side, they don’t run the show
But sure let their voice be heard
Must of slept for about 17 hours
When COVID was the word

Oh I’m not worried for myself
But for grandma and grandpa outside
Trying to keep some social distance
Keep the curve flat and wide

So now I guess I’ll hunker down
Work on a story or two
Have some FaceTime with my friends
But I’ll sure miss gathering with you

CHORUS:

[: Em | C | G | G :] 3x
[ B7 | B7 | Em | Em ]
Please go easy,
Please go easy on us
Please go easy,
Please go easy on us,
Please go easy
Let it pass and help us make it through

VERSE:

Life can be scary, and often uncertain
Especially in these times
May we live long and prosper, here’s to the doctors
And the ones out there on the front lines

Well I’m trying not to worry about what’s beyond my control
But change the things I can
Trying to bring light, and trying to bring love
And make sure I wash my hands

CHORUS

The music is not the notes but the silence in between
-Mozart

 

Have you ever been in a conversation with someone that talks and talks and talks until you are wondering how they are managing to even get a breath in?