Lockdown News from Vicki Swan & Jonny Dyer.
Saturday, May 23, 2020
Enterprising folk musicians Vicki Swan & Jonny Dyer have instigated a number of initiatives to help ensure their artistic and financial survival during lockdown. Newsletter attached.
Vicki Swan and Jonny Dyer write;
Lockdown News from Vicki Swan & Jonny Dyer
Vicki & Jonny in Lockdown
It’s been nearly 10 weeks since our last face-to-face gig. As with all touring musicians we very quickly lost all of our touring work, currently around 6 months, but we can’t be sure that we will have any touring until next year. To this end we’ve been trying to figure out ways of making a living. We’ve been selling CDs and books. We’ve been teaching using Skype and Zoom. We also have a PayPal tip jar. We have a YouTube playlist of some of the videos we’ve put together over this time - click here! http://www.swan-dyer.co.uk/corona-how-to-help/
Vicki has been working on creating nyckelharpa teaching resources, these are all on her blog - The Nyckelharpa Effect. Although it is based on teaching the Nyckelharpa, there are lots of tunes, exercises, play-along videos and even a virtual session at Halsway Manor Bar where you can play along with both of us.
http://nyckelharpaeffect.blogspot.com/?mc_cid=28678a3297&mc_eid=9617b1899c
Jonny has been creating an incredible soundscape album which he will probably run a kickstarter on. More about that when it’s closer to completion!
We’ve converted almost every corner of our house to different tasks. We have a recording room (spare room) and also a film studio (the lounge), which swaps between green screen for videos and a stage set for LiveStreaming.
This brings us onto the most exciting thing and that is we have two livestream events coming up. We did a our first livestream half hour slot about a month ago and we discovered how much we had missed playing to real people - even if we couldn’t see them.
Chester Folk Festival have decided to go online and have put together an ambitious program using Zoom and YouTube Premiers. We are doing a Meet the Artist at 3pm on Monday afternoon in Zoom (Community Centre) and also the Monday evening concert in Marquee 1 at 8pm (YouTube premier). There are details on their website and we’ll put up links as soon as we have them on our FaceBook page. https://www.chesterfolkfestivalonline2020.co.uk/?mc_cid=28678a3297&mc_eid=9617b1899c
Folk Weekend Oxford are putting on a series of events and we are honoured to have been asked to do a full set Zoom concert for them. This is particularly exciting for us as it means that we can reach people all over the world - so if this email has found its way to Sweden, or the USA - you can come and see us from the comfort of your own homes! Register your interest now! Come and be our audience.
https://folkweekendoxford.co.uk/component/eventbooking/zoom-events/vicki-swan-and-jonny-dyer.html?mc_cid=28678a3297&mc_eid=9617b1899c
Stay safe out there and hope to see you all again in person before too long!
Vicki & Jonny
http://www.swan-dyer.co.uk/covid