Volume 26 Issue 4 - December 2020 / January 2021

LIZA YOHANNES
WILLIE WILSON
Sam Dickinson Adrian Hogan Emily Steinwall Rod Rodrigues
KATHERINE KWAN
CORY PAUL HILL
The Limits of Livestreaming
Emily Steinwall: I have refused every offer to create a livestream or
be featured on a livestream. I think these are pretty dumb, honestly…
no one enjoys the project, truthfully. A livestream is not fun to
perform, and not very enjoyable as an audience. Of course, no one
believes they will replace live music, but I think they also cause musicians
to think about performing differently. It’s more about the sleekness
of the performance than it is about the connection and energy.
Adrian Hogan: I have performed in a few livestream events as well
as live off-the-floor video recordings with a few artists this year. I find
that the livestreamed events are very much underwhelming, as you
don’t have that immediate human interaction with the audience that
is so crucial to a performance. It feels weird to finish playing a set and
looking up only to see a smartphone or laptop staring back at you
in silence.
On Social Media, Authenticity, and ‘Content’
Emily Steinwall: I started posting DIY videos of a song a day and
had a surprising result. At first, I spent more time on my phone. I am
addicted to social media, as is everyone else, and posting a video every
day gave me more dopamine hits to seek out. But then after a few
weeks, I stopped caring. The dopamine felt empty. I post videos where
I am in my pyjamas with greasy hair and no makeup, and I genuinely
don’t feel insecure about it. Because I realized in posting every day
how insignificant a social media post is; people may care for a day or
two, and then it gets lost to the Web. It was actually quite liberating
to get to a point where I was posting so much, and worrying about
the posts so little, that I became comfortable sharing something real.
Almost every person I have ever met has an experience where they
saw a live performance and were so moved by it that they remember
it for the rest of their lives. I have never heard anyone say that about
anything shared on social media.
Robert Diack: As we enter a second lockdown the social media
landscape appears to once again be dominated by its usual, whereas in
reality, from evictions to preventable and wrongful deaths, people are
still in more danger than recent memory can recall, as the pandemic
continues to reveal that the most vulnerable in our communities will
be, and have been, consistently left bereft. The social media attention
seems to be back with the white status quo, whereas six months
ago it was devoted to stopping evictions, defunding the police, and the
wrongful deaths of Regis Korchinski-Paquet and Breonna Taylor, and
countless many others. I ache when I think of what the shape of my
current social media represents in that context.
Lockdown Lessons for a Post-Quarantine Future
Emily Steinwall: Because the entire music industry essentially
collapsed as a result of COVID, it has caused me to take the “industry”
out of my music. My relationship to music and creation has never
been more natural, more stress free and more honest. I am grateful for
this new relationship with this art form
Sam Dickinson: Quarantine has definitely affirmed that music is
something I love. Of course I knew that on some level (I’m certainly
not in it for the money!) but it’s been refreshing thinking, “No one
would know if I didn’t touch the guitar for three weeks,” but then
compulsively picking it up two hours later because I genuinely
want to.
Colin Story is a jazz guitarist, writer and teacher based in Toronto.
He can be reached at www.colinstory.com on Instagram and
on Twitter.
Join us online December 20
Sing-along Online Fundraiser
December 06 at 4pm
WINTER MUSIC SERIES TICKETS ON SALE SOON
niagarajazzfestival.com @jazzniagara
thewholenote.com December 2020 / January 2021 | 67