De Keyzer, Image credit: Oleg Ponomarev
Oleg Ponomarev is an individual musician and music teacher. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Oleg quickly adapted to learning the basics of audio, video recording, editing, etc., as a means of connecting with and supporting his music students,
as well as disseminating his own personal work online. Oleg’s digital artistic activities revolved around:
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Creating a series of videos which demonstrate certain techniques in his online music lessons with students.
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Recording live performances with NoCrows band from Sligo, Yurodny band from Dublin and a duo with Fintan Gilligan, the Hot Club of Dublin guitarist and singer.
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Oleg’s audiences consisted mostly of Oleg’s own music students and their families.
Taking advantage of the numerous tuition videos available for free online which provide a step by step process of optimising PC software for audio, video, streaming, and minimising latency etc, Oleg utilised:
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Skype, Zoom, and Jamulus for online teaching and rehearsing
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Filmora for video editing and Reaper for audio recording/editing
Oleg’s enthusiasm and initiative towards digital learning makes him an exemplar for other individual musicians who wish to expand their skillset, indicating the full potential of digital within the arts sector can be achieved where proper training has
been completed.
With digital tools removing any geographical barriers to collaboration, Oleg is currently working on a project which involves musicians from Armenia and Scotland recording their elements remotely and sending them to Oleg for editing, mixing, and producing.
Oleg expects to be teaching and collaborating online into the future, and is looking forward to streaming software with zero latency and user-friendly interfaces being made available soon.
‘The general idea is to accept the current situation as given, to adapt and to do your best. I don’t see this situation reverting back to where it was pre-pandemic any time soon. Hence, I am going to continue studying audio, video recording, editing, and producing, and I will continue learning to rehearse and to work with other musicians online going forward.’
—Oleg Ponomarev, Individual Musician