Traditional Arts Spotlight: Migmar Tsering, Teaching Music During Covid

Traditional Arts Spotlight

Master Artist: Migmar Tsering

Apprentice: Students of the performing arts class Rolyang Lobling

Traditional Art: Tibetan Music and Dance

The 2020-2021 ‘cohort’ of the Vermont Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program includes 13 collaborations between master artists and apprentices who are working together, in the face of the pandemic, to keep traditional cultural expressions vital and relevant. With funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and a longstanding partnership with the Vermont Arts Council, the Vermont Folklife Center initiated this program in 1992 to support the continued vitality of Vermont's living cultural heritage. In this ongoing series of Field Notes we’ll introduce you to some of this year’s program participants and the traditional art forms they practice.

We asked master artist and musician Migmar Tsering to tell us how he was staying connected to his students during the pandemic. Migmar has lived in Vermont since 2011. He was born in Tibet and was brought up in India. In Vermont he is active as a singer, songwriter, musician, composer, and traditional Tibetan dance instructor. Under normal circumstances his students gather together in a classroom at the Old North End Community Center in Burlington, VT to practice the dranyen, a 3-stringed Tibetan instrument, played by strumming and plucking strings with a wooden pick. In this post, Migmar describes his Covid era challenges and adaptations.

Covid-19 and its effect on
Rolyang Lobling (my Dranyen Class).

I started Rolyang Lobling (in English, “music class”), a performing arts class, in November 2016. I had 14 students in my class, by coincidence seven girls and seven boys. 

We were really having fun. By the grace of the Vermont Folklife Center and true cooperation from the parents, I was able to bring pride in our community. Kids were mingling and getting along so well, and the parents were no exception. Learning was just a part of all those moments. 

With the passage of time, kids were growing and since many were in high school, their school and after school work was becoming too much for them. Many had to skip my class every now and then. That made it very difficult for me to carry on. I tried to manage it for a while, but because many students were absent, those present were not having fun. I had to let them go. 

Then I started a new group of students. There were 10 elementary school kids. This group excited me. It was tough during the start; the kids were very young and hence restless.  As we moved forward, however, I began to engage them. I was able to introduce some basic lessons such as: 

• How to hold the dranyen

• How to identify the seven notes

• How to play these seven notes in dranyen 

• We had four classes already. The kids were doing great, and I had a good feeling about this.

Still image from Migmar’s YouTube Dranyen Lesson #2

Suddenly Covid-19 shattered all my plans. I had to stop the class and all my work washed away; I knew I had to start all over. Nevertheless, I was willing to start over and kept waiting for some good news to come. There was a time in the middle of all this when the situation started getting back to normal. Out of sheer excitement I reached out to parents about re-starting the class. Everybody agreed with no hesitation. I started planning and in no time, things got worse. It was a lock down again. 

I kept waiting as weeks went by, then months, and a year. I was tired and frustrated. I see the kids losing time, as they had already lost a year. So I told myself that maybe this is a new life or new normal and it is time to accept it.

I knew I had to do something because I could not waste another year without trying. Therefore, I thought about doing the class through Zoom. The parents have different schedules for their work and I was not able to find a time when everyone was available. At the same time, it is a big challenge to tune the guitars. Therefore, because of many more reasons like this, Zoom was not an option. 

The only option that could work, I discovered, is the online teaching through YouTube. I made videos on dranyen lessons and posted those on YouTube so that I could share the link to parents. The idea is the parents will be the guidance for the lesson while the kids are learning the music through YouTube. They can watch it anytime at their convenience and practice. 

When I reached out to parents asking them about the idea, they all appreciated it. I made the first lesson and shared the YouTube link in the group chat. I asked them to call me anytime if there is any problem. I also asked them to call me when the dranyens went out of tune so that I could go and tune them. Nobody called. I was stuck because I am sure they were not learning. All I can say is that I need to push more because this is a new way of adjusting ourselves to this new life where social distancing, wearing masks, checking temperature, and online learning are required. 

Watch one of Migmar’s online lessons

I finished my second lesson, and shared that in the group chat. Then I spoke a few words asking them to take this seriously. I told them many things to motivate them.  I started distributing dranyens to those who do not have them. All I know is that they are now at least thinking about it. That is the start. If I want to win over Covid-19, I have to make this happen. I have to work harder to teach them online and someday the kids will perform, surprising everyone.

I am working on the third lesson. I do not care whether Covid-19 will go away or not anymore. I am doing what I have to do. Life goes on no matter what. 

~ Migmar Tsering
Tibetan Artist