We have been sitting at home, alone with our instruments, for over a year now. Clearly, this makes it difficult for most of us to motivate ourselves and keep practising. The good news is: Many amateur music groups are still very active. They organise online get-togethers for playing and chatting, they host charity events and even recitals.
A positive side-effect is the international network they are building. Our Vienna Piano Meetup has already met like-minded piano fans from England and Canada online, and we’re planning more of these events. Yes, you may argue that such virtual events cannot compete with in-person meetups. Pre-COVID, we used to rent a room with a grand piano, play together and go for dinner afterwards. (Read this older blog post where I tell you about these activities). But virtual get-togethers help us to feel that we are not alone in all of this. And they remind us of all the fun we have when playing our instruments.
In this article, which is still up-to-date, I introduce a few piano groups that are currently very active online. Many other groups, also for other instruments, can be found on meetup.com. In Vienna, we host the Vienna Classical Music Meetup. A few amateur pianists are currently setting up an international platform called pianomeetups.com. I see great potential for new friendships, joint activities and fun at our instruments even in these difficult times! All groups welcome beginners and advanced musicians and are looking forward to new members joining them also from abroad.
So let’s keep making music and let’s use all these wonderful ways to stay connected with each other.
