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Musician Q & A

What do two Phil musicians

and their daughters do in

quarantine?

Make music
Photo credit: Alexis Brickner Ira Schaefer has played with the Phil since 2000, his wife
!

Laura Pardee Schaefer who plays principal oboe has been
with the Phil since 1999. On March 8 Ira played on the
Phil’s family concert program and oversaw the double bass
demonstration during the meet-and-greet with musicians
and their instruments. No one knew this would be the Phil’s
only concert in 2020.

Ira, Laura and their two daughters, Maya (grade 7) and Zoe
(grade 3) share what life has been like for their family.
SCHAEFER F AMILY

Ira, what were your observations at that point, anything for two students and one teacher all at home.
different? Laura: It was pretty chaotic at first, trying to find space in the house
for everyone to do their work, and to create routines. But the dog was
Ira: I expected to see some differences, but honestly, at that point, I ecstatic having us all at home.
didn’t.

How did this affect teaching for Ira?
Laura, you did not play on March 8 due to an injury. What
were your thoughts at the time? Ira: It meant that instead of teaching groups of string students at
Laura: The Family Concert was one of several gigs I had to cancel school, I was teaching one on one lessons for several hours every day. In
some ways it was good to be able to give more attention per student.
because I had broken my wrist and needed surgery. I lost a lot of I also went, gloved and masked, to some of my students’ front yards to
income from that injury, but by March I had accepted my situation and tune and repair instruments.
made peace with not being able to play. But by the end of March, I
was grieving. I saw the ramifications of all the gigs getting cancelled How did this affect learning for the girls?
for everyone, and knew then that it would be unlikely I’d be able to
perform with any of my orchestras for at least a year or more. It felt like Zoe: It made it harder.
an amputation. I was cut off from a way of life I’d known since I was 12 Maya: I like working at home, but I like being at school better.
years old, performing music in large ensembles.
Paint us a picture of your average day trying to manage
How did the quarantine impact your household? everyone’s needs.

Ira: Well, suddenly we were together a lot more! Even though the Laura: Well, I had to become an instant expert in home economics. In
school shutdown was only going to be three weeks, I called it from day addition to grieving the loss of our way of life, we had a very real drop in
one. I knew we wouldn’t be going back for the rest of the school year. our household income by about 20%. We were in a much better position
We bought a new Chromebook right away so we’d have enough devices than many of our freelance musician colleagues, but it was still scary. I

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