Menu
Hello. My name is Georgia Martin. I am a high school student, and I have been playing the violin since I was four years old. I am a Tennessean, but I currently attend the Groton School in Massachusetts.
In March of 2020, the world paused as the Covid-19 pandemic spread across the globe. My then music teacher, Dr. Zach Ebin at the Vanderbilt Blair School of Music, wanted to keep all of his students playing music, so he began booking us for remote concerts. We mostly played for older people who were isolated, because they had significant health risks. Dr. Ebin would figure out when music students were available and then connect those students with audience members. He would keep track of who was playing, when they were playing, and for whom they were playing. It was a lot of work, but the project took off and blew up. We were even featured in The Washington Post!
I loved playing for people, and it was clear that you could make a meaningful connection with another human being through music, even if you were hundreds of miles apart. It made me feel good to share my talents with someone who might not have had much interaction with anyone else in several days. I also began to read about the positive impact that live music – as opposed to pre-recorded music – could have on the brain and improve health. Check out the research page for more details.
There was a problem though. There weren’t enough hours in the day for Dr. Ebin to continue to book concerts. There needed to be an easier way to connect music students with audience members. That’s how I came up the idea of this website.
The two goals for this website are both modest and grand. First, the process of connecting music students with individuals who want to hear them play remotely should be easy and streamlined. This website is a work in progress, and I hope to continue to improve it.
Second, there are some undeniable health benefits to listening to live music and the connection between the performer and audience even if that connection is only through a screen on a remote platform. Thus, the second goal is to harness technology to stream live music to those who might, for example, benefit cognitively from the music or to those who are undergoing uncomfortable and protracted medical procedures such as chemotherapy and dialysis.
This website is evolving and changing and hopefully improving. Thank you for visiting. Now let the music begin!
-Georgia Martin
