Local musician Alysen Hesselroth excited for chance to return to performing

Navigating the coronavirus pandemic has been challenging for nearly everyone. For local musician Alysen Hesselroth, of Othello, the pandemic has meant almost reinventing herself.

In conversation over the weekend, Hesselroth said she has had to adapt and perform “virtually” through Zoom or Facebook Live. Hesselroth performs under her moniker Aly Way Music and posts performances on her social media pages.

For the most part unable to perform live for about a year, she has been living with her parents in Othello. Before the pandemic she would play at Iron Works Cafe & Market in Othello when she wasn’t traveling, she said.

“I’m hoping to hit the road again soon, get back to my life on the road as a traveling busker,” Hesselroth said. “Opening back up is a good sign that that is going to be able to happen.”

Since the region moved into Phase 2 of reopening after the pandemic shutdown, the possibility for live performances and concerts opened up a bit. However, most venues are still limited to at most 25% capacity.

Hesselroth said she started doing virtual performances in April 2020, shortly after the first shutdown went into effect.

She said she was a “sweaty, nervous wreck” during her first virtual show. It was quite an adjustment.

“So different, especially as a busker,” Hesselroth said. “I usually perform not so much on stage with people sitting down and watching the whole thing. I’m more used to passers-by and if they’re interested, they’ll stop and listen for a few songs. It’s much more laid back, and that’s something I really enjoy.”

More recently, she’s been performing weekly for a virtual coffee house based in New York called Jeff’s Place. She said a mutual friend recommended the owner look up her music and videos. Hesselroth was contacted about performing shortly after.

The New York virtual shows give Hesselroth a chance to play with musicians from around the world.

“It’s really cool playing with people from Ireland and Jerusalem and stuff, pretty neat,” Hesselroth said. “Even when I don’t play, I’ll tune in every week to get that live music experience.”

Hesselroth said she had taken a few months off practicing and performing before returning with performances for Jeff’s Place and didn’t realize until her return how much those opportunities impacted her.

“Having a purpose again” was huge in helping to minimize the symptoms of seasonal blues for Hesselroth.

“Just having something to practice for again, it kind of lit something up inside me that I didn’t realize had went out,” Hesselroth said. “It makes sense looking back. I had been depressed and then I played this week, and I feel a little happier. I was really happy yesterday, the day after I performed.”

During the downtime of the past year, she also kicked off her teaching career. It was something she’d always planned to do, but not nearly so soon.

The idea of offering piano lessons at some point in life came up in conversation with an acquaintance who mentioned an interest in taking lessons. Hesselroth started setting up lessons and then had some high school friends reach out about lessons for their children, too.

She’s up to eight students now, with 11 lessons a week. Adult lessons are done through Zoom. Hesselroth said she’s been masking up and doing children’s lessons in person when possible. The few times she had to do child lessons over Zoom were “a challenge.”

“Their attention spans, even my best student who’s 7 years old and is always attentive and very excited, she was like the 5-year-old, just all over the place for the half hour, coloring and running around,” Hesselroth said.

Her plan for this year is to hit the road as soon as possible in spring, head east and perform at all her favorite stops along the way. Many of her plans this year are COVID-dependent, but she said she hopes to make it to the East Coast in summer for the first time.

To check out some of Alysen Hesselroth’s music and performances, visit her social media pages on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

Casey McCarthy can be reached via email at cmccarthy@columbiabasinherald.com.