By Kevin McLaughlin
This past fall, COVID-19’s impact on band classes was minimal as outdoor classes allowed students to maintain proper social distance while playing their instruments, including brass and woodwinds that carry with them the added danger of respiratory droplets blown through the instruments and into the room.
To address this problem, the band has had classes outdoors on the football field, socially distanced from one another. Orchestra, with its stringed instruments, has managed to stay masked and indoors in socially distanced classes.
But winter is coming and it’s predicted to be a snowy one, compared to last year. So that raises the question, what will the band do during the winter if they cannot be outside due to the snow and/or cold?
I talked to the orchestra teacher Mr. Calvaresi about the future of the orchestra and band for the coming months. He said that there are currently no in-person lessons for the orchestra, instead lessons via Google Meet, which are effective for the time being. This would most likely be the solution for band class in the coming months, if it were to be too snowy or cold outside to hold class outdoors.
One thing hybrid learning has introduced to the orchestra is new ways of learning. This week, orchestra students developed their sight-reading skills by learning the STARS method, and then applying that method to an online musical excerpt generator called Sight Reading Factory.
Mr. Calvaresi says he is not sure if/when the band will be forced to stop practicing outside, but he did say “moving rehearsals outdoors is nowhere as productive as the indoor small group lessons.” So while the outdoor lessons include more students, the indoor lessons are more beneficial.
