“It’s kinda like a person who’s been out in the desert so long and…they see a body of water and just throw themselves at it” -Robert Richardson, James Logan drama teacher
March, 2020 may go down in history as the most unfortunate start to a new decade. The rise of the COVID-19 pandemic forced us to enter into isolation while the once familiar collapsed entirely. It’s safe to say the vast majority have experienced drastic changes to our daily routines in order to accommodate COVID restrictions. Since the start of the school year, however, these changes have not just been exclusive to our personal lives, as entire institutions have adjusted procedures to create safe environments. At James Logan High School specifically, if anyone took a look around, they would see how all the different communities and programs have been adjusting their respective class procedures in order to maintain the safest environment possible. The performing arts department in particular has been making changes to ensure the safety of the students all while trying to keep the spirit of the craft.
“It was kind of like… a bomb went off,” said Erin McShane, the choir teacher, in regards to COVID-19 and its impact. The performing arts community at Logan had been turned on its head, as staff and students experimented with new ways to rehearse as well as keep the arts alive. Over last year’s quarantine, as opposed to the usual method of rehearsing and performing together in person and in real time, band and choir students alike had been recording videos individually from home and later editing the separate videos together to create ensemble performances. This in turn made McShane feel that “we weren’t creating music together…they were singing a solo, in essence… so the community aspect of singing was gone.” Head band director Dr. Adam Wilke agrees.
“That was the hard part about virtual ed…the lack of community,” Wilke said. However there are some people that do not share this sentiment.
“I think the stress level during virtual was not as high,” says senior choir student Sean Cantoria. Many students enjoyed the lack of pressure that comes with the solidarity of remote learning. Although it sounds conflicting for kids involved in performance-based subjects to be comfortable without direct human interaction, one can imagine how it can be much easier to adjust to the unfamiliar routines without the worry of what your impression on other students and teachers may be.
As summer came to an end and temperatures dropped, tensions remained high concerning the start of the new school year. Amongst all the uncertainty, a silver lining lit up the performing arts department like a spotlight upon a stage.
“It’s kinda like a person who’s been out in the desert so long and…they see a body of water and just throw themselves at it” says Robert Richardson, the drama teacher, who has imaginatively captured the attitude of the student performers and teachers coming into the new school year.
“Virtual learning was really challenging,” assistant band director Patrick Refsnider said. “We all came back to the classroom and to rehearsals with renewed sense of enthusiasm and purpose and most of all, compassion for one another.” It seems as though the transition back into in-person classes had reignited a fiery passion for art and companionship. The performing arts teachers have expressed how impressed they are with how their students are so willing to adjust to changes in standard class procedures, particularly with the incorporation of technology and safety protocols. Refsnider had brought up is that virtual learning “forced us to experiment with technology,” and that “that is now something I have been able to bring back into the classroom.”
Additional changes that have been made in order to allow kids to create together again while remaining as safe as possible includes the usage of specialized masks. “Music masks” have hidden holes that a musician can fit their mouthpiece through and “singing masks” have extra space between the material and the face so as to not muffle the singer’s voice and allow for maximum projection. These also include cutting out some standard curriculum to reduce the amount of bodily contact between students. Richardson has said that he’s “had to kind of dump, I’d say, a good 75% of the games we usually play to try to keep us safe”.
Safety within the performing arts department has been a major component that has been taken seriously. Teachers have voiced their concerns about not only the safety of the students and staff, but also their young, unvaccinated children at home whom they could possibly bring the virus home to if correct precautions are not being taken in class. They expressed that their biggest anxiety about returning to in-person classes was the safety of the students.
Senior clarinet section leader Manik Sethi says that his biggest anxiety about returning to in-person classes was that he “would have lost my passion, but as soon as I came back, everything clicked.” The cooperation and the enthusiasm of the students allows for the performing arts department to continue to run its course as usual and flourish in the most unexpected ways. Although our experiences due to quarantine and remote learning may have been difficult to manage, we can choose to take it as an opportunity to learn, adapt, and appreciate each other as well as our common goals as we move back to in-person learning.
“I feel like everyone has a sense of joy…I hope we never forget what that was like,” Wilke said.
