Pandemic’s Impact on Music

McKayla Clarksnodgrass, Photo Editor

Every aspect of normal life has been affected by COVID-19. One thing that has been greatly impacted is our music classes at MHS.

“It’s completely different,” Nate McClendon, the orchestra director, said. “How do you take a class that’s built on social interaction and teach it via social distancing?”

Due to the hybrid schedule, it is more difficult now than ever to play music. With some students onsite one day and off-site another, the classes have had to adapt.

“It’s not just about like having to teach the same thing over and over again like you would say this, when the B group comes in you would think you do the same thing over and over,” McClendon said. “But it’s not like that because every rehearsal is different based on who’s in it.”

Orchestra isn’t the only music class that has a difficult time with the hybrid schedule. The MHS band also has been struggling with the new schedule.

“I see one-quarter of the band on Monday at the West Campus, another quarter on Thursday at the West Campus,” Joel Gittle, the head band director, said. “And the next week I’m at the East Campus one-quarter of the band, one-quarter of the band.”

Due to the pandemic, the music classes are unable to operate as they usually do, which includes performances. 

“With everything canceled performance-wise, not just for us, we’re trying to build performances,” Gittle said. “But like the festival’s been canceled, most of the parades have been canceled. The only thing going right now is football. So we’re putting together a pep band for that. It’s difficult in a performance-based class. This has been hard on the band.”

Performances are a big part of music classes. The classes require recordings being submitted online instead of the normal in person performances.

“So we’ll rehearse in class but ultimately every student has to go home and record themselves performing the music and then bring that back,” McClendon said. “And then using video and audio software we try to combine that to make it sound like one full recording.”

There are safety precautions in place to keep everyone safe. Band, orchestra and choir are social distancing, with the use of masks during their class periods. 

“We could play for 30 minutes at a time in the auditorium and then we have to let the air recycle in the auditorium and then, and then we can play again,” Gittle said. “So with the longer classes, that kind of works okay because we can play for 30 minutes, maybe go outside and move around and come back in and play for another 30 minutes.”

Music classes have taken a big hit from not being able to perform to not being able to go on any trips they had planned. There is still much for the directors to figure out and they don’t know what will happen next.

“I think for teachers and students it’s just, it’s difficult because we have to be really patient with each other until things get more normalized,” McClendon said.