Think back on the last time you made or consumed music with others before the pandemic began socially isolating us. Did you sing in your church choir? Play with a local band? Play in a sectional rehearsal? Go salsa dancing with friends in a dance hall with a live band? Where were you?
Music education on college campuses is an inherently social thing. You study your instrument or take voice lessons in a studio with a teacher. You rehearse with an ensemble in a rehearsal room or on stage. You perform for others in live settings. You also practice around others all the time. Music schools have aisle after aisle of practice rooms with pianos on campuses all over the world. And many of them are completely empty today.
This week's SYNC Blog is a jumping-off point to a new, well-read Hechinger Report Op-Ed on keeping music education alive and vibrant in the time of COVID-19. It explores how college and university music programs are innovating in sometimes simple and often ingenious ways in the pandemic.
Are there ways you, your students, and colleagues are making and studying music during the pandemic that others should know about? Comment below and share them with us!
Read the complete Op-Ed, Hechinger Report, "Singing in the Parking Lot, and Other pandemic strategies for music students," HERE.