{"id":37190,"date":"2021-03-11T11:33:22","date_gmt":"2021-03-11T16:33:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/?p=37190"},"modified":"2021-09-01T14:16:46","modified_gmt":"2021-09-01T18:16:46","slug":"singing-calls-for-ingenuity-with-covid-and-cold-weather","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/es\/2021\/03\/singing-calls-for-ingenuity-with-covid-and-cold-weather\/","title":{"rendered":"COVID + Cold Weather = Ingenuity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ingenuity \u2014 along with technical know-how, 1,000 feet of microphone cable, an FM radio transmitter, four sound boards, seven speakers, two stereos, a lot of small rooms, and perseverance \u2014 were required for EMHS Touring Choir to rehearse safely indoors this winter.<\/span><\/p>\n

After last fall semester\u2019s Touring Choir section rehearsed outdoors, this semester\u2019s choir members rehearsed together in separate practice rooms, dressing rooms and hallways connected by mic cables and equipped with speakers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The rooms were each wired with speakers so students could hear Jared Stutzman, choir director, and each other without the sound delay characteristic of online platforms. From the classroom, Stutzman managed the piano, distance learning students on the big screen, and the feed to eight students on his soundboard and laptop.<\/span><\/p>\n

Watch a video<\/a> that shows the set up.<\/p>\n

Setting up the configuration took Stutzman approximately 15 hours and into the early morning hours at the start of the semester. \u201cWith the weather making it impossible to sing outside, I needed to find a way for us to sing inside. It was important that I get it set up before my two-week paternity leave, so that my substitute (Sue Swartz \u2014 thanks Sue!) could facilitate singing with the choir while I was out.\u201d Jared, his wife Rebekah and three big sisters welcomed baby Lev Raleigh to the family February 4.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t an ideal system, but it worked. It was really neat to be able to sing together inside without delays. Students could even take their masks off to sing, because they were each in a separate enclosed space.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Warmer weather and updated school guidelines for COVID safety protocol prompted Stutzman to take down the music-making system last week. The group is now able to sing outside and inside (with\u00a0 masks) with a 6 foot, rather than 10 foot, distance between them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

EMS administrators and teachers have referred to guidelines from Centers for Disease Control, Virginia Department of Health and, particularly, the \u201c<\/span>Colorado Study<\/span><\/a>\u201d for best practices for singing during COVID. \u201cThis study is the seminal research conducted by experts that provides guidance on choral and instrumental music in schools during the pandemic,\u201d explains Justin King, high school principal.<\/span><\/p>\n

Forty-one students took part in Touring Choir this academic year over the two-semester schedule. The 4\u00d74 block schedule has meant that the full group wasn\u2019t able to be enrolled at the same time at any point in the year. Their first opportunity to sing together will occur during the school\u2019s annual out-of-the classroom E-term experience April 19-21. The choir will meet for outdoor rehearsal sessions at Highland Retreat Center in Bergton. Several outdoor spring concerts at local churches are planned, though the spring touring season will be limited in comparison to past years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCOVID has been especially hard on the performing arts,\u201d says Stutzman. The entire spring 2020 Touring Choir program schedule was cancelled, as was the group\u2019s biennial European tour, which would have taken place in June 2020 in the UK, Netherlands, and Germany. \u201cIt\u2019s taken most of the year to figure out ways to sing together meaningfully, but with the weather warming up and some concerts planned, we have a lot of hope and joy about this spring.\u201d <\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ingenuity \u2014 along with technical know-how, 1,000 feet of microphone cable, an FM radio transmitter, four sound boards, seven speakers, two stereos, a lot of small rooms, and perseverance \u2014 were required for EMHS Touring Choir to rehearse safely indoors this winter. After last fall semester\u2019s Touring Choir section rehearsed outdoors, this semester\u2019s choir members\u2026<\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":37135,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[353,21,109,108],"class_list":["post-37190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","tag-covid-19","tag-music","tag-the-arts","tag-touring-choir"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37190"}],"curies":[{"name":"gracias","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}