Band is back in North Country schools, thanks to some unique music gear
Band is back!
Lots of school programs and electives were canceled last school year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Music programs, including band and choir, were among the first to go, because of concerns about aerosol transmission.
At Canton Central School, they switched to zoom classes, and eventually conducted one-on-one lessons, spaced really far apart. But they couldn't play together, says the middle school band teacher Robert Bickford, and that was really hard. He's been teaching music for sixteen years.
"That’s been such a part of my life for sixteen years, when it was just gone last year, it was so disorienting."
So he's ecstatic to have groups of kids back in the band room. "I’m so thankful to have this time with the students and share my love of music with them."
Fifth grade trombone section
I visit during the 5th grade trombone section, which has four kids in it, Bentley White, Liam Wilcox, Jessie Jean Coffin, and Gabby Lawrence. Bickford is delighted to have them.
"I’m always looking for trombone players, you’ll hear that from band teachers!"
They started playing trombone just a few months ago, but Bickford says they've been dedicated and excited students and have made a lot of progress. "They’re so intense, I love seeing that. And that energy, I feed off it."
They're working on the tune 'Hot Cross Buns'. They play together and individually. They practice singing the notes, and do a little music theory. When it comes time to play, they plant their feet, take deep breaths, and give all they've got.
Before the day of my visit, these four kids had to play twenty feet apart, in the four corners of the big bandroom. Now they can set up their chairs and music stands six feet from one another, facing their teacher. That's because of their new music PPE.
Bell covers and player masks
At the beginning of their practice section, 10 year old Jessie Jean Coffin was kneeling on the band room floor, putting her trombone together. She took a stretchy black circle and fit it over the big hole in a trombone, where the air comes out, explaining, "It’s a bell cover, it keeps the air from your mouth from spreading, it’s like a mask for your instrument."
That piece of fabric was big news. It arrived in a big shipment of music PPE, protective gear that means students can practice and play within six feet of each other.
They also got a special kind of mask, with a mouth flap. Liam Wilcox showed me how the flap works.
"There are these two magnets and it closes and you can open it and your mouthpiece goes inside and you can play through it. It works really good and I think it’s going to be a big help to us."
The band's all together!
The hot topic of conversation among the kids is the band rehearsal they had just a few hours earlier. Because of the special masks and covers, it was the first time the whole band of 51 students got to play together. They still had to be six feet apart, so they spaced out around the entire auditorium.
The kids say it was really fun to finally play as an ensemble, with Bentley White explaining that before their section "used to have to go up on stage [alone] and have to play away from everyone else." Gabby Lawrence said it was "awesome, but really loud!"
Soon, it’s back to practice, happily, with everyone in the same room.
