Central Keeps Making Music

Nathan Wren, sophomore music major

Making Music in the Midst of COVID-19

By GRACE STUMBAUGH

Perhaps one of the best things about being on Central Methodist University’s campus is walking past the Conservatory and hearing the melodious sound of instruments or voices floating from its windows. Mix that with sunshine beaming through the trees and a gust of warm air, and it’s reminiscent of a movie scene.

However, a peek behind the walls of the Conservatory would show that the Music Department has had to make some serious changes to how its members rehearse during a pandemic. Right away, singing and playing instruments were categorized as higher-risk activities for spreading COVID-19.

CMU choirs were especially struggling, as it was extremely hard to hear each other in Linn Memorial during rehearsals because of the required 16 feet distance and the reverberance in the Conservatory.

“Being 16 feet apart was a nightmare,” Chorale Director Dr. Patrick Dill said.

However, Dill found out that rehearsing outdoors meant the distance between singers could shrink from 16 feet to 8 feet, so he tasked the choir to go outside and scout the campus for a new rehearsal spot.

Within minutes, a couple of students returned with the perfect location: beneath the main entrance bridge walking into Stedman Hall.

Now, if the weather is 52 degrees and above, Chorale and the Conservatory Singers can be found rehearsing in that little spot and brightening the day of those walking in and out of Stedman Hall. It might seem like a small change, but for Dill, it was transformational. The members could finally hear themselves singing.

“That was the first moment we felt like a real choir again,” he said.

The CMU band has run into many of the same problems as the choirs. They must wear masks while playing and be six feet apart. And the booming nature of Linn Memorial has had a negative impact on rehearsals. Like Dill, Band Director Skip Vandelicht, ’77, has had his group practicing outside when possible.

Chorale also wasn’t the only singing group that had to get creative with its rehearsals. Dr. Kristin Newbegin, who teaches voice lessons, had to make a big change to how lessons were conducted.

“My studio space is not quite big enough corner to corner to safely have the students sing unmasked,” Newbegin said. “Not being able to sing unmasked—especially with what I do—makes it really hard to see what needs to be fixed. I can only use my ears so much.”

But Newbegin had a solution. She set up a microphone in a practice room across the hall that’s connected to an amp in her office. This way, she and the student are distanced but she can still hear them singing.

She also has a microphone in her office that’s connected to an amp in the practice room so she can give instruction. Newbegin and the student will join a muted Zoom call, allowing her to see mouths move in sync with audio.

“I’m using Zoom for the visual, and using the amp and microphone as the audio setup,” she said.