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FEATURES
8 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2021 ● FEATURES ● THE JUSTICE just features
ON THIS DAY…
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In 1832, Felix Mendelssohn’s “Symphony No. 5 (Reformation)” premiered.
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Mozartkugeln is the most popular chocolate brand in Austria.
From ZOOM to the choir room
Photo Courtesy of SIENA KEISO MOONEY
The Justice spoke to Chamber Singers member Alyssa Knudsen ’24 about how the pandemic has impacted the choir.
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. and the complete shutdown that followed, universities and their students have been forced to continuously adapt to a non-stop string of changes. Clubs and extracurriculars were hit especially hard and many were forced to find new ways to participate in their old activities. For choirs, it has been particularly difficult, as Alyssa Knudsen ’24 explained to the Justice over Zoom on Nov. 13.
Knudsen is a member of the Brandeis Chamber Singers, one of the University’s two official choirs. This is her second year as a member, and it’s an especially exciting one — this year, they’re fully in-person. Last year, however, the situation was very different: some students were on campus, including Knudsen, but rehearsals were hybrid. While being able to meet in-person was better than not doing so at all, there were still drawbacks. “We would meet twice a week. One day we would meet in person and we were not allowed to sing,” Knudsen explained. In person, they would study music theory, hear from guest speakers and learn about the composers of the pieces they were looking at.
In order to see each other’s faces, the virtual rehearsals took place simultaneously over Zoom and a software called Jamulus. “In theory, [Jamulus] was supposed to allow us to sing together and hear each other without much lag,” Knudsen said. The software, however, never really worked, making an already difficult situation increasingly frustrating. “All of us had a really horrible experience with it,” Knudsen added.
Performances also had to be modified to adhere to COVID-19 restrictions. Prior to the pandemic, the choir would hold concerts in-person, but like everything else, that had to change. Last year, each student would record their part individually and then all the parts would be edited together to create one recording. “It wasn’t really a concert,” Knudsen said, “But there’s a video floating around out there somewhere of a bunch of floating heads singing in their own rooms.” In the spring 2021 semester, the choir did have an in-person performance, but it was, as Knudsen described it, “bizarre.” Each student recorded a video of themselves singing the University’s alma mater. Then, near the end of the semester, the choir gathered in the gym wearing masks and socially distanced while lip-syncing to their recording of the alma mater.
By ISABEL ROSETH
JUSTICE STAFF WRITER
Although the choir is slowly returning to normal, the difficulties of the previous year are not easily forgotten. “It was the feeling that I got when I sang with people [that was lost], and that’s kind of indescribable,” said Knudsen. She explained that you cannot connect to people or make music when you’re “by yourself in a nine-by-nine [foot] concrete-walled dorm.” The frustrations with faulty technology and the feeling of isolation both contributed to a rough year for the choir, and it was not an experience that she would like to repeat. “It was a complete shift in my mindset, which was, ‘I’m not actually enjoying anything; I’m just trying to get through it,’” she said.
One moment from last year that stood out to Knudsen was when she accidentally dropped her computer during her first semester. “Everything was fine, except it fell on the corner where the audio jack was, so I couldn’t plug in my headphones,” she explained. Because this happened when the choir was still rehearsing over Jamulus, it made things increasingly difficult as headphones are required for the program to work. Her computer had to be fixed and none of the rental computers had Jamulus installed, so Knudsen missed out on a couple weeks of the virtual rehearsals. “[The rehearsals] were objectively horrible — kind of painful and not really fun — but [missing them] just made me so sad,” she said. “I couldn’t even do the bare minimum that I was allowed to do.”
Choirs depend on being able to sing together as a group and when the pandemic got in the way of that, they struggled like many other disciplines did. “All art is a form of communication, a form of connection and a bond that you experience with something beyond yourself,” Knudsen explained. Not being able to take part in that communication was frustrating and disheartening. Now that the University is mostly in-person, things have begun to turn around and the arts are beginning to recover.
The Brandeis Chamber Singers no longer have to put up with faulty software and technological issues. The University’s policies say that if the members are fully vaccinated and within testing compliance, they can meet in-person, maskless, to sing. They are also performing: their first concert of the year — a joint performance with the University Chorus, the University’s other main ensemble — took place on Sunday, Nov. 14. They are also planning a holiday concert before winter break, and at the end of June the Chamber Singers will be touring in France, including locations in Paris and Normandy.
ALYSSA KNUDSEN
Knudsen explained that it was jarring when music, which in the past “has been the thing that brings [people] together,” became something dangerous. “The arts are supposed to be that one thing that nobody can take away from you and that’s supposed to comfort you when you’re suffering,” Knudsen said. The pandemic changed all of that and now that the choir is singing together once more, they aren’t about to take it for granted. Knudsen in particular is thrilled about being able to resume singing in-person. “Now that we’re allowed to sing together again, there’s a renewed appreciation for just how precious music is,” she said. The Chamber Singers are currently focusing on compositions that were written during the shut down, as well as memorial pieces in honor of those who lost their lives and “metacognitions about the importance of music.”
Knudsen is optimistic that the arts will be able to recover from the many struggles brought on by COVID-19. She acknowledges that others may see it differently, but among her and her fellow Chamber Singers, there is a consensus: nothing has been permanently lost.
Photos Courtesy of BRANDEIS DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC
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The Justice editorial board stands in solidarity with Brandeis librarians
Situated in the middle of campus, the Goldfarb-Farber Library is an essential study and resource space. It was also one of the places on campus that got hit the hardest during the pandemic during the 2020-21 academic year. To allow for social distancing, the capacity and hours of the buildings were reduced to half of what they were before COVID-19. Enforcing COVID-19 rules presented another burden atop the responsibilities Brandeis librarians already have.
According to a board member who spoke to a current Brandeis librarian who worked there through the pandemic, the staff had to come onto campus almost every day, despite the library’s reduced hours and the fact that many other departments transitioned online. What’s more, the in-person format for the small number of students that were on campus during the height of the pandemic made it so that librarians had the additional responsibility of adapting to and enforcing COVID-19 precautions. Though books could only be checked out remotely, library staff had to make sure no one was eating or drinking, sitting at non-distanced tables or without a mask.
Yet, according to the same board member who spoke to the librarian, despite having been asked to work in-person and as quasiCOVID-19 compliance monitors, Brandeis librarians’ request for equitable pay was dismissed by the University.
Before the fall 2021 semester, library staff joined Service Employees International Union, which works across North America to represent educators, janitorial staff, healthcare workers and those in the government sector. Brandeis Librarians are part of the SEIU Local 888, which represents the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and created an account called Brandeis Library Workers Union on Twitter in August.
We at the Justice stand with the staff at the campus libraries and commend them for their hard work and resilience throughout the pandemic. We also acknowledge that this was an undue burden on staff, and though commendable, the University should not have put library workers who were uncomfortable coming in-person in that position, when students, professors and other administrators were given the option to remain entirely on Zoom.
We also believe that it is unacceptable that at a school that prides itself on being a beacon for social justice, our library staff has been ignored when asking for equitable pay, benefts and for the University to be transparent about wage ranges.
The library at Brandeis provides students with countless resources, from loaning out computers and computer accessories, to giving access to publications and journals, to aiding with research projects and writing. This editorial board asks the University to reconsider how they are treating library staff. Fighting for social justice is more than posting a photo of Louis D. Brandeis on his birthday. It’s the University standing with their employees and giving them the pay they deserve.
To support the Brandeis Library Workers Union, you can submit testimonials about your experiences with Brandeis librarians to be used in contract campaigning, and you can sign up for their mailing list.
—Editor’s note: Justice editor Jane Flautt is a student worker at the Goldfarb-Farber Library and did not contribute to the writing or editing of this editorial.
Amplifying marginalized voices: Jamie Black’s REDress Project comes to campus
With red dresses hanging all throughout campus, it’s hard to bypass the ongoing “REDress Project.” Students in “Introduction to the Creativity, Arts, and Social Transformation,” led by Prof. Toni Shapiro-Phim (CAST), have partnered up with artist Jaime Black in order to set up this art exhibit. Commenting on the “more than 1000 missing and murdered aboriginal women” in North America, CAST has worked to recreate Black’s project to help illustrate this ongoing tragedy.
On the Women’s Studies Research Center website, it states that “The photographs, video and poems on display tell stories alongside empty red dresses … their absence of bodies, allude to the thousands of Indigenous women and girls who have been missing or murdered across North America.” Statistics illustrate the elevated numbers of targeted Indigenous women, like how murder rates are 10 times higher than all other ethnicities and how more than 80% of Indigenous women have experienced some form of violence. This board recognizes the importance of spotlighting the cases of these missing and murdered women and urges readers to further educate themselves and help amplify these voices.
Besides the actual exhibit, which will run until Feb. 25, WSRC and CAST sponsored Black’s virtual artist lecture on Nov. 9 where she discussed her exhibition “between us,” showcased in the Kniznick Gallery, and her “REDress Project.” As this was an effective space to learn about the dire situation in North America, we would like to thank everyone involved in hosting this talk. In order for these departments to continue hosting these types of events, we would also like to encourage students to attend these departments’ future lectures in order to show support and help garner attention.
The next upcoming WSRC event co-sponsored by CAST and the Program in Peacebuilding and the Arts will be held on Jan. 24, where Dr. Polly O. Walker will navigate a book talk about Louis Erdrich’s “The Round House.” As the story follows a family on an Ojibwa reservation and chronicles the assault of Indigenous women, this talk would be the perfect opportunity for those who missed Black’s artist lecture. There will also be time to visit Black’s “between
JACK YUANWEI CHENG/the Justice
Views News on the
Throughout the past decade the growing teacher shortage has become a persistent problem across the country. Now, as we continue to grapple with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, this issue has only worsened. Many educators are leaving the academic workforce in hopes of better mental and fnancial stability. What does this shortage say about America’s demanding work culture? Should there be institutional or governmental changes to further accommodate teachers during this time?
Prof. Kuttner (Heller)
The teacher shortage is one aspect of a general shortage of workers in the aftermath of COVID-19. The pandemic forced many people either out of the workforce or compelled them to work from home; many have now decided that there is more to life than underpaid and often risky drudgery. There are now about 10 million job vacancies.
Teaching is a special case of this general trend. Because of the perverse way that schools are fnanced, teachers with the hardestto-teach kids often have the most arduous working conditions. Teachers in well-funded suburban schools, with motivated kids and AP courses, get to enjoy good salaries, small classes and appreciative kids. They are not the ones who are quitting. In high poverty areas, the salaries tend to be lower, the classes larger and the students more challenging to teach. That drives teachers out of the classrooms where they are most urgently needed. The system is backwards. The teachers with the most challenging students should have smaller classes, extra resources, better pay — and society’s thanks.
