By Alice V. Clark
People have long turned to music in times of trouble, seeking its power to soothe and heal. Though it’s too early to tell the story of the power of music in the face of COVID-19, here I want to reflect on managing the effects of social distancing within communities that create music, particularly at the School of Music and Theatre Arts at Loyola University New Orleans.
Musical performance is inherently social. Of course, one person can perform alone—a pianist, a singer-songwriter with guitar, the player of a Bach violin partita or cello suite. But usually there are at least two on stage, and that interaction, whether in the form of the “intelligent conversation” to which Goethe compared the string quartet or a large ensemble with a conductor, is an important part of the experience.
So too is the presence of an audience. Studio recordings are important aspects of our culture, but whether we are performing or listening, most of us know the power of live music to bring us together.
All of that interaction has been rudely interrupted by COVID-19. Local events such as this performance by the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (some of whose members teach at Loyola) initially continued without an audience. But cancellations soon followed, including that of a performance of the semi-professional chorus with which I and others in the Loyola community sing. After months of working together, we were silenced 10 days before our planned performance.
At Loyola, as at other institutions, we have been focused on continuing our students’ education, which for music majors raises particular challenges. With our campus closed and our students dispersed around the country and beyond, we can’t have an orchestra or jazz band rehearsal. So what can we do?
Studio faculty are creatively taking on the challenge of giving lessons online. The photo (below) shows one example in the home setup of Brian Keng-Lun Hsu, associate professor of Piano. Because a snare drum is the instrument students are most likely to have at home, percussion lessons are focusing on snare drum technique—and, if they don’t have a snare drum, they use a practice pad.
Brian Keng-Lun Hsu, associate professor of Piano at Loyola University New Orleans, has creatively converted a corner of his home to provide online piano instruction to students. Photo courtesy of Alice V. Clark and Brian Keng-Lun Hsu.
Recitals by juniors can be postponed, but not those of graduating seniors. So, in some cases staff accompanists are recording their parts in advance, allowing the student to sing with the recording, and a Facebook group has been created where performers can share their recitals. Band and choir directors are using a combination of tools, such as having students record their own parts and complete listening assignments.
All these solutions are imperfect, and some are still being worked out, but they are evidence of how we in New Orleans are doing our best to keep the music—and the community—going.
Alice V. Clark is professor of Music History at Loyola University New Orleans and a member of the National Seminar on Jesuit Higher Education.
Another Sign of Resilience:
Singers from NOVA, the choir mentioned above, came together virtually to perform one of the pieces on the concert that was not sung. The soloist, Christine Johnson, is an undergraduate alumna and current graduate student at Loyola University New Orleans; her parents (both Loyola alumni) and at least seven other current or former students can be seen below. For the record, these virtual music videos that are proliferating on the web are not easy to create: the technology does not allow for everyone to perform at once, so these are recorded by individuals at home, then layered on top of each other in production, a process that the director estimates that took thirty to forty hours.