From outdoor concerts to band practice over Zoom calls, the structure for music classes this year has adjusted dramatically. The COVID-19 outbreak last spring brought with it many challenges in the school setting, such as transitioning to online classes and cancelling/postponing sporting events. For student musicians, certain measures have taken place to ensure their safety. 

Despite the many challenges that this school year has brought, senior Abigail Chappel Deckert sees it as an opportunity to improve herself.

“This experience has given me more opportunity to practice because of all the time at home, which has made me improve,” Chappel Deckert said. “But since many extracurricular orchestras are cancelled there is not much to practice.”

Although Chappel Deckert now has more time to practice her instrument, she is faced with another challenge.

“One challenge is finding motivation,” Chappel Deckert said. “Because of the uncertainty around COVID, it is hard to find a reason to practice.”

Every student has a system that works for them, and while finding motivation is a struggle for some students, for others, they found that these circumstances helped in this aspect.

“I feel like I am putting in more effort this year because of the fact that we had so much time to practice on our own, and I have been motivated by harder music especially pieces for Jazz 1,” sophomore Oliver Dungan said. “If I didn’t practice those, I wouldn’t be able to keep up.”

Overall, Dungan believes that this school year is a great opportunity to learn and to adapt the way students are being taught. 

“I think having to deal with Covid-19 has made teachers and students think more creatively and find out what is the best for us students when it comes to a healthy learning environment,” Dungan said. “I think I got pretty lucky because my school experience this year has been fairly easy, and I feel for the people who have struggled with the transition to this way of life, but I think because of it we can find out more about how [we] ourselves function under unknown circumstances.”