Music department holds virtual concerts to give students a chance to perform

Sophomore%2C+Michael+Lindsey+practicing+his+guitar+for+Brian+Vaccaros+Guitar+class

Senior Jakyah Overton

Sophomore, Michael Lindsey practicing his guitar for Brian Vaccaro’s Guitar class

Jakyah Overton, Staff Reporter

The pandemic has definitely caused the music department some treble but nevertheless they have persevered and worked hard together to make this school year successful. From middle school choir to high school band, students and teachers have shown through and through that our school can make do with what they’ve got.
This year’s first recital was held during the fall semester as a virtual concert on our school’s facebook page and hosted by music department chair, Patrick Mattia. While the department’s annual concerts are typically hours long this year’s middle and high school recitals were about 40 minutes.
As Mattia mentions in his introductory speech, “This pandemic has been really hard on our music department. We can’t play our instruments and sing with our students.You can’t really do that over zoom.”
He also adds despite the concert being heavily shortened the work put into filming and editing those videos took hours. Some of the challenges shared by guitar teacher, Brian Vaccaro, were also figuring how to present these various ensembles and solving technical problems.
However these challenges were definitely overcome and created a new learning experience for both teachers and students.
Vaccaro was asked about his learning experiences during this time and he shared, “ It has shown me that some of the applications that I rolled out especially for distance learning will have a place in the traditional classroom environment as well. I think that these things will help in person classes be more focused and productive.” Vaccaro also enjoys, “ Seeing certain students improve greatly during the distance learning period.”
During this time many students have shared that they’ve experienced their own personal trials and tribulations while participating in their pathway classes.
Sophomore Michael Lindsey says “Honestly, just taking the time to actually do it is harder when you’re not doing it with a whole group of people in a classroom. So you just have to push yourself.”
While independence can seem ever so glorious to some teenagers this new level of responsibility can be quite stressful to some. Mental health is a priority to several teachers and reinforcing that message for students to take care of themselves has been a big part of what’s mentioned in class.
Senior Barbra Ewing shares, “It’s nice to hear everyone’s emotions and feelings in such hard times.” A little reminder of the fact that we are all in this together can sometimes go a long way. Ewing also adds, “The most difficult class for me has been choir surprisingly. Some challenges I’ve overcome are just the lack of motivation. It’s hard but I realized I had to get it together.”