Carol Swinchoski
The concept of the Singing Band takes on a whole new meaning in the wake of Covid-19. I expect to hear: Do you mean you are not only going to risk your health playing wind instruments, but you are going to sing as well?
Sigh, there is so much to consider. I do know that everything I have learned about teaching instrumental music still applies. Young musicians need to hear melodic and rhythmic patterns in their heads before they can express them through an instrument. Young musicians must hear beautiful melodies, be able to decode them using syllables before they and share those same melodies instrumentally.
The Singing Band has never relied on singing as the only tool for success. In fact, singing as beautiful, expressive and joyful as it is, is simply the evidence that inner hearing and mastery have occured. I can hear patterns on neutral syllables and solfege in my head and then play them for you on my trombone. I can hear a beautiful folk song with lyrics and play it with great expressive qualities on my guitar, without singing ever aloud if need be. This may be the case as we approach the music class this fall.
I believe humming, hand signs and the hand staff will be very valuable tools in the socially distanced Covid-19 aware classroom. Rote patterns can be echoed using humming, later introducing hand staff to identify the solfege being hummed and and employing the hand staff as the students prepare and execute creating, reading and writing experiences. Patterns and melodies can be hummed while pointing to notation using manipulatives and standard notation.
Specifically in the instrumental classroom, adding fingering the instrument while humming will become a standard practice this year. The creative teacher can pair a student, with one humming using hand signs, hand staff, fingering the instrument, or pointing to standard notation while the other student echos. These techniques can expand to call and response, and more developed forms of improvising and reading.
Another option I plan to employ is teaching outside when the weather permits. There has been some concern that even humming may not be safe in the classroom. I am hopeful that studies will be available to answer this concern. Simply stepping outside, using social distancing, should allow teachers and students to hum, sing, and play safely. I may need to reserve outdoor space and mark the ground for social distance, but all of that effort will be worth it as we can make music together.
Technology will also play an important role in our reimagined classrooms. This spring I used Zoom lessons and Flipgrid to engage and musically challenge my students to do their best. They rose to the challenge and responded beautifully, sharing solo and sibling duet performances beyond all of our expectations.
Synchronous technologies such as Zoom can be used for all Conversational Solfege steps. In large or small groups the teacher or student leader can be heard while others are echoing or decoding with their microphones off. Assessment can be done individually by turning on the microphone. I found the students enjoyed the safety net of practicing with the microphone off but still benefited from the support. These same students were glad to volunteer to lead when they felt ready.
Asynchronous tools such as Flipgrid allowed me to send video content to all of my students, which they could practice and send me video examples of their progress. I could then reply to each student individually. Another wonderful aspect of Flipgrid is the ability to let all of the students see and hear their classmates best work. In this way students could celebrate their own success and encourage each other.
Overnight we have been asked to reinvent the music classroom. Our discipline is rife with inherent health risks. Despite this, I have witnessed teachers and students rise to this challenge with creativity, generosity, grace, and confidence. We will continue to learn from each other and our voices will not be silenced, for How Can I Keep From Singing.
Carol Swinchoski Teaches at Old Mill School in Wall Township Public Schools
July 1, 2020