Just wondering how everyone’s students are doing? We’ve seen most universities in my D’s area closing for a few weeks or even the rest of the semester and converting to online classes. We are waiting for her conservatory to make its decision but we are making plans to bring her home as it seems most likely. Wondering how this will look for a music school? Stay safe and well!
This may not help anyone, but my kids are in precollege at MSM, which just sent out emails saying that they are closing the campus and all classes (including precollege) are cancelled through 3/21. They mentioned they are currently deciding how to create online classes. My kids’ voice teachers have already reached out today about Skype lessons, or hiring private studio space for lessons. Don’t know what’s going to happen to all the international students who don’t go home for spring break…
Is the the “How’s your kid’s online performance degree going?” thread? ??
Rochester/Eastman announced about an hour ago that the semester would be completed online.
Yep - we just found out that NEC is switching to online as much as possible, asking kids to go home for the remainder and suspending performing ensembles. My daughter is so sad.
I’m so sorry - this is new territory for all of us. The students will be resilient. We just need to let them know it’s going to be okay.
Many things can disrupt a student’s undergrad years - mine lost her beloved voice prof to illness, for example - but pandemic? That wasn’t on my radar. 
Is your daughter a freshman @Violinmomaz? Hang in there!
Northwestern is on a trimester. They are completing finals for the second term now, and would start a third term after spring break (April 1). To date they are staying the course, but once exams are done we will see what happens…
This is especially tough for music students because performances/concerts are all cancelled as well as classes. Is anyone continuing lessons?
My son is coming home for break on Friday, and this morning Berklee announced that, probably for the remainder of the semester, classes will be held online at home. It will be tricky, but since Berklee has what seems to be a thriving online component, they should be able to handle it pretty well. It’s just not a lot of time to get the necessary stuff home and put the rest in storage! Most of his classes this term are in composition and film-scoring, along with private piano lessons, so those should be easier to do than more instrumental-oriented classes. He IS kind of wondering how they will be able to teach his conducting class!
Frankly, I don’t think he’s heartbroken. Apparently this has been a rough semester in a number of ways for him and his friends (a couple of unexpected deaths on campus just before Valentine’s Day, among other things), and morale is not so good. I don’t believe it’s Berklee’s fault–he’s still very happy to be there, but I don’t think he’d mind a little break and working on stuff at home, which he does anyway when he’s here. Fortunately I bought him a good keyboard for here a few months ago, and we’re setting up a music studio for him, so I believe he’ll get some good things done. He’s very focused on his work, so I’m not worried about the discipline involved in doing online classes.
Still no word on whether there will be any refunds for boarding for the rest of the semester, but that’s the least of our worries right now. I’m more concerned about his being on the train for 4 hours to get here!
Heres’s the email we received from the president of Colgate University. This is just a portion of the email and a follow up email was also sent today to clarify and explain the reasons behind their decisions.
Spring Recess (March 14 to 22)
All Colgate residence halls will remain open during spring recess, and students are strongly encouraged to remain on campus during this period. Dining facilities and shuttle service will remain in operation on modified schedules. Additional information about these updated schedules will be shared online at colgate.edu/covid19.
All students who will be staying on campus during spring recess are asked to register online at colgate.edu/housingportal.
Students who decide to leave campus are expected to return by Monday, March 23. This date of return is important for it offers the best chance of a return to in-person instruction in a few weeks time.
All international university-sponsored spring recess trips are canceled. University-sponsored domestic travel for faculty, staff, and students must be approved by the Executive Group of the Emergency Operation Committee (EG) on a case-by-case basis. Requests for exceptions should be sent to your divisional vice president, who will bring it to the EG for consideration.
While we cannot prevent individuals from private travel, we strongly encourage all faculty, staff, and students to carefully consider their travel plans, both internationally and domestically, as the full scope of the COVID-19 epidemic is changing day by day. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) may add locations to its travel advisory list with no notice, making return travel possibly difficult or impossible if self isolation is required. Again, we strongly recommend that students remain on campus.
Academic Continuity (March 23 to April 20)
At the conclusion of spring recess, all on-campus courses and labs will move online and/or convert to alternative modes of teaching and learning. We expect courses to be offered in this manner until April 19, with a goal of returning to in-person instruction, consistent with our mission, by Monday, April 20.
The University will communicate with the campus community on Monday, March 23, and again by Monday, April 13, should this schedule change for any reason.
We will use this period of spring recess to support faculty in moving courses online.
While all efforts will be made to continue credit-bearing courses and labs, there may be rare instances where such continuation is not possible. We will work with students to ensure academic continuity.
All off-campus study programs this semester remain in effect until, or unless, program participants are notified otherwise.
Events and Logistics
Until spring recess, all campus activities will continue as normal. Tomorrow’s Patriot League Championship between Colgate and Boston University will be played as scheduled in Reid Athletic Center. While some of you may wish to watch the game in person, others of you may wish to watch the live broadcast. Please stay home if you are not feeling well, and remember that it is okay to suspend social etiquette practices, such as handshakes or other forms of personal contact, when greeting others.
Beginning Monday, March 23, all campus-based and university-sponsored events of 100 or more attendees are canceled or postponed until after Sunday, April 19. This recommendation is in concert with CDC guidance on social distancing and provides a timeframe for University planning and evaluation in the weeks ahead.
Travel Guidance
University-sponsored international and domestic travel for faculty, staff, and students must be approved by the Executive Group of the Emergency Operation Committee (EG) on a case-by-case basis through Sunday, April 19. Requests for exceptions should be sent to your divisional vice president, who will bring it to the EG for consideration. Club sport and student organization travel exception requests should be sent to the sponsoring department or program, which will advance to the EG for consideration.
My son is freshman at private conservatory. All freshmen need to leave dorm (some already left today) but are allowed to leave their belonging in their room with their name tags / boxes / suitcases before spring break starts from 3/15. Some undergrad students who aren’t able to go back home in the hard hit area / country, they are allowed to stay at a dorm for now with limited accesses to cafeteria and practice room. But no on-campus lessons / classes will happen. If students have a financial difficulty to travel back home, FA department sounds like helping them out. So, his school really wants all dorm students to move out. Classes will be given online or whatever it means remotely “at least” until 4/12. They will notify within days or weeks with updates. No ensemble rehearsals (that really sucks for performance major) but private lessons will be given online (Skype or some sort) in school’s time zone. Hopefully, his lessons / sound-producing classes won’t start at 9AM (EST) because no way he could make musical sound at 6AM (PST) in our small condo.
My son called, sounded like a little confused last night when his school suddenly announced school closure, even though he already planned to come home just for spring break. Now, all (or most) of his jazz friends in East Coast school will be back in town so he can form a small combo to play / jam with them locally. But he will miss his big band and school faculty and friends…
I could be wrong, but it seems that it would make sense for all colleges to get on the same page with this.
Juilliard is suspending all in-person classes and activities and transitioning to remote learning through March 29.
https://www.juilliard.edu/campus-life/coronavirus-health-advisory
My S is home now for spring break fortunately. He has already contacted to all his professors and talked them about their classes. Juilliard called him today and asked him where he is now and what his travel plans.
I will wait for a while to get his returning flight to NY. It may extend the period…
My daughter is a performance major at Brandeis, and the university announced today that all classes will be online after March 20. Larger classes are already online. Orchestra rehearsal is canceled tomorrow; we don’t know more than that. The members of her chamber group have decided to continue together in the fall. They are all from different places and it doesn’t seem likely that they can continue this semester past March 20. I’m sure she’ll be hearing more details from the music department regarding lessons etc. This is so hard for all students, especially seniors who are graduating, but for musicians it’s very rough - so hard to do music in isolation. It would be helpful to share ideas on how to help our kids through this. Thanks for starting this threat @Violinmomaz .
Interesting that Colgate seems to want students to stay on campus, during break, but many other schools want students to go home, which means dispersal to other areas of the country. Perhaps because the area around Colgate is safe right now, whereas other schools are in areas that already have a lot of cases. For schools in safe areas, it makes sense to discourage students from any travel and encourge them to stay on campus. I hope I am understanding this properly…
@compmom I think that explains a lot of it. If students go away for spring break and return to campus then it increases the risk for their contacts both on and off campus, so it’s not only a concern for students, staff, and faculty, but it becomes a wider public health issue. In areas where there are a lot of cases, schools are switching to online, and I feel that it makes sense to do this now, and not wait until things get worse. Our school is being really supportive of students who are unable to return home for whatever reason, and there can be a lot of reasons, of course. And the students and families are reaching out and helping others…
UNT is making an announcement tomorrow. My son is home for spring break this week. He has his voice here with him but his cello is at school 1000 miles away and he will need that too. His sister lives in Dallas so we have options depending on what the announcement is. Planning to roll with the punches but I’ll be sad if I can’t go to the choir concert we have tickets for in April.
@buoyant No, this is her sophomore year.
We also heard that Colburn is doing the same.
My D is flying home on Sunday night. She has really hit her stride this year and is so upset to have it all so interrupted.
@SuzeViolin - this will be hard on all the kids being sent home but yes! The lack of ensembles and in person lessons will be so difficult. Her school has already said they will do Skype lessons but her teachers have already said how much they dislike it, so that made her feel terrible. She has her last lesson tomorrow so hopefully her teacher will give her some encouragement for this whole thing. Also there are other students in her studio who have apartments and will be staying and still be having in person lessons so then there is a whole FOMO problem. One of them even offered her a couch to stay on. We were like no way. I am terrified that soon they will shut down domestic flights and then she’ll be stuck there.
S is a senior Jazz Studies major at SUNY Purchase, graduating in May, (and younger S is sophomore theatre major there). The New Rochelle “hot spot” is about 10 miles from campus. So far, dorms and dining are staying open. They aren’t evacuating campus. Yet. Most, but not all, classes need to be distance learning. ALL public performances have been cancelled for the remainder of the year.
Where necessary to graduate, aka Senior Recitals, they will perform for only the faculty member(s) necessary to evaluate. In the case of jazz, where the recital is with a sizable ensemble, how rehearsals will work is unknown. They’re still trying to figure out how small ensemble, combo, dance classes etc. are going to work.
They haven’t officially cancelled commencement, but everyone expects they will. To say the students, especially the Seniors, are heartbroken, would be a vast understatement. Specific information is coming out very slowly. Rumors are rampant among the performing arts kids, and none of them really knows what the hell is going to happen.
S is so so terribly sad. I am too. I understand it, and am glad they are being proactive. It must be an administrative nightmare for them, but it sucks. Really really sucks.
@SuzeViolin I was not referring to schools that ask students to leave. I was writing about Colgate asking students to STAY. Read post #8.
I thought this was an interesting way to address the problem of spring break home visits resulting in students potentially bringing the virus back, and avoiding shut-down. As I wrote, this would only be safe if the college, like Colgate, is in a relatively safe area itself.