Hi all. Been a while since I’ve been on CC but I checked in and found this thread. Thought I would chime in since my D is going to be a junior at The Hartt School of Music at the University of Hartford. She is a VP major and very excited about going back to campus in the fall. So she’s been getting extensive emails weekly from both the Dean of the University and the Dean of Hartt. So here’s what she know so far.
Classes begin on August 26th. They usually start after Labor Day. There will be sign up time slots for moving onto campus between August 15th and August 24th in order to maintain social distancing. All residential students will be be required to provide documentation of a negative Covid-19 test within 14 days of arriving on campus. Daily health screenings will be required by each student prior to going to classes via a LiveSafe app. Face masks will be required obviously when in any public spaces. Academic facilities including dining halls, libraries, performance spaces and other areas are being reconfigured to allow for social distancing of at least 6 feet. Consistent and intense cleaning of all public spaces, adding additional hand sanitizing stations and updating ventilation systems with appropriate filters.
Classes will be either in person, hybrid, remote or online. Looking at my D’s schedule, all her classes that meet twice a week are doing one hybrid and one in person. She just got an email from her German teacher stating that class is going from 3 times to 2 times per week. One in person, one hybrid. They are also giving students the option to do all classes remote if they are not comfortable going to in person classes or if the international students may have some travel difficulties getting back to the states. All her music classes, applied voice, coaching, vocal seminar and choir are still listed as taking place in person. So far.
There will be class on Labor Day. On November 24th on campus classes will end and students will leave campus for Thanksgiving break. They will then finish their fall semester remote and not return to campus until after winter break. That is mid January for Uhart. This will reduce the risk of bringing back the virus to campus during flu season as well as allowing time for a thorough cleaning of the whole campus. It will also limit the possibility of students, faculty and staff returning to campus after potentially being exposed during Thanksgiving break. The students will also get a reduced cost of room and dining facility charges because of these changes.
Hartt is in the process of developing a fall performance programming that will also allow students to be more focused on required courses, while preparing for a more robust intensive performance experiences during the spring semester. That was quoted from the email lol. Can’t wait to see how they’re going to do that! The Dean of Hartt has been sending emails weekly to the students with updates. They’ve sent charts with capacity changes in all the rooms. This past week they sent info from the Director of Instrumental Studies and Chair of Large Ensembles who has been doing a lot of research on the amount of aerosols which are produced when we talk, breath, sing, shout or play a wind or brass instrument. A lot of detail was given about the international groups and other universities who have all worked together in receiving data about aerosols. How they are produced, how far they travel, and what mitigation measures can be employed by performing wind, brass, vocalists, actors, dancers and athletes. So weird music teachers studying science lol.
In the Instrument world, string player, pianists, harpists, percussionists and guitarists will be sitting at 6 foot intervals and wearing masks. They will be in straight rows vs. the usual curved arcs. They will be playing together though. Wind and brass players will be six feet away (trombones may be 8 feet) and will likely have bell covers and tailored masks that will still allow students to play. Rehearsals will be shorter and maybe even rehearsing outside during the first few months. Maybe a lot of your kids’ music schools are doing something similar?
Next week will be more information about the other areas of the school. Can’t wait to hear about what they will do with all the vocalists, opera and musical theatre students. This will be a little more challenging I assume.
Sorry this is so long. I tried to condense it as much as possible lol. We have been getting a ton of information the last few weeks. Still a lot of questions like what about commuting students that travel on and off campus every day? I guess maybe the daily wellness check will be required. Also if my D comes home for the weekend, will she need to quarantine when she goes back?
Anyway, hope you all are staying safe healthy during this crazy time. I feel for the students who are dealing with this difficult time and not getting the full college experience. Even though my D is going back, she knows it is going to be very different. And all of this can change on the drop of a dime as well.
