Massachusetts just went up to “very high” with positive test rate ove 2%. But Suffolk County remains “high.” You can go to mass.gov and look at the dashboard for individual cities and towns.
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Berklee is remote through Thanksgiving with the intention to return to in person instruction on Monday, November 29, 2021. They closed for one day, today 11/18/21 to give staff & faculty a day to adjust for remote instruction through Thanksgiving.
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On Berklee, I just need to vent a bit. I applauded their decision to go virtual when all of this started, and I applaud their caution now. And I’m quite certain that they’re not just getting their jollies by doing it again, even if it’s short-term. It hurts the institution as well as the students, but they seem to be taking seriously the understanding that, to a large extent, their students (and faculty) are on their watch. I’m all for erring on the side of caution, and sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.
I do follow Berklee on Instagram, just to be aware of what’s going on there (beyond what my son tells me). When they announced that they’d be going virtual over Thanksgiving break, many of the comments by students were really scathing.
But here’s the thing–a few weeks ago my son played in his friend’s band at a “Caf Show.” It was live-streamed, so of course his father and I watched it. What we noticed was that almost NO ONE in the audience (in a crowded, fairly large room–it is, as the name suggests–the student cafeteria during the day) was wearing a mask. The show was at 10 pm, so I don’t know who among the administrators, etc., would be around to enforce the mask-wearing rule, but I would have hoped that by this point those students would have the sense and the responsibility to adhere to the most basic of safety protocols.
And yet they’re now angrily complaining about going virtual again (and I’m getting concerned, of course, that the “break” from in-person classes might last beyond the end of Thanksgiving break). You can’t have it both ways…
There–got it off my chest. 
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My son is in the midst of applying to grad school for VP. Hopefully, by the end of it he will have several enticing choices. One of the ways I am going to encourage him to differentiate at that point is how schools have handled the pandemic, and are still dealing with it. Vocal performance is not well suited to ignoring COVID, and its faculty are generally very careful about COVID prevention; but zoom voice lessons and cancelled performances do not make for a great grad school experience. Many schools and faculty have learned how to live with this and still teach in person and allow performances. There has to be a balance.
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The music building at my kid’s school was closed for a year except for lone pianists and percussionists. Hoping things don’t close up again.
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@vistajay How time flies! I’m remembering when your son was applying for undergrad. I hope that he is able to attend a graduate school that he loves (and that knows how to deal with Covid, to the extent that any institution can). My son did very well with a year-and-a-half of remote classes, except for one–conducting 
. That was just too weird. (Fortunately he’s had this semester to learn it in-person while conducting his own compositions for film.) But I can see how being a vocalist would necessitate looking carefully into the issues before deciding where to apply for graduate school. I’m afraid it’s going to be a while before anything is certain.
My issue truly wasn’t with Berklee; it was with students who don’t take the necessary precautions and then complain about going remote again (although I guess that someone from the school could have attended a 10 pm show and enforced mask-wearing more strongly).
Anyway, I look forward to hearing where your son winds up. Mine is considering NYU or (less enthusiastically if only because he prefers the East Coast) USC if he’s not able to get a film-scoring internship or actual work after he graduates this spring.
To quote a well-know movie tagline, as well as a recent opinion piece in the NYT…just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water…
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@compmom , as I said to you privately a few days ago, I had a feeling that Covid could have some serious effects on education and everything else in the early days…but I never expected it to go on for this long! I know that your daughter (and you) must be seriously frustrated at this point…being stuck in neutral for what seems indefinitely at the moment (pending more information about Omicron). I’m sure she’s more than ready to move to the next level at this point!
I’m just wondering why the Covid numbers are so high in Boston right now. I’m assuming that it’s because there are so many colleges in the area. Berklee returned to in-person classes after Thanksgiving break, which was great because my son got to have his final film-scoring project played and recorded by a live orchestra–we weren’t sure it was going to happen–but honestly I’m not optimistic about next semester. I hate to say that. I hope this time I’m wrong (actually, I hoped LAST time that I was wrong too!).
Berklee seems to be basing its next moves on how testing goes, but students were mostly away for Thanksgiving, so the numbers they show on their dashboard so far don’t mean much because almost no one was getting tested there over break. When I looked today it the numbers were creeping upward. But I still prefer that they err on the side of caution.
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Pandemic has been way too long!!! I thought that we were about done with it but now who knows???
My son’s music school chose a remote semester in Fall 2020 but has been managing covid spread very well since Spring 2021. Vaccine rate is 99% (both employee and students) and the school required all international students to get re-vaccinated with US approved vaccines. All undergrads need to have a weekly asymptomatic saliva test this semester and flu shot. I haven’t heard about a booster shot requirement yet but I will make him to get it done before flying back home for winter break.
I saw a couple of live-stream concerts / events. All performers were wearing a face mask (some special masks on certain performers). Entire saxophones / woodwind instruments were completely covered. They didn’t need to spread out 7’ apart anymore like last semester. I am looking forward to see the final big band live-stream concert. Hope, it won’t be canceled……
It must be discouraging for all performing artists, even they are trying to be positive. They can perform more now but with very limited or no audiences. My 3rd year music major son seems doing fine with his music and non-music things. But we haven’t heard from him anything about beyond of BM yet.
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My D is with an equity house now…working with them from Nov - March. All performers and staff need to be vaccinated and are tested for Covid 3 times a week (an equity requirement to keep performers safe). They have a staff member that documents and schedules their tests.
They are performing/rehearing without masks. Audiences need to show proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test within 72 hours. Masks are required. The theater has been up and running for about a month. Fingers crossed that it will continue.
My D is workshopping a new show with them. It’s about two weeks of work. This is a new concept for me. I didn’t know about this type of work. She’ll be workshopping another new show for them in Dec. And then go into performances in January for the show that closed nearly two years ago in previews. We’ll see…
Still she is working and performing (since May with only one cancellation due to Covid) so that’s good. So it can be done…even in a difficult environment…at least so far…
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My D is wrapping up her first semester in vocal performance at UMiami/Frost, and they have done great so far re: COVID. Because Florida ;), no student vax requirement, but the actual rate is quite high and they were very careful with live performances all semester - masks for performers and audience, limited #s, etc. Masks required in all indoor spaces, but private lessons can be unmasked if teacher and student agree. I did hear that the musical theater program got permission to unmask performers, and opera was planning to try to follow. But right now Florida/Miami/UM numbers are all very low, and I trust the school will be very cautious and return to masks if they do take them off. The university president has a background in public health and I have felt very comfortable with the approach and communication. Strep and bronchitis have been much bigger problems than COVID - took down the freshman singers as a group for about 3 weeks!
My kid has waited two years for a dissertation performance and is afraid it is not going to happen-again. They cannot write the dissertation itself without the performance- long story. Curious what people have heard about performances in January when kids return to schools. So far the university has not announced anything.
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My son is in Philadelphia. Plan is for the first live symphony concert at the end of January. So far, no hint that plan will change, but fingers crossed.
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@compmom - I really hope they can perform for the dissertation. This has been a huge disruption for these students!
I am gearing up for the possibility that auditions will go virtual again just to keep visitors off campuses, but the schools need to decide pretty quickly if they are changing their plans.
Keeping good thoughts for your kid for sure.
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Berklee’s dashboard is showing a pretty big uptick in positive tests over the past week (through 12/20). Fortunately, my son took quite well to remote learning last year (I wouldn’t myself!), and this will be his final semester, with mostly film-scoring seminars that can fairly easily be done online. But (as I mentioned here earlier) a lot of students were FURIOUS when Berklee closed early/went remote just before Thanksgiving (I thought it was the right thing to do). I would hate to be in the position of making that decision–damned if you do, and damned if you don’t. But I’m fully expecting an email saying that classes will be remote, at least the first few weeks of the semester.
But maybe we’ll get a Christmas miracle .And I did just read that the current wave in South Africa seems to be receding, so there’s hope that ours won’t last too long either. I’m SO done with this whole thing!
I think the tide is just starting to turn in favor of keeping all schools open and in person. We simply can not afford to lock ourselves in our homes every time there is a spike in cases. We have vaccines, boosters, indoor masking and now oral anti-viral medications to combat and control the severity of this virus. I hope now is the time when we decide it is time to learn to live with Covid.
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For the most part, I actually agree with you. My son and his friend are going to Paris right after New Year’s, and it kind of terrifies me, but on the other hand, he’ll only be in his early 20’s once, and they need to live real lives. It’s such a great age. So I will still be fine if Berklee needs to go remote again, but in general we plan to take all the necessary precautions (boosters, masks, etc.) and do the kinds of things we may not get to do again (last night we saw a performance of the Brandenburg Concertos at Lincoln Center–risky, probably, but on the other hand who knows when we’ll be able to do that stuff without any cares again?). I know that I’m sort of contradicting myself, but I understand the schools not wanting to take the risk of possibly putting their students at risk. The lack of certainty about pretty much everything is pretty much the hardest part of this stupid thing.
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I think the schools that are delaying start in person by 2-3 weeks are being logical and prudent, and may preserve the longer term ability to remain in person by being careful in the short term. There is a lot of uncertainty right now.
I just read an article on the “social end” versus the “medical end” of a pandemic. The post above by @NJPianoMom s typical of progression toward the “social end” but without any certainty of the “medical end.”
If you are young and healthy, it is probably fine, for the most part, but there are faculty, staff and some students who are vulnerable .
We cannot deny what is happening with our overwhelmed medical system, the burnout of workers, the understaffing and the overwhelming number of patients. The military and National Guard are being called in. Omicron, whether mild or not, is causing huge numbers of cases,
The more people think this has ended, the less they will do to mitigate it, and the longer it will continue.
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Yes! And it’s that uncertainty that makes it so difficult for everyone (or, at least, for me ). And I agree about the dangers of people convincing themselves that it’s “over.” In addition to that, and I think there was an NYT article about it the other day), there’s just burnout on the whole thing. Yes, the medical workers are without doubt the most significantly affected, but even “civilians” are just getting to the point where it’s almost just too much to keep caring and paying attention and taking precautions. I’m personally feeling that depression keeps creeping up on me, and I haven’t felt that way in decades, and I’m fortunate enough to be able to fairly easily avoid exposure. It’s something that I can handle; I’m sure it’s significantly more difficult for young people.
The suffering of medical personnel is entirely different from what the rest of us are experiencing. And any of us can contribute to that suffering by not taking proper measures. It is just not about the individual. Rhode Island has 50% nursing staff right now. Not getting off topic anymore and apologies for a second post.
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Berklee sent out an announcement confirming their commitment to returning to in person instruction in January.
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