Early smoke signals from FSU indicate music classes are included in the courses which are deemed essential for in person instruction. Son’s courses on his portal all indicate physical rooms for instruction, whereas friends with classes in some other majors have classes marked as “remote.” He even still has a choir course and opera workshop, though things could change.
I just came across this article in the NY Times about the possible spread of Covid-19 among singers in groups. There’s so much information out there, and a lot of it seems to be in conflict with other information so that it can get pretty frustrating (as all of you already know quite well!). Nevertheless, for those who might be interested:
Good thing that the only creature who has to hear MY singing up close and personal is my dog, and she appears to be unconcerned (at least about the droplets–the singing…well, she’s too polite to say! 
).
Similarly to other programs, Oberlin Conservatory is opening end of August as planned but with students returning home at Thanksgiving for the rest of the semester. There will be no fall break. Students will have single dorm rooms and modified schedules and options for dining. The College is going to a three semester model to allow for reduced density, but the CON will be in session Fall and Spring. Spring will end in April (no spring break). Some students will have their usual winter session in August and some in May. In lieu of an orchestra, there will be many smaller ensembles. Academic classes like music theory and history will likely be taught remotely to free up space for the more numerous ensembles. They are also devising low latency room - room connections for distanced collaborations.
@composermom, what exactly are low latency room-room connections for distanced collaborations? I can speculate but would love details. Thanks!
@compmom, I’m afraid I don’t have more information than that - It was described as low-latency, high-fidelity studio-to-studio transmission systems.
@compmom - It is a sound system with a very small lag-time between the people using it. So a vocalist could be in one room and a pianist in the other, and the sound system would have a small enough lag between the two that they would be able to collaborate.
Thank you! Apparently lag time is the big issue with Zoom. This sounds good, especially for singers and woodwinds, flute being the one that most needs to be isolated apparently. Would they need a clicktrack or would they hear each other?
@compmom - My understanding is that they could hear each other, so it could work for a private voice lesson, for example, where the professor plays piano while the student sings. Zoom has a terrible lag time, from what I have heard. My daughter’s teacher has been using FaceTime, but they’re still having to work with pre-recorded tracks or a capella. It’s been ages since my daughter sang with a live pianist!
We received a little update from my son’s conservatory. Face masks / coverings are mandatory indoor and outdoor throughout campus. The campus building seems having many rooms for 9 or less people including instructors for “38 square feet / person with 7-1/2 feet social distance measurements”. I guess, they came up with extra numbers for safety / health. Classes will most likely be scheduled between early morning to late evening including weekends. They sound focusing in-person classes for performances so some remote-able classes maybe still online / remote.
No mentions about the academic calendar or dorm / cafeteria plans yet. No dorm requests yet. But they did mention extra challenges for vocal, brass / wind instrument performance students (obviously no face mask works for those musicians) and are working on the solution.
@JeJeJe Thank you for the update. It will be interesting to hear what the solution for vocal/brass/wind instruments will be. We have heard very little from UMKC at this point. I heard through the grapevine that classes of more than 30 will be online. No word yet on jazz performance classes (sax lesson, jazz combo, jazz band). So far, one of my son’s classes will be online (a schoolwide required English/Communications class), but all others are still listed as in person.
Here’s a cheery, optimistic (NOT!) piece I just read in the NY Times about the likelihood of college-age students to stick with Covid-19-related safety strategies and precautions over the long term (like, more than a few weeks!). I’m neither endorsing nor disagreeing with the author’s (a Temple U. professor) point of view; I’m just throwing it out here to add to the discussion. (No firm word from Berklee yet on how they plan to proceed; if anyone has heard anything please let me know!).
@AsMother Roger Brown from Berklee emailed their announcement at 11:30 this morning, did you receive it? Highlights include, students will be welcomed on campus with some online classes and some in person classes, so a hybrid model will be used. Tuition and room & board rates have been frozen and reverted back to 2019-20 rates. 100% remote options will be available to those students who can not or do not want to travel to Boston.
@MusicSchoolSeeker , thank you–I received the email shortly after I posted here this morning. I hope they know what they’re doing! Now we just have to figure out housing…
@AsMother I just pm’d you before I saw your post. If you have any inside scoop on finding housing …
this is a mess for us.
NEC sent an email that they will have classes up to Thanksgiving, with students finishing the semester at home and online. This follows many other colleges, thereby avoiding the germs brought back from the break. Performance opportunities will be emphasized those first 3 months, with streaming only, and rehearsals will be in larger spaces. The 3 months on campus heavily weighted to performance and ensemble work and curriculums are being adjusted for safety and social distancing.
All academic classes move online after the Thanksgiving break. At that point the performance aspect shifts to more focus on academics.
Residence and dining halls will be more thoroughly cleaned and have options for ordering ahead and reducing density. More info to come in July.
No word yet from Tufts for my D who will be living there. They will provide housing and meals, but don’t know yet if it will be singles or what.
I am wondering if all schools will offer a fully online (at home) option due to liability, since then it will be the choice of families/students to assume risk.
Berklee is offering an all online option for those that either can’t travel or don’t want to.
Saw this article in yesterday’s NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/16/arts/music/classical-music-social-distancing-virus.html Wonder how many schools/orchestras will be playing these pieces this year??
My son is in UpFront, which is a choir of choral music Ed majors at UNT. It’s purpose is for conducting practice for students before they go out to student teach. He has a small mentoring role for incoming freshmen this year and they had a zoom meeting about plans for fall. He says they are breaking this large choir up into smaller groups. He thinks this is what is happening for the official university choirs and probably the instrumental ensembles as well. He is pretty optimistic about it all. He thinks it will push the school of music to try things (And yes, music) they would not otherwise have done, and some of that will be very positive.
A few days ago I happened upon a live broadcast of the royal concertgebouw orchestra. Socially distanced ( not to the degree of the one in the NYT article). I came in just at the end but it made me very happy to hear live orchestral music again.
@Lendlees love the NY Times: that is a pretty inclusive list, so glad to see it. The works on the list are all orchestral pieces that can be reduced to fewer players. Hoping, as @Parentof2014grad implied, that some schools (and professionals) may do more smaller ensemble work, for which there are considerable possibilities from the 20th and 21st century.
Good to see Ethel Smyth and Olga Neuwirth included and of course the renowned Julius Eastman, and Anthony Braxton, both people of color. I have to look at some of the others. I am grateful gender and race were not noted and at first I didn’t either, because true inclusion will mean not mentioning them!