Making the Best Out of a Weird Situation

For months now we’ve been hearing about cancellations. Cancellation after cancellation….after cancellation….Blah, blah, blah. It really gets tougher and tougher to feel “chipper” when events/activities we humans look forward to get canned. I for one am a HUGE college basketball fan. I was on a bus coming home from our conference tournament when I heard the news about all of the NCAA conference tournaments being cancelled. March Madness is in the top 10 of annual happenings in my household. Easter, Christmas, my kids birthdays, my wife’s birthday, our wedding anniversary, my birthday, etc.. What was I going to do without a 2020 March Madness???? I decided to see how many full NCAA Tournament games I could find involving my favorite team on YouTube. You know what? There were a TON of good games so I decided I would watch ALL of the important games where my team won. I started with a game that was played in 1948. Just suffice to say I was watching games over the next several weeks. It was the longest March Madness ever! Oh it wasn’t like my usual March Madnesses when I have 3 televisions in my living room each set to a different game, but it was better than just sitting and moping.

You may think creating my own March Madness was a little over the top and you may be right, but I made the choice to do what I could to make the best out of a weird situation. A weird situation is what I would define the year 2020 so far. A pandemic, protests and sometime riots, hurricanes, floods, etc. 2020 has been a “very bad monkey” as Dr. Peter Venkman from Ghostbusters would put it. Although at times extraordinary, these challenges are just part of life, being a country, and being human. They make us feel vulnerable and uncertain. How we deal with those challenges can define who we are.

We’ve all been looking forward to the fall with hope to a return of somewhat normalcy. And again we are met with more cancellations. Announcements from state, regional, and national marching circuits stating there would be no competition. This is disappointing for students, parents and directors for sure. Students were looking forward to getting together with their fellow band members learning, polishing, and performing their productions under the lights in stadiums all over America. Parents were looking forward to the social activities centered around their students being involved in a unique learning environment, trips, etc. Directors and their staffs have been looking forward to putting their shows together having already gone through the programming decisions. It’s a big bummer.

We can’t blame the circuits for making the decisions they had to make. Just the logistics/adjustments pertaining to even state level travel for the marching bands would be a huge hurdle, not to mention managing the groups once they arrived at a competition site to try and ensure safety for all participants and spectators alike. The pandemic still has a grip on much of the country. In many cases, the competition sponsors were up against contracts for venues, concessions, etc. and were forced to go ahead and make their decision to cancel based on the best information available. Just look at what is going on in Major League Baseball right now. Even with a shortened season and adjusted scheduling, things are very fragile. Every morning, I hear about another player or group of players testing positive for the virus. Games are being cancelled as I type this.

So behind all of this we have the opening of school as a backdrop. Policy makers are making statements that schools have to be open with in-person instruction this fall. Can we do this safely? Teachers are being asked to make difficult decisions about their professional futures as administrators wrest;e with creating a safe environment for learning in a COVID-19 world. Music educators are faced with the effects of COIVD on making music in an ensmble. There are studies being released about aerosols in the practice environment that are emitted while singing, playing a wind instrument, or even speaking. See more information right here. I for one never dreamed in a million years would I have to deal with something like this as a band director, but here we are. And again, things aren’t the best for making music in this environment. Is it possible to do things the way “we always have”? No. Does this mean there shouldn’t be music education or even marching band? I’m less certain of this. Directors should be gathering information from local/state COVID guidelines, the CDC, and groups like the NFHS while working with their school admin to plan for this upcoming fall.

Rehearsal space, structure, schedule, and procedures will all look different for Fall 2020. Procedures for things as simple as student drop-off will need to be developed and communicated. There may be a limit to the number of band members that can participate in a rehearsal at a time requiring more sectional work and all rehearsals may need to be outdoors. I’m aware of several schools who are currently having band camp at their schools. I’ve delivered 2 visual designs for opening productions that follow social distancing guidelines (no less than 6 feet or 3.2 steps between performers). Things are happening.

I was a little concerned when I heard some directors of nationally high-powered marching programs say they would not have marching band this fall once they were told circuits were cancelled. I feel this could be sending a very dangerous message to their communities. Does the marching band ONLY exist to compete? I’m sure these same directors would say, NO if asked that very question. But sometimes our actions are much louder than any of our words. We all need to be flexible and creative. Instead of looking at the problem and deciding what we do won’t work, we have to look at the problem and figure out what we can do and then set things in motion to make them happen. See a previous entry here. Our students, parents, admin, and community will appreciate our efforts.

For sake of argument, let’s say we teach in a school that is open for face-to-face instruction and football is being played but our competition season is cancelled. Wouldn’t it make sense (as long as the band is allowed to participate and proper precautions are taken) to have some form of marching band to continue? Will it look like our usual band? Probably not. But that’s okay. Nothing is going to be the USUAL. We collectively have to come to grips with that fact and do what we can because we are all in this together. We are all in this weird situation called 2020.

I love hearing from readers. Please leave a comment!—DB