At What Cost: How the Pandemic Has Affected Technology at the School of Music

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused classes to be moved online, and thus a push for new technology to be implemented in schools. For music programs across the country, this takes the form of virtual concerts, live-streamed performance evaluations, and sometimes even virtual instruments. At the Hugh Hodgson School of Music, Director Dr. Peter Jutras allows his faculty to come to him with technology needs. “For different studios we’ve bought licenses to different software programs that enhance the sound,” he says. “Basically, when faculty have come to me with things like that that help their remote lessons I’ve generally said “yes, go ahead and do it.” But licenses like these don’t always help students who need a good audio signal to be able to progress in their classes, nor do they help the music school showcase the improvements that the students have made throughout the semester. Technology has become increasingly important during the pandemic, and influences not only how UGA interacts with its music students, but also whether music students can afford to interact with UGA.