How Music Students Are Coping with Covid-19
Meet Hana Kim
Hana Kim is a senior at Southern Methodist University majoring in Violin Performance and minoring in Arts Entrepreneurship. She expects to graduate after completing the fall 2020 semester. Kim grew up with a family of musicians; her brother and two sisters join forces to form the Kim Quartet.
Outside of school, she gives music lessons to children through the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, as do her three siblings. The DSO has moved its program online, and with so many music lessons going on in the Kim family home, Hana finds it difficult to find a quiet space to teach her online classes. One of the closets in the Kims’ home is now an office for music lessons. Some of Kim’s students ask, “Wait, Miss Hana, why are you in a closet?”
Since the pandemic forced SMU to close, Kim’s own music classes have been moved online too, and one of her classes was canceled entirely. Now that she’s stuck at home in Crowley, Texas, Kim feels a lack of motivation to practice and misses her friends and classmates. Still, Kim has found songwriting to be a way to stay busy and relieve stress.
“I’ve been writing a lot of songs because I have more extra time,” Kim says. “I’m trying my best to do more work.”
One of Kim’s original songs that she has uploaded to YouTube is called “The Butterfly,” and is featured in the audio clip below. She’s recently written a “corona time anthem” called “Grey Day.” Listen to Hana Kim talk more about what she’s been up to at home with her musically inclined family.
Meet Daniel Bouchard
Daniel Bouchard is a graduate student at SMU studying Choral Conducting after completing his undergraduate degree with a major in Music Education and Voice Performance with a minor in French. Bouchard is currently wrapping up the second semester of his first year of the master’s program.
It has been difficult for him to transition to the online learning format since all of the choir rehearsals he used to have — which are an integral portion to completing a Master of Music in Choral Conducting — have had to be canceled. Working with his professors on voice lessons and conducting classes is a constant struggle. Video delays and poor sound quality are a nuisance in every Zoom call, but the technological hiccups are all the more troubling when trying to learn music online. What Bouchard misses the most about in-person classes is collaborating with his fellow classmates.
“I feel very, very artistically stunted in that aspect,” Bouchard says. “And I miss the interaction with people — because that’s one thing about the arts, is it’s about interacting. It’s about creating commentary on what you’re doing in you’re daily life.”
Despite the difficulties of online learning, Bouchard says his studies are helping him cope with the craziness of Covid because they give him something to focus on. He also sings with a men’s quartet for a local Dallas church, so he is still able to have a creative outlet despite his SMU choir rehearsals being canceled. He’s also been staying busy baking, planting and playing with his dog.
“He’s loving this,” Bouchard says. “It’s like a dog’s dream right now.”
Hear Daniel Bouchard describe what life is like now as a choral conducting student studying remotely.
Meet Emmie Arduino
Emmie Arduino is a sophomore at SMU majoring in Vocal Performance and Music Education. Before classes were moved to an online format, Arduino was in two of SMU’s choirs: Chamber Singers and Meadows Chorale. She also took an Opera Ensemble class. Arduino says she would spend a total of 12 hours rehearsing with her choir ensembles every week. But now that all of the ensembles Arduino used to take part in are canceled, her weekday afternoons feel empty.
“There’s not a lot I can do,” Arduino says. “It goes by really quickly and I have all this time on my hands that I don’t really know what to do with.”
Aside from working on the online classes that Arduino is still able to complete, she’s been filling up her time with knitting, crocheting and bullet journaling. She spends time looking after her two birds, who occasionally make cameo appearances in her Zoom classes, much to her professors’ and classmates’ enjoyment. Arduino has also been taking walks and listens to her “chorale therapy” music playlist and enjoys listening to film scores on Spotify.
“Choir is like my one true love of everything,” Arduino says. “I need it so much! And not having that has been really strange.”
Like Hana Kim, Arduino also grew up with a family of musicians. Although they could all sing together, Arduino’s mom is booked teaching music lessons online and her younger sister is focusing on her senior year of high school. It’s a challenge to find a quiet place to study or practice without getting in each other’s way.
Arduino is eager for the pandemic to subside so that she can reunite with all of her friends from choir. Hear from Emmie Arduino as she talks about her experience being stuck at home while still trying to keep her music skills sharp.
