An opus amid the storm
Music faculty and students survive a performance-killing pandemic and keep singing.
It was Tuesday afternoon in the spring semester. There was a small, but steady stream of students walking past the University Art Gallery and concert stages at the Landini Center for Performing and Fine Arts at Indiana State University.
After filing past the art gallery and stages, the stream of students continues down a ramp and through a narrow hallway to the band and choir rooms. The choir — also known as the Sycamore Singers or University Chorale, depending on the day of the week — talk amongst themselves.
The choir bleachers take up most of the space in Room 150, leaving a small rectangle of space for the director, classroom piano, and walkway for any other music professors to pace near the dry erase board. The room is more tall than it is wide, allowing for better acoustics within the room. The bleachers are divided into four rows, with each growing in height. Black chairs with black metal easels are spaced roughly six feet apart to pass COVID-19 guidelines.
There are approximately 19 members of the choir. Usually, the class would have around 60 members, but COVID-19 restrictions reduce the amount of people in a meeting. The male choir members and choir members with a deeper-pitched voice sit on the right half of the bleachers. The female or higher-pitched choir members sit to the left.
Since this is just a regular class, nobody is required to dress nice. Many of the male choir members dress in regular hoodies, jeans, sweatpants, and t-shirts. Some of the female members dress in similar fashion, but some female members wear sharp sweaters and skirts. Some students carry a plain black binder for their sheet music, some pull their sheet music straight out of their backpacks.
Scott Buchanan, Choral Activities director at ISU, brings the choir to attention.
“Starting next semester, both choir and band members will have to submit auditions using TikTok. My 15-year-old daughter has made me TikTok-famous so I know how this works,” he quips.
The classroom bursts into laughter.
At first glance, one could mistake him for a Tom Selleck lookalike. He is wearing a dark grey blazer over a white and blue striped dress shirt with blue suspenders draped over his shoulders. His dress pants are also blue and with the cuffs almost tucked into his black tennis shoes. COVID-19 requires him to wear a mask over his nose and mouth. The mask is printed in the blue and white school colors of ISU with a white sycamore leaf in top-right corner of the mask. A set of glasses completes his scholarly appearance.
“After we warm up, we’ll move into the gallery for a change of scene,” he instructs.
Throughout the Sycamore Singers class, Buchanan switches his conducting between using his hands and a baton. When he conducts with his hands, he will extend his pinky and index fingers on his left hand and extend only his index finger on his right hand. When conducting with the baton, it is gripped firmly in his right hand. While Buchanan conducts, the choir members keep tempo by tapping their feet, conducting along, or nodding their heads.
The songs the choir are practicing vary from the well-known America the Beautiful to jazz and Broadway musical numbers to highly energetic Irish reels. Before singing the actual lyrics to the songs, the choir starts by singing in solfege — do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti...
“I want you all to ‘dance’ while singing the Celtic Dance,” he tells the class. “I want you to feel energetic and immerse yourself into this song.”
The class again giggles.
Before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Buchanan’s amiable personality and experience as a director has helped him and his students’ foster connections and foster a deep appreciation for music, in spite of the upheaval and stress of virtual learning and their own personal struggles brought on by the global health disaster.
One such student was a recent graduate student from the country of Brazil. Natalia Dantas de Oliveira Duarte originally planned to pursue a career in nursing as it made more money in her home country, but switched when she knew her true calling was music and writing musical compositions.
“I began my interest in music when I was 10 as a hobby,” Natalia said. “At first, I took keyboard and guitar lessons. Before coming to the U.S. to study at ISU, I took singing lessons and found my love of singing.”
Since Natalia recently returned to Brazil and COVID-19 restrictions still imposed in places, she had to meet over Zoom. She was setup in her home office, a room akin to a large closet with bookshelves behind and to her right. In the background, her father is watching soccer with the TV volume on high. Her dog occasionally barks and her fan runs throughout the meeting as it is currently the rainy season in Brazil and rain brings humidity.
Natalia dresses accordingly with a nice black shirt, necklace, and dark rimmed glasses. Her jet-black hair is tied into a ponytail and her dark eyes lock onto the computer screen.
“Interviews are really easy, especially if you are being interviewed over something you really enjoy doing or talking about,” Natalia says.
As soon as the interview begins, Natalia immediately chats about the big and small experiences she has had while studying at ISU and her love for music. Her original major was nursing as a health official would bring her more money in Brazil. A year before attending ISU, Natalia switched her major to music. Although pursuing a career writing musical compositions would be not bring her as much money as a health official, Natalia knew music was her true passion.
Despite having to spend a full year stuck in America during the initial outbreak of COVID-19 and following quarantine, Natalia nevertheless enjoyed her studies in the music department.
“The university has the best attitude in dealing with the pandemic.” Natalia said. “Music classes on Zoom were different but they worked.”
When she returned to ISU in the fall of 2020 after quarantine was over, Natalia thrilled to come back to in-person classes even though there were new obstacles to performing.
“It was challenging to sing with a mask on,” Natalia said. “I was premiering an aria composed by ISU School of Music faculty member Dan Powers called ‘Three Songs on Poems of Medora Addison. I was honored that he asked me and I told him I would love to. I was nervous to perform this arrangement, because it was my graduate recital, I was not sure about hitting high notes due to the mask blocking my mouth, and singing in English is hard because of all the nuances in the language. However, I had gotten used to singing with a mask on and performed it without incident.”
Natalia says she would not be in her current position if it were not for the faculty in the music department.
“I really enjoyed working in the music department,” Natalia recalls. “I loved how the classes were organized, how focused the professors and students were and how helpful everyone is. Everything I have learned helped me to understand music in the professional world and how to be a professional. ”
One of the professors that stood out to Natalia was Buchanan.
“He is a very experienced professional with an excellent background,” Natalia said. “I learned a lot as a student of his and has always been friendly and supportive. I am staying in contact with him and his wife.”
Current students of Buchanan have similar feelings about him as a professor before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
ISU senior John Washam, a music performance major, has had Dr. Buchanan in multiple classes throughout his college career. This year being his senior year stands out to John due to COVID-19 and his experiences in following safety guidelines.
“The class experience has been different with COVID-19,” Washam says. “The choirs and bands can’t be as large, the music fraternity I’m in, Phi Mu Alpha, has moved to Zoom for its meetings, and getting used to wearing masks and performing behind plastic screens.”
Despite awkwardness of wearing masks while performing, Washam says that both he and ISU have handled the inconveniences COVID-19 has created excellently.
“It was an adjustment,” Washam said. “During my junior recital; I was trying to maintain a connection with the audience to give a good performance instead of watching my reflection in the plastic screen.”
Washam was able to overcome the obstacle of maintaining a connection during his senior recital at the Boyce Recital Hall. The lights in the audience section of the auditorium dim as John, dressed in a grey tuxedo and a red and blue striped tie, flawlessly performs his recital despite approximately 6 foot tall plastic barriers between him and the audience and him and the pianist.
Washam’s selection of songs for his recital included opera pieces about love and reflection, Rossini’s Cat Duet where he and a additional singer melodically meowed and hissed at each other, and the song “Poor, Unfortunate Souls” from the Disney film The Little Mermaid.
The plastic barriers seemed to be in Washam’s way throughout the performance. However, he gracefully moves behind the barriers during his performances as he sways his head during breaks in a song, walking forward and back on stage, and making operatic gestures with his hands. Although the audience is small and comprised of his family and fellow choir students’, they applaud each of John’s performances as he takes a bow after each song.
“Generally, students within and outside the music department have been observing COVID-19 restrictions,” Washam said. “The community has responded well. Although we cannot have a full audience, the audience that does attend performances have observed pandemic restrictions and have been receptive to performers wearing masks and performing behind plastic screens.”
While the choir has experienced a somewhat smooth transition to practicing via Zoom and performing with masks, Washam has observed the bands’ additional hindrances.
“Wind instruments have to have covers over their bells when playing,” Washam said. “Condensation valves have to be wrapped to prevent saliva from dripping out of the instrument.”
These and additional measures, such as performers being allowed to practice in rooms in the basement of the Preforming Arts building for an hour then waiting for the room to air-out for 30 minutes, have been put in place by Buchanan.
“I have worked with Dr. Buchanan for all four years of college and we have built a close connection to where if I email him he will respond in a few hours,” Washam says. “I think he has done everything in his power to keep us safe.”
Sophomore and vocal performance major Matt Russell has similar thoughts about the music department and how it has dealt with the ongoing pandemic.
“Professors have anything and everything o the best of their ability,” Russell said, “The department has jumped through budget and staffing cuts and choir classes through Zoom have been difficult, but we have been following constraints to continue doing what we are doing.”
“It has been difficult to perform behind a plastic screen,” Russell said, “Within each choir member’s mask is a small grill to keep the mask from falling into the mouth or blocking the nose while singing.”
Russell has also observed other departments within the music department struggling with additional precautions, particularly the band.
“The band has different mask styles for different instruments,” Russell said, “The instruments have a weighted air flap over the bell to limit the amount of air exiting the instrument.”
Russell hopes that the future holds better prospects for the School of Music.
“It has been stressful, because we are used to working as an ensemble,” Russell said. “We are a close family that works together and we help each other become better musicians. Dr. Buchanan and the School of Music have been attentive to the emotional and physical health of students’. They have been keeping up with students and ensuring we are doing well. Last semester, Buchanan arranged for us to perform mini-concerts at Normal Hall, the atrium in University Hall, and Sycamore Dining to test acoustics in an open-room setting and to get us out of the classroom and back to feeling like we are performing.”
The band and choir aren’t the only programs within the School of Music dealing with hurdles. Students finding opportunities with the Internship Program at the School of Music have faced terrifying circumstances according to the Director of Music Business, Theodore Piechocinski.
“COVID-19 has blown internships out of the water,” Piechocinski says. “The School of Music has required students to acquire internships and it has been a challenge, because businesses have cut back on the number of interns they will take. This semester, we have eight interns and they are doing their internships via Zoom and it has been terrific.”
According to Piechocinski, three students were stuck in different parts of the United States when COVID-19 initially hit in 2020. However, he has observed that the students made it work despite the circumstances all through Buchanan.
“Dr. Buchanan has been fantastic and supportive,” Piechocinski says. “Both him and the School of Music have had to make exceptions so students wouldn’t suffer.”
“One student was working for an internship in New York City,” Piechocinski recalls. “The student was building contacts in order to intern at the company. They were really excited and enthusiastic and they started working there during the second week of February, which was about the time COVID struck. The student and I were trying to figure out our next steps and the university president did a fantastic job by stepping in and decreeing that the student technically completed the internship.”
“Another student moved to Nashville to intern at a publishing company in early February,” Piechocinski says. “When COVID hit, the company allowed the student to do offsite work and they trusted the student to do work online. The student was very shy, but unbelievably positive and dug in and did his work at the company.”
“A third student was completing their internship at a music store in Wichita, Kansas in early February,” Piechocinski continues, “In March the store closed, and the student had to move back to Terre Haute. As soon as the student got back to Terre Haute, the store manager called and offered them to continue doing their work and the student is now hired at that store.”
Students and professors within the School of Music are continuing to thrive into 2021 despite the changing circumstances of COVID-19. They know this has been due to the efforts of the department. For 19 years, Dr. Buchanan has been leading choir activities at ISU as a director and he has been leading the School of Music for the past four years. The last year has been tough trying to lead the School of Music at ISU and deal with COVID-19 simultaneously.
“It’s tough to deal with [COVID-19] at school and very tough to deal with it as well at home,” Buchanan says. “My wife is a high school educator and we’ve had our issues together and it’s been difficult. I think we have done an outstanding job of keeping our students’ safe, putting in certain protocols, and we are keeping them in place. It’s made making music difficult, but the students have been dealing with it very well. The students have been very appreciative.”
Other than reminding students to remain 6 feet apart and wearing masks, Buchanan and the music department have had to put in additional protocols for choir and band.
“What we’ve done for both the instrumental and choir side is make our large ensembles smaller so we adhere to the protocols on classroom space,” Buchanan says. “The School of Music has ordered a couple hundred extra masks for our students’. We have purchased see-through screens for each studio so professors and students can be separated, which are disinfected between each lesson. We have placed disinfectant wipes and stations in our practice rooms so students can wipe down equipment. Then, our audiences must be smaller, so we’ve had to learn how to live stream our concerts’. It’s been more about about ensemble size and how we can make educational, useful, and meaningful experiences for our students with limited space and venue protocols. ”
The safety and of audiences at concerts has also been taken into consideration. Buchanan mentioned that live streaming has been important to reaching a large audience while maintaining health guidelines. Small in-person audiences are allowed, if they observe social distancing and mask guidelines. At this time, the School of Music has had to turn away audiences to keep the community safe.
“We have not been advertising our concerts much this year. Usually, there will be an article in the Tribune Star, listing our events on the school calendar, and sending press releases announcing our concerts,” Buchanan said, “I think our community members understand that we have been adhering to guidelines, such as 50 people in an audience. We allow parents of our students and a few faculty to attend and we have an overflow room where live streaming takes place. I think when we offer live concerts with full venues the community will flock to come and see what we’re doing.”
In addition to opening venues for a larger audience, Buchanan’s future goals include picking up on recruiting music students and successfully rebranding the School of Music.
“If we don’t go out to high schools and recruit music students, we don’t have a music program.” Buchanan says. “We are one of the few academic departments that goes to high schools and clinics bands and choirs and builds relationships with high school educators so that they feel comfortable sending their students’ here. We have not been able to do that due to the pandemic. Our recruitment program has been setting up Zoom sessions with high school students so they can ask questions. We are going to actively have a rebranding of the School of Music. A student has recently completed a School of Music logo. We plan to put them on T-shirt, hats, key rings, posters, and fliers. We are going to have a huge focus on recruiting after next year to rebuild our numbers to where they were before the pandemic.”
This story was produced in spring semester for Comm409 Reporting II at Indiana State University.
