Band Attempts Social Distancing to Stay Safe

During the pandemic many events have been cancelled due to the Coronavirus including band, orchestra, and choir concerts; however the HUHS band plans to rehearse with safety precautions added to keep students safe from the virus.

Band teacher Conor Johnson said the procedures were made to the band class to keep the students safe.

“Every chair at least initially was measured in space six feet from chair length to chair legnth,” Johnson said.For the wind instruments Johnson said,“We made special masks for playing where we just have a tiny slit cut for mouth pieces.”

Another additional change that was made to the band was the placement of the band players with certain instruments. Johnson said the placement of the instruments were recently changed this year so this way the wind instruments are blowing in a certain direction keeping the wind particles away from other band students as much as possible.

Although there have been many changes to the band this year Johnson is most excited about learning more challenging songs for the band to play due to the cancellation of concerts.

Senior band student Alex Kister plays percussion/drum kit is excited for what the band holds this year despite all of the changes.

“Other schools in the area have shut them down completely for the year, so I’m pretty grateful,” says Kister.

However with a new superintendent the schedule hours have been altered affects free time for students. “The removal of flex and resource has affected me the most because I would be using the school’s nice percussion instruments to practice, which is something I don’t have the luxury of using at home,” Kister said.

By having a new band teacher it has been hard for students to adapt to their new teacher and vice versa. “Since this is his first year here, I’m not able to compare how differently he would be dealing with a normal school year”, Kister said. “He is a great teacher so far though, and I’m happy that my favorite class is essentially under his control.”

Another band, student Sara Rice, has many opinions on what band holds for the students this year.

“Our band is ever changing currently with people getting quarantined and going virtual and all that, so some days it's hard to really sound like a full band, especially when half of the band isn't there”, Rice said.

”Personally I’m really excited to see where we can go as a band this year as restrictions get lifted hopefully.”