海角大神

Just a week before the new school year started, Paula Ortelli finally learned she鈥檇 be allowed to teach hands-on, in-person music classes, but with some important caveats. Anxious to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, school board and health officials had banned wind instruments such as flute, clarinet, trombone, and trumpet from school property. Singing was allowed, but only outdoors and only if students stood at least nine feet apart.

鈥淚 understood why, because of COVID, but it鈥檚 almost impossible to be that far away from each other,鈥� says Ms. Ortelli, a veteran music teacher at Stratford District Secondary School, a high school in Stratford, Ontario, a two-hour drive west of Toronto.

Ever the optimist, she vowed to find a way to make things work. In her classroom, physically distanced students learn folk, art, and modern songs by humming and chanting while wearing face masks.聽After school, they record themselves singing at home and later play the recording in class for feedback.

Ms. Ortelli admits it鈥檚 not ideal. Her mouth is also hidden behind a mask, so she can鈥檛 demonstrate proper vocal technique. Without singing in class, students will find it harder to develop their voices. And since students can鈥檛 hear each other, four-part harmonies are off the agenda.

Even with all the constraints, Ms. Ortelli says hands-on learning is so valuable that even a little is better than nothing at all.

鈥淲e could do this online, but being in the classroom is extremely beneficial to our students,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t brings them humanity, a human interaction with their teacher and their peers, and they realize that other teenagers go through the same problems they do.鈥澛�

Although hands-on music classes have long been part of the public high school curriculum in most jurisdictions in Canada, those programs were placed in jeopardy shortly after the pandemic started in the spring. Experts linked singing in a choir with several coronavirus outbreaks in Europe and the United States. A study from the University of Colorado found that playing wind instruments could be a risk.聽

Armed with those studies, Canadian health officials banned singing and playing wind instruments in schools, effectively ending many music programs. Music teachers, however, spent the summer devising ways to convince education ministers to put the classes back on the curriculum.

The Coalition for Music Education in Canada leads the campaign. Its chair, Eric Favaro, says he wrote to every education and health minister in the country, arguing that music classes were vital to students鈥� mental health. He cited examples from around the world of people using song as an antidote to the stress and anxiety caused by the pandemic, and argued it would be especially helpful for children.

鈥淲e felt very strongly against students coming back to school and just doing reading and math, science and social studies,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e said we know their health and well-being has been affected by the fact they haven鈥檛 been in school, and one of the best ways to bring them back from those challenges would be to include creative subjects like music and art.鈥澛�

Mr. Favaro made a convincing argument. Most jurisdictions agreed to maintain their music programs when school returned.

Even before the pandemic, access to music and arts education in public schools in Canada was often tied to demographics and social status. In the province of Ontario, according to the group People for Education, urban elementary and secondary schools are more likely to have a specialist music teacher than schools in rural areas. The group鈥檚聽2018 report also found that access largely depends on parents鈥� ability to raise funds to purchase resources such as instruments and computer software. Schools in wealthier neighborhoods or with a higher number of university-educated parents generally raise more money and have more robust music programs.

Tony Leong, who teaches string ensembles at Dr. Norman Bethune Collegiate Institute in an ethnically diverse suburb of Toronto, says he considers himself fortunate to teach at a school with ample resources.

His school provides each student with his or her own instrument throughout the semester. But pandemic restrictions mean students can鈥檛 take their instruments home. Hands-on classes could only go ahead if each student had two instruments 鈥� one for school and one to practice on at home.聽Mr. Leong borrowed the instruments from an elementary school down the road that had canceled its music classes this year.聽

Now, he says his big challenge is learning new technology that will help students take their music to a higher level even when they鈥檙e learning online, where part of his class takes place.聽鈥淚t feels like it鈥檚 my first year teaching,鈥� says Mr. Leong, a 20-year veteran.聽

In Orillia, Ontario, Laura Lee Matthie, who teaches ninth graders, says that with pandemic restrictions in place, it would be easy to focus on theory and written work. But, she says 鈥渢hat鈥檚 not what music is.鈥� She鈥檚 determined her students will get the hands-on learning they crave. To make sure that happens, she has completely revamped most of the materials she has relied on for years.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a total shift for your program, so it鈥檚 quite a big deal,鈥� says Ms. Matthie, who teaches instrumental band class in Orillia, a small city a 90-mile drive north of Toronto. 鈥淵ou really have to think about how you鈥檙e going to plan your day.鈥�

She鈥檚 replaced wind instruments with ukuleles and percussion, such as xylophones, glockenspiels, chimes, and boom whackers, colored tubes used to play scales. To accommodate the new instruments, she spends extra time writing her own arrangements adapted for percussion and ukulele. Students take their lessons home to practice. To keep groups separate, students spend an entire week in one classroom studying the same subject, so another challenge has been figuring out how to keep them engaged, which Ms. Matthie does with pop culture quizzes, guessing games, bingo, and frequent walks around the schoolyard.

She says the downside for students is that they aren鈥檛 learning the intricate mechanics and finger work required to play most wind instruments. The upside, she says, is that all that drumming is teaching them great rhythm.聽

鈥淵ou build the community with the students as they鈥檙e working together as a team to build a piece, to share their music,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he more layers you add to a song, the more interesting it becomes. And it鈥檚 just neat to see that unfold with the students, where you can鈥檛 do that on paper.鈥�

Jarika Archer, who鈥檚 16 and studying choral music with Ms. Ortelli,聽says online learning when the pandemic started was stressful for her and her friends, and she鈥檚 grateful to be back in class.

鈥淲hen I鈥檓 singing alone in my room it calms my nerves, and I like the one-on-one time with the teachers.鈥� she says. 鈥淪o when I come here, I feel joy, I feel happiness. It makes me feel better as a person.鈥�

Editor鈥檚 note: As a public service, we have removed our paywall for聽all pandemic-related stories.