Shaw Strings, COVID-19 and 2020
What a year 2020 has been, huh?
Today I wanted to hash out some of my thoughts on how COVID-19 will impact my studio for the rest of this year. All throughout my maternity leave I’ve been wrestling with different considerations moving forward and I am acting in the way I believe will serve us all best. I know there will be many details and needs to balance as we finish out this year!
But first, I want to focus on the good!
There is a lot to be grateful for right now. I still can’t believe we didn’t miss our annual recital like so many other studios I know – And I’m so proud of the students who took that opportunity and ran with it! We were incredibly lucky to fit in a studio performance just before everything turned upside down.
You always have to end a Suzuki Play Down with Twinkle Twinkle!
I’m grateful for all the students who pivoted smoothly to online lessons week after week. Before this March, online lessons were mostly a week or two here and there for illness, travel or weather. While it most certainly IS a different experience for us all, so many students continued to make huge leaps on their instruments. I even had five students complete their 1000 time bracket in Gavotte! FIVE. Some students were able to finish their current Suzuki book, while other students started working on music theory and history. We were able to accomplish so much.
The last thing I’m still so appreciative of is the excitement and support from students and their families towards our little girl. Taking the time to heal, learn how to care for her and generally adjust to this new life has been invaluable for me. While I worried about my students and the time we’d be apart, I know now I didn’t need to. I’ve gotten so many pictures of students’ work in their packets, home practice sessions and heard so many stories about the music you’ve been making over the summer. You all make my teacher heart happy!
Where do we go from here?
Right now, many of us are facing the reality that our autumns will not be what we are used to. For myself, I want to continue to focus on these two goals for my students:
Music Education
Health
To my mind, we can make progress with both of these areas whether we are holding lessons online or in person. The next question then is “What would either of those look like?”
COVID Policies For In Person
If we returned to in person lessons, these would be the protocols in place with the goal of keeping everyone as healthy as possible.
· Hand Washing: While I should have made this a rule long before COVID to protect our instruments, we would be washing our hands with water and soap immediately before lessons begin, after you have arrived to your lesson location.
· Mask Wearing: Students and teacher would wear masks during their lesson time.
· Social Distancing: We would maintain six feet of distance during lesson times. While the student’s at home teacher can be present at their lesson, no one else would be permitted in the studio to keep traffic to a minimum.
· Self Reporting: There is a degree of trust here. If you, your student or anyone else in your home are exhibiting any symptoms (Such as fever, headache, sore throat, cough, fatigue, nausea/vomiting, and diarrhea), stay home and we would hold an online lesson. If any student did arrive with symptoms of COVID-19, they would be sent home and that lesson time would be lost to them. In person lessons could resume once no symptoms have been present for two weeks.
If we met in person for lessons, students would need to bring their own pencils and pens and make sure you have all your books. They would be writing their own notes in their lesson materials. With in person lessons, I would not be providing instruction by physically adjusting students’ playing position or posture. We would keep a distance of at least 6 feet apart. I would be cleaning the studio at the end of each teaching day, along with any frequently touched surfaces for studio traffic. There would be more restrictions in place at Shepherd’s Community Music Program from the University I’d be happy to share with any interested students as well.
Even with all these precautions in place, there would still be the chance of spreading germs. In the past I’ve been very lenient about illnesses – I was known for saying any symptoms above the shoulders didn’t bother me and we’d still have lessons. Once I knew we would have an infant at home this fall and winter, I already planned on being more cautious and this year’s added concern with COVID-19 has added more fuel to that fire.
COVID Policies for Online Lessons
Online lessons would look much like they did before I left for maternity leave. If you would like a summary of how online lessons go in my studio, please visit this post here: Online Music Lessons in Shaw Strings Private Studio. We would still be able to see each other’s faces, lesson times could potentially be more flexible without the added constraints of a commute and there would not the worry of accidentally exposing each other to any unwanted illness.
So what fits the studio and it’s goals best for the rest of the year?
Since I can achieve both music education and health more effectively by holding lessons online at this time, conducting virtual lessons is my plan for the foreseeable future. I know I would hate to expose any of my students or their families to this illness until it is better controlled. That doesn’t mean I want to give up on the rest of this year, it just means things will look a little different. I’m working on some special events for the fall that won’t be impacted by our local infection rates and I hope to review the topics covered in our summer workbook. There is plenty of material for us to cover that will work just as well online, if not better!
I appreciate everyone’s understanding regarding this decision. I know we all have had to make sacrifices and adjustments to our lives this year, so I hope this makes things easier on you and your family! If you have any questions or concerns after reading this post, please feel free to email me at renee@shawstrings.co – I want everyone to feel as good about this as I do.
See you all in lessons soon!