Officials from the Wanda L. Bass School of Music have decided junior and senior music recitals will not be able to have audiences this year.
Mark Parker, dean of the School of Music, said he and the administration of the School of Music are disappointed audiences cannot be present at events, but they have prioritized ensuring students can complete the requirements of their degree plan. They announced the changes at a virtual assembly on Sept. 1.
Junior and senior recitals are required for music students as part of their degree plan. In the past, these events have been open to the public. Parker said a major reason for not allowing recitals to have audiences is the potential for friends and family to come from out of town, whereas choir or instrument performances tend to have more local audiences. He said it was a similar line of thinking to ending the school year before Thanksgiving to prevent travel back to OCU from out of the state.
“The same way we didn’t think that made sense, we didn’t think it made sense to bring families on to campus,” he said. “And if it was one family, one group of family and friends for one recital, maybe that risk wouldn’t be very high. We have 150 recitals in a school year.”
Parker said an accompanist and professor will still be able to be present at the recital in order to help them go smoothly. All individuals present, including the performer, will currently be required to wear masks. Parker said all regulations are being made with the current circumstances in mind.
“If your recital is in January or February or March or April, perhaps conditions will have changed, and as conditions change, we will change policy. If we can loosen the restrictions on recitals because of the current COVID situation, we’ll loosen those policies,” he said. “If things worsen and we’re in a situation we were last spring, where we’re not on campus, recitals would probably have to be more restrictive and go back to what we had to do in the spring, where people were doing their recital from their home.”
Maddie Powell, music theater senior, said she is reevaluating her repertoire to account for performing in a mask because it is more physically taxing. She said she is hoping restrictions will relax in the spring.
“They did tell us at this time, only solo performances allowed. So, I guess there is room for them to say, ‘things are better, so you may now sing a duet if you’re on two different sides of the stage,’ or something like that. And hopefully they’ll be able to get to the point where they say we don’t have to wear our masks. I know they don’t want to have to tell us to do these things because it sucks, and everyone’s very upset about it, and they know we’re very upset about it, so it’s definitely a tricky situation for them to be in,” she said.
Powell said she understood to be strict upfront to maintain safety, and she appreciated the strictness in order to protect everyone’s wellbeing, instead of being apathetic.
Jeana Gering, coordinator of admissions and student services for the School of Music, said the deans consulted with some of the applied music professors to determine the best course of action and considered allowing a limited audience in each recital.
“We don’t necessarily have the resources to police who is allowed in and who isn’t. Sometimes we have several recitals going on at once, and if all of them get out at the same time, which they typically do, it could run the risk, even if we limited each recitals’ audience, it could run the risk that more than fifty people end up gathered in the atrium or something like that,” she said.
Parker said livestreaming will be available to all students through the School of Music, and students will still be provided an audio recording of their performances. Petree Recital Hall has streaming capabilities built into it, and Parker said officials are considering options to provide students with video recordings. Parker said the officials believed it was important to not give false information or promises to students.
Another change due to the regulations will limit the participation of fellow singers in students’ recitals. Parker said the focus of the recital is on the individual student to demonstrate the cumulation of their education, sometimes with a single group number mixed in.
“And what we’re doing this year because of COVID is saying, ‘maybe a duet would be okay,’” he said. “But let’s still keep the focus on the single performer and let’s not make the rehearsal and the performance situation a safety concern with more people than should be together, social distancing and all that.”
Nick Atkins, music theater senior, said no announcement about the changes had been made before the meeting, but this made sense in order to prevent misinformation. He said he was disappointed to not be able to bring in a professional to record his recital.
“They said they would like us to use our own equipment for any kind of streaming or recording purposes, which is difficult just because I, personally, don’t own a professional video camera, but obviously I would want a professionally done recording because then I can use that for my reels, for my website and just for any professional materials I need for my career,” he said.
Atkins said if all else fails, he will try to do a separate recording to prepare professional materials.
Atkins said he was also planning to perform a group number and duet, which he now might not be able to do. He said he also wanted his brother, who lives in Argentina, to come see him perform.
“Junior and senior recitals are such a huge thing for students. It’s just like the deans always say: these recitals really are the start of our professional careers. And I wanted to be able to share that in person with my family because they’re always my biggest supporters, and I always like to see them in the front row, supporting me,” Atkins said.
Gering said she believed recordings generally go better for students who schedule them outside of their recital times.
“Students in the past have done that, and then they’re not singing for an entire hour or playing for an hour. They can just hit the highlights. They can do repeat takes of certain spots if they mess up, that sort of thing,” she said.
Gering also said students are still able to perform recitals outside of the ones required to complete their degrees. However, those cannot take place on campus.
“So yes, they do have to follow the rules for the recital that matches their degree requirements, but when they go back home, over the Christmas break or something like that, if they were to feel safe doing so, they could absolutely put on recitals back home or at other venues, if they work for a church here or something like that,” she said.
Ánh-Mai Kearney, music theater/vocal performance senior, said the announcement was disheartening for a lot of seniors. She said many people are frustrated because of the comparison between their recitals and the work they do for courses and choir.
“It’s definitely kind of sad. You know, your recital is something that you literally work towards from your freshman year, and the fact that I can’t share it with my family in person and with my friends in person – friends who aren’t a part of the OCU community but are part of my life – they don’t get to see that moment for me and celebrate that with me, which is pretty sad,” she said.
She said it was difficult to come to terms with the sacrifice for the greater good, especially because of how powerful and important live music is.
“It’s important to take the ‘me’ out of it sometimes, as well. All of us are going to make the best out of our situations. All of us are going to do the best that we can, because at the end of the day we’re here for each other and to look out for everyone on our campus,” Kearney said.
Senior and graduate students have signed up for recital times and locations, which include the Petree Recital Hall in the Kirkpatrick Fine Arts Center, the Bishop W. Angie Smith Chapel, and the small, medium and large rehearsal halls in the Wanda L. Bass Music Center. Juniors decided their recital times the week of Sept. 14-18.
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