School has been one of the most complex issues that people have to figure out, and the marching band was heavily impacted by the coronavirus. Many of the activities that relate to the music department require interactions with other people, including live performances such as marching band. 

Marching band performs live like many other programs, and is scheduled around football. With every football game, the marching band comes out to perform during halftime. 

This interesting dynamic was explained by Renée Visconti, ‘24.

“We’re skipping all of the competitions as they’ve been cancelled as far as I know, but I believe we’re attending some football games,” Visconti said, “We don’t have all of the information about events yet, so it’s not a super set in stone thing. During band practices, the band has been social distancing, as well as wearing masks when we’re not playing.”  

The marching band has had to sacrifice almost all traditions and events for the sake of safety. Many are sad that these traditions are gone, but they understand why these things had to happen. 

“I am really sad I have to miss out on traditions I’ve been waiting for since freshman year like senior pranks, being first in line during potlucks, and competitions. But I would rather we all stay safe than risk getting sick,” SENIOR Lexi Adams said. 

The remote learning plan has also caused some learning issues because the marching band is supposed to have live practice sessions every day. Remote learning and block scheduling has turned a 30 hour week of practice into one six to eight hour session a week. 

This time restriction has not led to less work, it just led to harder work. 

“We have a lot less time to practice, so we’re having to work hard to accomplish in a day what we’d normally do in a week,” Lily Canter, ‘22, said.

Remote learning has presented people with more than just a time restriction issue, but a social issue as well. 

“During remote learning, band’s a little more challenging as some of us have parents and siblings working at home that we can’t interrupt with playing, so that’s been difficult to adapt around. Also playing alone or on video call is a little awkward,” Visconti said.

The marching band overall has to overcome the time restrictions and the fact that the virus is airborne. People are still figuring out what to do, but in the meantime, the show must go on