As the young singers grab their folders and head to their seats, Sue Franke gets ready for class. She starts by warming up their voices, then begins a song. Down the hall, they can be heard preparing for their next concert. Except this year, the choir room is filled with chorus, while the gymnasium is empty.

Last year, the choir room wasn’t suitable for singing, since COVID wouldn’t allow it, so practice took place in the gym. The same goes for band students.

While they got to stay in their room, students had to social distance, and there wasn’t nearly enough space to fit all the band players at once.So, the students had to separate into groups, and practice at different times.

Working with all the students at once is easier for the band director (Mike Legvold) to hear how the band sounds as a whole. The music department struggled when COVID came so suddenly, but Cannon Falls MSHS got through it, and managed to get back to normal for the first time in a year.

When the school had to start distance learning, it was twice as hard for choir students and Ms. Franke. Kendall Lawless, a senior at Cannon Falls, says that it was difficult to be singing over a Zoom call.

“The biggest thing I missed out on was hearing the choir as a whole, and being able to learn the music with everybody. So when it came to the choir concerts, it was challenging to sing together as a group, rather than what I was previously doing, which was practicing by myself,” she said.  Kendall was also asked how difficult she thought it was for the choir director, Sue Franke, to teach. “I’ve talked to Franke about this, and she said that it was very difficult for her, and that she never wants to do it again, mostly because, again, nothing like this has ever happened before, where students have to perform their music individually, and then come together, and sing as a choir,” Kendall said.

 Last year, Cannon Falls choir students were required to wear masks while singing, and also had to put six feet of distance between them. Wearing masks is now optional for singers, but it isn’t required. Since the normal choir room wouldn’t have been suitable for singing and keeping apart at the same time, choir had to take place in the school gymnasium. However, students are now allowed to resume normal choir sessions with their peers side by side in the normal choir room. This year people like to go to choir and have choir concerts and students have four concerts in total. Last year, they didn’t have many, since people could hardly hear them with masks on, along with COVID reasons. People love having the option to wear no masks as well as not social distance this year.

Anna Dubbels was asked about her thoughts on band this year compared to a year ago. “Last year we weren’t able to do our contests which was disappointing,” she stated. Dubbels was asked how difficult she thought it was for the band teacher, Mike Legvold, to teach.  In response she said that he wishes that they were able to not wear their masks, because it made it difficult to constantly remind people to wear their masks while playing. “This year I have been able to learn more in band. It was hard last year because I didn’t have access to the instruments.”

Flute players had to have plastic masks attached to their instruments during COVID, and tuba players also had to have a sort of blanket mask over their instrument. This year, students don’t have to wear masks and can play their instruments freely. People had to do band lessons separately because of COVID and never got to play as a group. They didn’t get to do many concerts, and it was difficult to play songs since they were never practicing together, but now, the students can play together as well as have more concerts. This year people have fun at band lessons and concerts. In band practice last year instruments were mixed up when practicing in separate groups, but students had to stay six feet apart. Only a certain number of people were able to be in the band room at the same time and there were many different band lessons, so practices were shorter, since students couldn’t all be in the same room at once.

Claire Meyers (left) and Mya Menge (right), both sixth grade band players, were interviewed to get their opinions on coming out of COVID. The girls have both experienced what it’s like to have band lessons during COVID, and how it has improved.     

“I like this year more because we get to play together more, and it sounds better,” Mya said. Claire also states how playing together as a group is much easier than before, where they only got to play in smaller groups.

The music department at Cannon Falls MSHS has taken a big hit because of COVID. There had been a lot of improvising, and doing things that weren’t enjoyable. Fortunately, they’ve been able to recover, and have gotten somewhat back to normal. It wasn’t easy, and it was very sudden. However, while the whole pandemic set back the school and made things difficult, there are some good things to take away from it. The whole country learned to persevere and stick with it. Although masking is occasionally needed again, the music department has moved on from COVID.

*Note – This article is published by middle School students in the Torch, which is a portion of the Lantern