COVID-19

Stories of Healing and Reimagining with Dr. Anne Lyman

October 13, 2021 by Shannon Marie Gravelle Leave a Comment

Dr. Anne Lyman wears many choir director hats: community choir, church, and community college choir. She is the past president of Washington ACDA, loves sharing the joys of early choral music, and is clearly a service-oriented conductor.

During the first 10 days or so of March, things went from “normal” to unsettled to cancelled. At Tacoma Community College, in-person classes were canceled before they began their last quarter. Dr. Lyman said those 10 weeks were the weirdest weeks she had ever taught, and they were completely online during the 2020-21 school year.

Her frustrations with the past year are ones that many conductors have echoed: some students didn’t show up, difficult at times to find motivation, program numbers were down. She felt fortunate to have great support and guidance from administration, and yet she realized there would be a shift to more online options, which could pose recruiting and retaining challenges.

Still, this past year brought some affirming experiences. It was important to singers to be together and to sing, even without performance as a goal. In her community choir, she set up virtual projects that consisted of learning music, studying historical/cultural aspects of the music, and the virtual choir creation. In fact, Sine Nomine Renaissance Choir expanded its community, including those who were homebound or living in other places. Dr. Lyman was thrilled she could engage people who wanted to “nerd out on polyphony.” The projects were so popular that she will continue to incorporate them. Her college students grew through the online platform: karaoke, student-led rounds, teaching warm-ups, leading sectionals. It seemed easier for some students to lead from the comfort of their own space instead of a classroom. She didn’t have a full picture of what all the students were dealing with at home: technology difficulties, full time jobs, caregivers… yet, they showed up.

This year also brought another change: a new rehearsal time. Instead of every day, she changed it to 3 days a week with a longer rehearsal time so students drive to campus less. She’s been working with her thoughtful eLearning department so students can attend rehearsals using Zoom. In-person rehearsals will follow all the recommendations. In addition to understanding and prioritizing mental health, community building, encouragement, and general uplifting experiences, the singers need a musically challenging and robust singing experience. She thinks singers will want to step into the rehearsal and get down to business.

ADEI is also integral for Dr. Lyman. The Washington State ACDA board has been investing in equity work prior to the death of George Floyd. It’s been slow work, without many visible takeaways or outcomes yet, but they’ve been a committed task force. The work has been both personal (Dr. Lyman points out that she has spent her life complicit in inequity) and organizationally challenging. “What is choral excellence? What does that mean for us as singers? For us as a program?” If it means excellence in choral performance, that’s problematic for equity in the choral field. Dr. Lyman also pointed out that sometimes less music may be performed because there was a higher need for conversation around the music (side note: Jazzmone Sutton said something similar in her advocacy and relationship-building discussion a few weeks ago). Dr. Lyman recognizes that equity work doesn’t always involve her singers. She doesn’t want to pressure her students to do her work, and she can’t force other students to take it on if they aren’t ready for it.

“How can we hope for our young singers to have a future in singing if we don’t make equity a part of everything we do?” Dr. Lyman posed. This includes acknowledging that what we’ve done until this point has not been sufficient, or has been flat out wrong. The acknowledgement piece is hard, and egos can get in the way of growth. She wondered about how to make equity a thread in everything we do, including bringing the work to the local K-12 teachers, either calling out behavior or working with K-12 colleagues to address community issues. Dr. Lyman said she wants training in how to call out behavior (This is something I have heard requested multiple times from colleagues– not how to recognize it, but practice using the words in the moment to disrupt behavior). Ultimately, she knows she can continue to challenge her own role within her community and the systems that she is involved with (Dr. Ahmed Anzaldúa’s posed a question related to this in his blog post: Are the systems in place, whether previously designed or created by you, preventing relationships with people in your space and community?). The DEI should not go away because “we’re going back to normal.” She is working toward and supporting change, adjusting how she can be a part of the process, including getting out of the way at times. What struck me in our conversation was how intentional she was in her listening and responding to her colleagues, students, and most vulnerable in her community.

Stories of Healing and Reimagining with Dr. Ahmed Anzaldúa

September 22, 2021 by Shannon Marie Gravelle Leave a Comment

This was a remarkably invigorating, inspiring, and humbling conversation with Dr. Ahmed Anzaldúa, Founder and Artistic Director of Border CrosSing, and Director of Music Ministries at Unity Church in St. Paul, a congregation with a robust music program including four adult choirs, children’s choir, and an annual musical.

In the initial months of COVID, Dr. Anzaldúa’s main task as a church musician was to determine how worship was going to happen. The focus was on music in the entire worship experience and new structures that hadn’t been in place (such as determining the new duties for the music staff). Choirs met over Zoom. Dr. Anzaldúa thought they might keep their original programming, but soon realized that wouldn’t work. They did different projects, virtual choirs, discussion groups, Yoga, and hosted guest speakers. His main concern was getting everybody connected. As vaccines became available, some singers returned to sing with other vaccinated members, with optional Zoom rehearsals. This fall, they fully reopened with mask and vaccine requirements. Since musicians need to assess their own levels of risk, Zoom will remain an option for some things. Dr. Anzaldúa emphasized that it is important to continue to create as much access as possible. In music ministry, it is important not to forget the ministry part.

In the way of “silver lining,” building community over Zoom created a closeness within the choir that would have normally taken years to achieve. Ironically, Dr. Anzaldúa has spent more time with his choirs online than in-person, having started at Unity Church in September 2019. In addition to relationship building, they explored music they may not have explored if not for COVID. His favorite piece was one they commissioned from Abbie Betinis called “what if you slept”, a piece full of experimentation written to be performed with a virtual choir. Conversely, Dr. Anzaldúa has not enjoyed making community health decisions. Many choral professionals have had to create policies and safety protocols for ensembles, and these risk mitigation strategies have often been adopted by our entire communities. He found himself in the unenviable position of having to say no to outside requests or remind guests to keep their masks on. Also, Dr. Anzaldúa adds, he would be happy if he never edits another video, although he understands it’s been meaningful.

The past year and a half has come with multi-layered discussions. The church is committed to social justice and equity, and with this commitment can come uncomfortable conversations; many conversations have went beyond singing and vocal warm-ups. He recognizes that church spaces lend themselves to conversations that don’t always happen in an educational setting. When there is something problematic, you have to attend to it, or the community lives with that issue until it is addressed.

Dr. Anzaldúa is heavily involved in ADEI work, and has had a big role in shaping important projects such as the Justice Choir. When asked about equity, he affirms its centrality, and goes further, challenging how we often think of ADEI. Equity, he points out, is not a separate thing. “What’s the alternative?” he asks. Are choirs singing without thinking about equity/access? If one is not thinking about equity or access, are they living their life and doing their work without thinking about how it affects others? When it comes to our work in the choral world, Dr. Anzaldúa hopes that equity is so central to our work that it becomes integrated, not a separate pillar. Thinking of others, being empathetic, treating others with respect are all examples of equitable practices. “Those are things we can all get behind,” he states.

“We all have our limitations,” Dr. Anzaldúa comments, going on to say that we are all working in systems that are structurally racist, and we can’t take what we do out of that context. One example he gives: In some school districts, teachers may lose their job or face discipline for speaking out on some topics. He understands that people can be hesitant to be vocal, often for these reasons. It varies from person-to-person. He would wish that people that have opportunity to push back use those opportunities.

“For any justice work,” Dr. Anzaldúa said, “there has to be relationship work. Without relationship, it’s charity.” When we discuss equity work, it comes down to relationship. What’s the relationship you have with your singers, administrators, community? More importantly, what relationships are missing? Are the systems in place, whether previously designed or created you, preventing relationships with people in your space and community? What are your relationships and what are the quality of your relationships? Even social justice-minded people can be unsure of how to respond or who to engage when confronted with a social-justice issue. He has seen that happen in organizations as well. A lot of organizations realized they didn’t have a relationship that would allow them to reach out to a community. It’s important to do authentic outreach, and whether this is in an organization or community, it requires establishing relationships.

Stories of Healing and Reimagining: A Pause

September 8, 2021 by Shannon Marie Gravelle Leave a Comment

It’s that time of year. We are all starting (or are a few weeks into) a new school year, a new church season, community choir rehearsals, or new composition projects. Yet this isn’t where I thought we would be when I started this blog series in June. I fully expected to be looking at COVID in the rearview mirror.

Yet here we are. And you know as well as I do that we all wish we were in a different place. But we aren’t.

From my conversations, here is a summary of some common experiences:

Most ensembles are back in some form. Most are in person, although not all.
Some in-person ensembles are requiring vaccines. Some aren’t.
Most ensembles are requiring that their singers follow recommendations put forth by the aerosol study (masked, distanced, shortened rehearsal time).
Most ensembles and programs have much lower numbers than they are used to. And perhaps related, most programs have a lot less money.
Many programs are still solidifying what performances will look like. What will be required from the singers? From the audience? Or will the audience not even be allowed in? Most directors can’t make a decision until they are closer to the performance. It seems that most are hoping for the best, but planning for the worst.

It’s incredibly evident that our colleagues are fully invested in their communities. We all believe in our missions. Yet there are a lot of emotions about the past 18 months, and I’m not convinced we’ve really been processing them.

So this series continues. Instead of Stories of Newness: Healing and Reimagining, it will be shortened to Stories of Healing and Reimagining. I will continue to listen to and share the stories of our colleagues. And it’s my sincerest wish that you will find solidarity, inspiration, and warmth in these stories.

I wanted to pause for a moment before this series continues. And I invite you to pause, breathe. You are not alone in your exhaustion and you aren’t alone when you feel inspired by hearing your singers make music as a group. You and your choral communities are creating your own stories of healing and reimagining. Thank you.

Stories of Newness: Healing and Reimagining with Jazzmone Sutton (Advocacy)

August 25, 2021 by Shannon Marie Gravelle Leave a Comment

Jazzmone Sutton, now the State Advocacy Engagement Manager for National Association for Music Education, was teaching elementary music when her school shifted to virtual teaching. Due to concerns about screen time, there weren’t formal music classes, so she provided music resources for students. Pre-COVID, she implemented “Technology Fridays,” which proved to be helpful for online learning. In August 2020, classes were virtual and lasted 20 or 30 minutes. They weren’t able to have an elementary chorus, although many students asked her about singing. At least, Jazzmone thought, parents were able to see the excitement and energy music had, and this was a big advocacy tool.

Like all teachers, there were struggles. She wasn’t able to teach the lessons she wanted to teach. Her classes were often only 20 minutes, and that was too short. While she became incredibly precise and got right to music making, she also struggled with playing and singing in her class due to COVID regulations. She refined her teaching, but shortened class time and cleaning instruments left her with even less time to address music creation.

If you have ever met Jazzmone, however, you would know that she doesn’t dwell in the frustrations. Virtual teaching allowed her to connect with students in a different way. She gave voice and piano lessons, and taught whatever students were interested in. A number of students purchased their own instruments, and she provided learning resources. To see students so engaged during this time was inspiring. In fact, there was so much interest in these endeavors, she had a vision of having a second music teacher in her school. There simply wasn’t enough of her to spread around. In addition, parents and caretakers participated in music. For example, a student had his mom learn Latin dancing with the class. Afterwards, the mom would jump into a lesson simply to say hello. In another instance, a grandmother reached out to ask for help to sing and play in church. Jazzmone was able to connect her to self-guided resources. Virtual learning removed barriers of participation that we, as instructors, don’t always realize are there. What could this mean for the future?

Jazzmone values giving her students the skills to be independent music makers, and COVID forced her to do this to another level. She asked herself: “Will they make music after I’m gone? If I get out of the way, can they make music?” She couldn’t see much music making, but that was the point. Students were creating music with classes, family, and friends. The students were making music without her there. During COVID, “it wasn’t that people stopped singing. It’s that people stopped singing in a group that someone was in control of.” But people sang. She points out that people fought to keep singing, though it may have been a different type of music, and this demonstrates that music is a vital part of the human experience.

In the last year, Jazzmone accepted a job with the National Association for Music Education. Similar to teaching, her new job in music education advocacy requires relationship building. “What we do is community,” Jazzmone said, “We should strive to build relationships within our space.” She did that in her teaching, and it’s how she approaches advocacy.

As an advocate for choral educators, Jazzmone would share some words of wisdom: Allow yourself grace, allow students grace, and do not expect normal. What does grace look like? Grace is acknowledging the growth and possibilities in the current situation, even though it may be different than pre-COVID. For example, you may want to do certain music, but your students may not be ready for it. With grace, a choral teacher can release the expectations and see the possibilities for what the situation could be. One way Jazzmone reframed this for her students was to ask them what they hoped for out of their time together, and they had great ideas. And if you run into barriers, look at it with patience and kindness. She believes we have to leave room for surprises, because surprises are opportunities for change. In a year when those surprises were consistent, choral educators were innovative and impactful. Allow your singers, your community, yourself to surprise you.

I asked Jazzmone specifically about equity. We agreed that advocacy involves understanding equity. Here it also needs relationship building. Conversations are a two-way street between teachers and students (or communities), and teachers will know the needs of the community because they’ve spent time with the community. In essence, relationships help teachers meet the needs of their students because they will know what they need to advocate for. Who are your students beyond musicians? How do you advocate for the whole student? And this, Jazzmone says, is how she can help in her new position.

If you are looking to increase advocacy, Jazzmone Sutton is the State Advocacy Engagement Manager for the National Association for Music Education, and would be a great resource. Additionally, ACDA has an Advocacy and Collaboration Committee that is very active. You can view the website here.

Stories of Newness: Healing and Reimagining with Alan

August 11, 2021 by Shannon Marie Gravelle Leave a Comment

*Alan had just finished rehearsing one of his choirs on a piece of music they were going to be presenting at an upcoming concert when he received the email: School was closing. They were projected to be out until April.

“We’ll do [the concert] when we come back,” he thought. Within a week, though, it became clear the situation was becoming more serious. The school district gave them a week to create online classes. None of the students wanted to do a virtual choir. Alan said the students could only hear themselves, and they had joined to sing with others, not by themselves, in addition to other issues. Other than one virtual choir for graduation, they had music history units and worked with Sight-Reading Factory. Alan worked with a colleague on listening units, which included discussing personal preferences as well as analyzing music.

2020-21 was tough because Alan wasn’t sure if/when they would move to virtual instruction. The students wanted to sing, not do virtual choirs. He taught a piece the students sing every year and afterwards switched to solo music. 25% of students stayed virtual all year, with the other 75% coming to school in a variety of configurations depending on the COVID spread. There was no in-person concert in the fall, although they subscribed to StreamYard, and presented a live performance from their houses.

Alan’s philosophy was to find a “path of least resistance.” He focused on keeping it light and engaging while also being academic in nature. His district was active in providing materials they could use for online teaching, including a shared curriculum they could use. While many teachers were moved to support in-person elementary students, Alan wasn’t. At the end of Spring 2021, students sang in-person (with restrictions), and filmed a huge production that was shared with the community. It had a very positive response.

Alan was impressed with how resilient students were, especially since he knows students need community. Related, he’s been grateful for the focus on mental health. They’ve always talked about it at some level, but there has been a deeper dive. On the other hand, planning has been frustrating with so much uncertainty. Day-after-day, instruction has depended on public health. It often wasn’t improving. They were “on pause”: living but not really experiencing.

Alan was fortunate when COVID first hit– choir numbers stayed fairly stable. Even for this upcoming year, his retention numbers are strong. But the number of incoming 9th graders declined sharply. If numbers are low, fewer people attend concerts. If people don’t attend concerts or if there are no concerts, he has no budget. His administrators understand that he will need to build numbers again, but he only has a year to get his numbers back. Prior to COVID, he visited the middle schools and saw those students face-to-face. His students would sing with them, and 8th graders would visit his school. None of that can happen at the moment, although he’s hopeful that it will. He knows that districts often make decisions based on the community’s political leanings, and he suspects his district will try to stay open all year. He sees other challenges, though: he knows many students will need credit recovery, and their schedules might get filled with classes other than choir. He also wishes they had more counselors at his school. The highly-trained counselors do amazing work, but there simply aren’t enough of them to provide the academic and mental health support to large numbers of students.

As he looks forward, he recognizes he has control over his class environment. He prioritizes an open and welcoming space. This past year, he spoke to students about Asian-American violence. Alan is an Asican-American, and there were times he was worried about his safety. His Asian-American colleagues felt the same. He shared a real part of his humanity with students, and the conversation he had with them was very real.

Questions still remain about this upcoming year: What will public health be like? What type of questions will the choral profession be addressing? Alan hopes he is able to interact with other choral colleagues and ask hard questions that affect our discipline. There are things in his mind that need to be discussed.

Either way, Alan said, he will continue to find a way to make things work.

*Name has been changed to respect the privacy and processing of the sharer.

Stories of Newness: Healing and Reimagining with Mari Ésabel Valverde

July 28, 2021 by Shannon Marie Gravelle Leave a Comment

Mari Ésabel Valverde, composer, educator, and overall incredible human being, said that after COVID halted her projects, 2020 became a year in which she was scrambling to find her way. Mari had always kept a small teaching load as a source of income, but they weren’t able to adapt. The commission she was working on had to be refunded. She suddenly found herself unemployed.

The shift in Mari’s fortunes during COVID happened when she was asked to be on a Diversity Initiative panel for NATS. Through her brother, also on the panel, she met Anna Lantry, who had started an online music school designed to offer the trans community music and speech lessons. Anna hired (and trained) Mari to teach remote lessons. Through this, Mari has had the ability to teach people both around the country and globe. She also noticed there has been an increase in her online platform. COVID forced many choral professionals online, and because of that, anyone looking into equity and justice, or women composers in choral musics, are only a few clicks from discovering her music (click here to discover her music).

While she’s missed singing with people, she hasn’t been as frustrated with COVID as she could have been. She’s done a series of virtual choirs. A piece she wrote 10 years ago as a college student has picked up steam recently after Cantus performed it. In addition, cultural shifts such as singing with masks and social distancing have benefited community health. 30 minute rehearsals force people to focus. Mari points out that, up until COVID, people in a rehearsal have been told to simply show up. Changes in COVID that have positively addressed ableism and access can stay post-COVID. Conversations surrounding new practices and implementing new practices have been good steps toward community health.

After the NATS panel, she was invited to speak to different choirs, something that continued into 2021. University of Memphis was the first program to contact her for a call. This was particularly striking to Mari because they were in Tennessee— and she wasn’t sure how they might respond to her— but it went well. In fact, she realized she had been avoiding certain areas of the United States because she didn’t expect people in those regions wanted to perform her music. 2020-21 has shown her that people everywhere want to perform her music. Her music is relevant to the South and and Southwest regions (I might add: more than relevant. She and her music are even needed). “The South is capable of producing incredible food and incredible music. Resources are there to be the premiere everything, but they aren’t [premiering everything]” Mari notes, and then continues, “Because there are issues with intersectionality– racism in queer spaces. Homophobia in Black spaces. It’s hard to come together to make something good for everyone.” But, of course, it is possible to come together in community.

Also, Mari points out, people, structures, and institutions often still operate from the belief that women are actually property. This doesn’t work when you are a trans woman. She’s had to understand her own worth, and in response, she has committed to taking better care of herself. Part of taking care of herself will be asking for what she needs. Being trans and surviving her 20s has helped her to learn some of this, although this is still a work-in-progress. While there seems to be a certain standard of measurement one has to surpass to ask for more, she encourages composers, especially younger composers who have been historically excluded, to ask for and demand what they are worth. She encourages all composers to see they are worth as much as the cis white male composer.

The COVID lock down and George Floyd murder have caused people to ask important and hard questions. “There are truths about who we are as human beings that are constantly being exposed,” Mari commented. Anybody who has been marginalized is already in damage control mode when they walk in the door, with themselves and the world. Others have refused to protect them. But protecting the unprotected matters. So, she’s only willing to engage herself and her music with things that matter. And frankly, she said, there is music that has not mattered. For example, some people talk about “classics” in the choral world. What does this mean? These pieces have teachable and valuable concepts, but “you can’t say it’s as meaningful as something like Seven Last Words of the Unarmed Black Man. Experiencing that piece shakes people to their core.” Mari goes on to explain that yes, Bach can also shake people to their core, but music by Black women can too, yet their music hasn’t been adequately performed.

When thinking about future risks, Mari commented that risk has a different meaning for her than some others. She can’t hold shame. She’s failed, and she’s been excluded so many times that some people would say her showing up is a risk. And, she concurs, sometimes showing up and not being silent truly is a risk— a risk she’ll continue to take.