Hello,
I recently had a friend who teaches singing and choral music reach out with
this article which synopsizes a lengthy panel webinar held by the National Association of Teachers of Singing, a few other singing associations and the Performing Arts Medical Association. Basically, it seems to argue that there is not a safe way for groups of singers to rehearse or perform safely until a vaccine is found
and there is a strong treatment for Covid-19.
I'm not terribly familiar with many of the organizations listed by the article, so I'm not sure what weight to give the panel. I'm wondering if other people are having conversations about this topic at their schools in regards to musical performances next year. I'm also wondering if anyone has seen any studies/formal conversations by theater performance organizations about non-musical performances - vocally projecting onstage is similar to singing and can likely project particles the same much-more-than-6-feet distance, as well as create the increased aerosol particles that they talk about in the article.
Would appreciate any resources/thoughts people are discussing in their departments or with their administration. My admin has asked for my guidance here, and outside of articles like the one above I'm not sure how to guide them - which creates a bleak outlook for my department next year. I want to keep a positive outlook, but also want to make sure that we don't contribute to a super-spreader event like
this one.
Thanks for your thoughts.
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Erin Coulter
Theater Teacher
The Hill School
The Plains VA
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