Conservatory COVID Protocols

Lara Bilgore and Jamie Lee

After being shut down on March 13, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, OCSA is finally back fully in person. OCSA has taken many precautions as to how they are operating during a pandemic; such guidelines include requiring masks indoors, offering weekly testing, and providing updates through a COVID-19 Dashboard. Following the COVID guidelines from administration has been a particularly difficult task for certain conservatories such as Musical Theatre, Acting, Classical Voice and Instrumental Music, where students and teachers are dependent on the use of their mouth or voice; however, conservatory directors have each found a way to operate their arts classes while simultaneously practicing COVID guidelines and providing a quality arts education. 

Conservatories within the School of Theatre, such as the Musical Theatre and Acting conservatories, are reliant on facial expressions and the voice, both of which are unfortunately inhibited by the use of masks. Knowing masks are required in class, Sophia Madrigal (ACT ‘22) described the social distancing restrictions as “a bit lax,” adding that the “protocol definitely hinders actors’ abilities to perform.” With this said, this may have been a learning curve for students such as Sofia Ciro (MT ‘24), who said that students had to “learn to show emotion in a natural way” and “it was something [they] had to adapt to.” Both Madrigal and Ciro concluded that while it may have been initially hard to follow the new protocols, they believe that the quality of their education was not affected, especially with teachers who have been more lenient with difficulties that could arise. 

In conservatories like Wind Studies, students are needed to use their mouths to play their instruments. Teachers have had to support their students throughout this entire process. According to Kylie Heidal (IM-WS ‘23), these protocols have affected “the overall hearing of music and not being able to project as much sound as we used to be able to… I feel like it makes it more difficult to focus on learning new musical skills.” Despite this, Heidal expressed that the conservatory teachers have been understanding, adding that “they gave us a notice on what to bring, such as bell covers. And later on, they're [going to] provide us with a pass that will cover our bases... They’ve been really understanding about it and have helped us learn how to adapt with it.” People like Heidal have felt that, “we’re always focusing on being able to project more and not fully being able to play together and learn together as a cohesive group.”

These new guidelines have definitely been a learning curve for everybody, and while it has been a major adjustment, students and teachers alike are looking forward to a school year back in person.