Canada-Man
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- Apr 16, 2015
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Students in a Regina high school band class say the simple act of playing music together gives them a sense of normalcy, despite major changes to the way schools are run in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"I love playing music. It just feels like home, I guess," said Aiyana Yowin, a Grade 9 student at Sheldon Williams Collegiate.
Students rehearse inside a large auditorium, sitting two metres apart. They all face forward and blow into their brass and wind instruments through holes cut in disposable surgical masks. Those instruments — including clarinets, trombones, tubas and saxophones — also have masks over the end where the sound comes out.
Across Canada, many students still aren't allow to sing or play certain instruments inside school. Federal public health guidance notes that research continues to evolve, and that wind and brass instruments have a "theoretical possibility of increasing the transmission of COVID-19, but the risk is not fully understood." It recommends some precautions to limit the production and transfer of infectious respiratory droplets.
In July, Saskatchewan gave orchestras and bands the greenlight with a few restrictions, but it's mostly up to school divisions to figure out how to resume in-person band class safely. In Regina, eight out of nine public high schools are running band, choral and instrumental courses.
"I love playing music. It just feels like home, I guess," said Aiyana Yowin, a Grade 9 student at Sheldon Williams Collegiate.
Students rehearse inside a large auditorium, sitting two metres apart. They all face forward and blow into their brass and wind instruments through holes cut in disposable surgical masks. Those instruments — including clarinets, trombones, tubas and saxophones — also have masks over the end where the sound comes out.
Across Canada, many students still aren't allow to sing or play certain instruments inside school. Federal public health guidance notes that research continues to evolve, and that wind and brass instruments have a "theoretical possibility of increasing the transmission of COVID-19, but the risk is not fully understood." It recommends some precautions to limit the production and transfer of infectious respiratory droplets.
In July, Saskatchewan gave orchestras and bands the greenlight with a few restrictions, but it's mostly up to school divisions to figure out how to resume in-person band class safely. In Regina, eight out of nine public high schools are running band, choral and instrumental courses.
