UTSA Music adapts to meet the challenge of the pandemic

SEPTEMBER 4, 2020 — The Department of Music at UTSA offers a great lesson in flexibility. From band to operatic singers, examples are easy to find. The musical family at the university shows that there is truth to the saying “The show must go on!”

This year the Spirit of San Antonio marching band will continue its performances—a pivotal season in which SOSA will mark 10 years of lifting the Roadrunner community. In preparation for the first home game on September 18 the band has conducted rehearsals online and face to face. Split into two groups, the band will have approximately 200 members with about 60 more participating virtually.

“We are happy at the number of students who chose to participate,” said Ron Ellis, director of bands at UTSA. “It’s refreshing and inspiring that the students still wanted to get together in either way.”

Current practice sessions are split among five pep bands during weekly rehearsals to maintain social distancing guidelines. The band will wear custom-made masks and use protective bell covers to help mitigate potential spread of virus.

And although SOSA will not be allowed to step on the field at the Alamodome to adhere to guidelines put forth by the university and Conference USA, expect SOSA to perform from the stands. Band members will be spread out and socially distanced with five seats separating each performer. For fans in attendance, they can expect SOSA to dominate an entire end zone—and probably a bit more.

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“All of us in the room for our first rehearsal this fall could feel a profound sense of musical community that we had all been missing.”

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“We are going to to adhere to the UTSA protocols,” Ellis said, “and monitor the science in order to keep our students as safe as possible.”

Although not sitting side by side, SOSA members will inspire the crowd with “Neck” and “Hey, Baby,” both very popular tunes at Roadrunner games. And the band will make the most of it with that extra space. The performers plan to use the socially distanced space to have more room to strut. For those virtual members not in the stands, later in the season they will be incorporated into prerecorded performances that will be featured on the score board.

Ellis also wants to make use of SOSA beyond football games. There is the possibility of performing in smaller pep bands across campus to lift the spirits of students attending in-person classes. SOSA performances across the city also are in the works, which will further grow the band’s spirit and legacy.

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Band Safety: The mask to be worn by percussion and auxiliary members, the mask for the piccolo players and the mask for the rest of the ensemble.

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It’s not just SOSA that has to adapt to COVID-19 reality. Usually a full orchestra consists of strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion, but due to current public health guidelines, this semester the UTSA Orchestra will include only string instruments. This is done to minimize potential exposure to aerosols from woodwind and brass instruments.

The musicians rehearse with face coverings and at least 8 feet of separation. During its first onsite rehearsal, there were 18 musicians present, while six more participated online via Zoom. To keep the orchestra from getting too large for the socially distanced rehearsal space, there are also 14 string students who will play in quartets and trios and meet separately.

“This stretch since March was the longest I’ve gone without conducting a rehearsal or concert in my adult life,” said Troy Peters, who directs the orchestra. “All of us in the room for our first rehearsal this fall could feel a profound sense of musical community that we had all been missing.”

While musicians can practice instruments alone, Peters says so much of what they do is about listening and responding to each other.

“I knew I had been lamenting the absence of that energy during the pandemic, but feeling it again made me realize even more powerfully how much joy there is in making music together,” he said.

The focus on strings in this semester will allow the group the opportunity to explore some unusual repertoire. According to Peters, orchestras usually play pieces that include woodwinds, brass and percussion because there is a need to keep all the players of other instruments involved. 

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And the Band Plays On

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“I’m a music major, but I don’t usually get the chance to focus on a string repertoire a lot, so it’s really exciting that we get to play Mozart and Grieg,” said Allison Hayes, a junior music education major and concertmaster.

The UTSA Orchestra’s first performance is scheduled to be streamed online on October 9. The program will include Grieg’s “Holberg Suite,” a divertimento by Mozart, and music by José Elizondo and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.

And it’s not just a pandemic that has required musicians to change. UTSA’s Lyric Theatre also has decided to launch a new curriculum. This year students will learn how to create a new work for the stage from start to finish. The difference is that the work will be entirely student-driven.

Over the course of this fall and next spring students will workshop a piece that features student ideas, learn from industry leaders and craftsman—all there is to know about stagecraft: how to craft a libretto, design a set, design lighting and make costume choices.

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⇒ Learn more about the Department of Music at UTSA.

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“I envision this idea of a student-driven work continuing into the future, becoming a hallmark of Lyric Theatre at UTSA, and contributing meaningful new works to the operatic/lyric theater canon,” said Jourdan Laine Howell, lecturer of voice and the Lyric Theatre in the Department of Music.

But it goes beyond grouping in new ways. UTSA Music also has set up two adjacent rooms in the Arts Building with analog audio technology so that students can collaborate in real time with a partner in the other room. This will help voice students as well as brass and woodwind students to have a better music-making experience than what is possible online. Additionally, close to 300 new microphones will streamline music via Zoom.

“Our staff and students are flexible, creative and resilient,” said Tracy Cowden, Department of Music chair and the Roland K. Blumberg Endowed Professor in Music. “They are finding ways to make the best of this situation and support one another in continuing musical development.”

— Milady Nazir and Rebekah Alegria

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