As students return to the classroom later this month, public health precautions will present educational and logistical hurdles at every level of learning.

Few programs will be more affected by changes than band and choir, which traditionally rely on precise breath control and an unobstructed face, luxuries participants will have to forego amid the pandemic.

Iowa Choral Directors Association President Elect and Highland Vocal Music Teacher Jennifer McClenahan said the association recommended a variety of precautions for safe choir classes.

“We put this statement out so that choral directors could present this to their administration,” she said. “It sort of takes the burden off administrators who have the world on their shoulders right now.”

The recommendations are thorough, including six feet of social distancing, mask requirements and maximizing ventilation by practicing outside whenever possible.

McClenahan said the reality of the situation was hard to swallow at first.

“We had to get it through our heads that performances in the first semester are probably not going to happen,” she said. “That was the hardest thing for us to just sort out.”

Hillcrest Academy Music Director Mike Wagner said he was looking into alternative concert methods.

“Maybe we just record everybody and mix it together, and release an online concert or stream it,” he said. “I’m still looking into how to do that best, so there are plenty of options, it’s just about what’s the easiest to do and the most accessible for all of the people that want to support the kids.”

At Hillcrest, where the return to class will be 100% in-person, Wagner had to make special arrangements to accommodate social distancing.

“There’s not a whole lot of room to put 30 kids all facing the same direction and spaced apart as far as they need to be,” he said. “We’re splitting the choir into a couple different classes, so maybe all the sopranos singing one class period, all the tenors and basses another, and all the altos on their own.”

Instrumental music faces similar problems to its choral counterpart. Lone Tree Instrumental Music Director Hannah Ball said band programs would need an overhaul when classes resume.

“We used some of the CARES funds to purchase performance masks and bell covers for all of the instruments, just to try to contain some of those droplets,” Ball said. “We’ll be having class outside when we can, and with Lone Tree’s Return to Learn we’ll be doing a hybrid, so we’ll only have half of the kids there on each day, so that will help.”

  The hybrid model is not without drawbacks, however. The 50/50 split of Lone Tree students will not affect every subgroup of students equally. Either half of the student body might, for example, include most of Lone Tree’s trumpet players, but none of their percussionists.

“We have our different groups, but some of them are Monday-Wednesday-Friday, others are Tuesday-Thursday,” Ball said. “We haven’t heard yet how that’s going to work with this new hybrid schedule, so hopefully we’ll get that figured out in the next week or so.”

Despite numerous hurdles, Ball said she was grateful to keep the program running in tough times.

“Music education is super important, and especially this year with the social emotional learning that kids will need,” she said. “I think it’s great that my district is working with the fine arts department to still offer that for students this year.”