Three weeks ago, Marilyn Barnes invited a student to the choir room and received a response that would have been shocking in the pre-pandemic world.
"I don't know where the choir room is," the student told Barnes, director of choir and musical theater at Santa Fe High School.
For new students, late February marked the first time they set foot in the building. "It's like, wow, she's been in choir for seven months but she doesn't know the choir room," Barnes tells SFR. "Most students who come into that program spend hours there every day."
The state expects schools to return to in-person learning in just over two weeks, and the partial return of music programming has teachers exuberant to perform with students again. With full reentry on the horizon, the end of online learning—a difficult proposition for all students and teachers, but especially so in music—nears.
The Public Education Department issued guidance on resuming music programming last week, requiring coverings for wind instruments, masks for singers and outdoor-only practices.
"We're a little set back that they require it to be outside," Maurice Howard, band director at El Dorado Community School, tells SFR. But "we're appreciative that they've included us."
Before limited in-person music instruction resumed, the past year of online voice and instrument lessons faced challenges given the basic constraints of video conferencing. Despite poor sound quality and the dreaded Zoom lag, art educators discovered notes of clarity in their interactions with students.
"It helps develop empathy in the teacher," explains Bo Rogers, an elementary music teacher from Aspen Community School. "I know there's some teachers who are like, 'Argh that kid, I can't stand that kid.' But then you look in their house…"
Having a greater understanding of students' lives outside the classroom allows school staff to make more informed decisions when working with vulnerable young people, Rogers says.
During normal times, music educators open doors to creative opportunities for their students—a crucial service. With the restrictions of online learning imposed on Barnes and her colleagues across the district, they were forced to substitute virtual performances for the real deal.
"We did Disney Movie Magic this year and it's going to be presented on March 27. And that was just hell," Barnes says, laughing with exasperation over the amount of work it took to arrange solos and medleys, let alone corral the students to record their parts.
For the school's production of Schoolhouse Rock!, Barnes had each student visit the theater individually. Reed Meschefske, head of theater at SFHS, recorded each child's part while Barnes sang all the other accompanying vocals—all while socially distanced.
Their hard work is paying off.
"I was very, very pleased with the performing arts program we have here because the theater still put on every show," Joseph Romero-Kleve, a senior at Santa Fe High School, tells SFR. "Although it's not traditional and not favorable, it's still something."
Administrators also recognize the effort.
"I feel like the teachers are being super hard on themselves," says April Pickrell, the district's music coordinator. "But they are reaching the students. I keep reminding them that there's been kids that don't go to any other classes, but they come to their music class."
By providing students technology at the onset of virtual learning, teachers say the district avoided a catastrophe. Online curricula adopted by elementary music teachers prior to the pandemic also helped soften the blow, Rogers tells SFR.
But the Chromebooks every student received, while suitable for watching videos and joining virtual lessons, limit students' capabilities to perform together. "The bandwidth does not yet exist to have that kind of situation happening with multiple users," explains Rogers.
Teaching proper embouchure and positioning remains one of the biggest challenges for music educators, Pickrell explains."The camera angle has to be just right in order to see if they have the wrong hand position or if they have improper posture," she says. "It's very detailed to make the kids successful and it's harder to see online and to correct."
Student performances aired during the biweekly virtual school board meetings gave the public a glimpse into music teachers' challenging work. The seemingly impossible task of manipulating a pupil's posture through a computer screen means these emerging musicians are largely learning independently.
And though there are challenges that come with the heightened visibility of students' home environments, it has helped teachers develop a deeper understanding.
"You see more, you know more," Rogers says. One result will be a stronger teaching force that went through hell and back with their students. "I really appreciate teaching now," he adds.
As schools continue to shift toward something more recognizable, they must now make decisions about what to prioritize.
"It makes perfect sense when we look at at-risk kids, when we look at poverty, when we look at lost learning, the arts is the perfect way to excite learning again, to engage," Rep. Roger Montoya, D-Española, says of arts education.
Montoya hopes to welcome students back and support arts education with House Bill 138.
His work as an arts educator began in 1998 with Velarde Elementary School and grew into founding Moving Arts Española, which provided fine arts programming for 13 schools. The nationally recognized nonprofit received funding from the 2003 Fine Arts Education Act to reach students, convincing Montoya of the importance of supporting arts education.
HB 138 would allocate almost $3 million for fine arts programming by giving fine arts a slightly larger share of schools' programming budget. The money would restore funding lost in an unintended consequence of 2018 legislation, which defunded schools' K-6 fine arts programs by the same amount.
Santa Fe schools lost out on about $127,000. This funding could be coming to music and art classrooms next year if the Senate follows the House's lead by passing HB 138 in the final days of the Legislature. At presstime, it was assigned to the Senate Finance Committee.
For students returning to school in just over two weeks, teachers expect an emotional reunion. Rogers knows students will need support to process their feelings from the past year and music educators are ready to welcome their pupils back.
"We deal with matters of the heart," Rogers says, "so often it's easier for kids to let that show."
