We have decided to open LCMC for live rehearsals starting September 12, 2020.  Here are the precautions we are taking to protect our students and our faculty:

  1. Rehearsals will be upstairs in “Pilgrim Hall”, a large room that will allow adequate “social distancing”.  Entry and exit will be via the front door on the right of the church.
  2. Students and faculty will be required to wear face masks while in the church or studio.
  3. We have added a 15-minute break between groups to allow for orderly and socially distanced entry and exit of students.
  4. Hand sanitizer will be available to students to use before and after their rehearsal.
  5. Only students and faculty will be allowed into the church.  Unfortunately, we cannot invite parents to attend the rehearsals to minimize the number of people in the studio.
  6. We request parents to be extra vigilent and extra cautious and keep their student home from rehearsal if they have any fever or demonstrate any of the symptoms of covid-19.
  7. Faculty reserve the right to bar any student from the rehearsal if they appear to have any covid-19 symptoms.

 

It is our hope that we will be able to manage the rehearsals to keep everyone socially distanced and safe. In the event that we have to close the studio for health reasons, rehearsals will continue via zoom.

On March 12, 2020, following the lead of the Lexington Public Schools, LCMC temporarily shut its doors for live, in-person rehearsals.  One week later, on March 19, we started teaching our groups via zoom.

LCMC’s amazing faculty pivoted quickly to an on-line educational format.  Realizing it is impossible to rehearse chamber music simultaneously over the internet (due to the inherent and unpredictable delays), they worked on other chamber music skills: sight-reading, rhythm, and theory.

Meanwhile, we were developing a method for producing chamber music videos of our student groups. On March 28, we went live with our LCMC chamber music video production program! The students were back to playing.  During our zoom rehearsals, the coaches would spend some time working with each student on their individual part.  When they were sufficiently prepared, each student would lay down a video of their track (playing their individual part).  LCMC would then assemble these separate tracks into a cohesive performance of the entire piece.

LCMC then sent these chamber music performance videos to our outreach facilities to share with our elderly audiences.  The senior citizens we usually perform for in person had been totally isolated since the beginning of the shut-in period, often confined to their rooms 24/7.  Our LCMC group videos provided some music and joy for these individuals.

Here is an example of one of our “pandemic videos” (click to watch the video):

We received many touching thank-you notes from our outreach audiences.  This is a particularly poignant note we received from one of our assisted living facility activity directors:

Dear Randy,

This is such a thoughtful and wonderful set of videos. I am very glad you included the first one, describing the process. It’s so interesting, and makes us feel like we really know the students. They worked so hard, and put so much time into it, it’s hard for us to express how touched we all are that you sent it to us.

I’ve showed it to several residents, and they really enjoyed both videos. I am continuing to show it to others. Since most of them do not have computers, I am bringing in my iPad into the their apartments playing the videos for them one at a time. The comments and reactions have been only positive and enthusiastic.

Our thanks to you and the wonderful students for sharing this with us.

Stay healthy and remain vigilant.

Best,

Paula
Paula Feldman
Vibrant Living Director
Brightview Arlington Assisted Living