In response to Governor Gavin Newsom’s “Stay at Home” order and Santa Clarita Mayor Cameron Smyth’s suggestions concerning social distancing, the Santa Clarita Valley Youth Orchestra is using online technology to practice.

When asked about how SCVYO is handling the quarantine, SCVYO’s Associate Artistic Director and Prelude Strings conductor Rachel Iba (pictured above and below, wigging out) mentioned that “Music is being made and teaching is taking place, which is what SCVYO is all about.”

Online practice has opened new doors for furthering each SCVYO student’s education, as the new curriculum hones the individual improvement of the musicians. Everyone is continuing to practice as if they will be performing their concerts live as scheduled, though it is more than likely that the concerts’ performances will be delayed to later this year.

With the attention to each student’s individual improvement, the overall plan is once they come back together, they’ll be stronger than ever and ready to perform. There is more pressure on students than ever to practice despite not meeting in person, due to the nature of online lessons.

Students are adapting to the challenges of learning music online: They are asked to submit a weekly video assignment and encouraged to reach out to their instructors at any time.

On Zoom, music instructors unfortunately can’t listen to everyone play at the same time due to the delayed feed from the live videos, so they have had to apply new methods of teaching in order to adapt.

Zoom is allowing their many ensembles to meet online, and practice together live, while also being a gateway for introducing other useful online applications to the musicians to help them further their quarantined practicing experience.

A typical rehearsal will have the lead instructor playing the melody, while all of the students remain muted while playing. After finishing the desired section of music, the instructor would then ask if anybody had any trouble while playing and answer any questions.

At this point the instructor will also point out if anybody’s form while playing looked incorrect, as this is the only way the instructor could tell if the musicians were following along. The instructor may ask each student to play specific parts of the music, thus individual attention is being given, when usually a musician could easily rely on their fellow instrumental partners if a part was forgotten.

The SCVYO instructors also face some challenges, such as the delay in the sounds that happens as a result of each individual wi-fi reception, but they are compensating for any limitations by utilizing a variety of online teaching resources.

Instructors have been utilizing online practice by introducing new music apps for their students to use, as well as demonstrating these apps live. For example, some apps shown included Metronome and Amazing Slower Downer.

Metronome is a great app for young musicians who are still trying to achieve the correct tempo of the songs they are practicing, while Amazing Slower Downer lets them slow down the tempo of the recorded music.

By slowing down the tempo, students may be able to better practice their piece of music. Students have also utilized the video-capturing capabilities of their phones and laptops by completing video assignments and sending them to their instructors.

Every week, the student musicians are given video assignments that they must record, and the instructors review every video individually to give feedback before each weekly session.

SCVYO does intend to continue with its summer session, so please keep checking the SCVYO website for future announcements. Though they hope that by the time summer session begins they will be able to meet in-person, SCVYO is fully prepared to employ a new online curriculum in order to maintain proper social distancing. Above all else, SCVYO cares for their students’ health and wishes for all to have a healthy Summer experience.

The Santa Clarita Valley Youth Orchestra is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that has served the Santa Clarita Valley community and surrounding areas for more than 50 years, providing a variety of enriching instrumental education and performance programs for students eight years and older. To learn more about the SCVYO or to donate, please visit our website at www.scvyo.org. For more information about our programs please contact our Executive Director at info@scvyo.org.