Charles Olivier—or Chase—started his job as the Outreach and Engagement Coordinator for the Texas Tech School of Music back in January. He never could have predicted he’d be charged with adapting the program’s popular choir, band and orchestra summer camps to be held online. But that’s what happened. By mid-April, when the pandemic wasn’t going away, Olivier and the camp directors realized that they had to make some changes for their summer activities, and fast.
“Around mid-April some teachers that were teaching public school maybe had only had one week in a virtual classroom and then we started building [the camps],” Olivier recalls.
The school of music’s large-scale summer band camp dates back nearly 100 years ago, while the choir camp is over 50 years old. They draw hundreds of middle school and high schoolers to the Texas Tech campus every summer. A major component of the camp is the social aspects, something the team tried to replicate on a virtual space.
Planning started with the choir camp, which was held back in June. They looked to see what techniques were being used by different choirs, bands and orchestras. They developed a hybrid of Zoom sessions with a Google Classroom interface. The students were divided into groups where they held special breakout sessions—their attempt at creating a space for social interaction. And overall, it was a success.
“I remember when we were about to go live, we were just really nervous,” Dr. Carolyn Cruse says. She was tasked with leading the daily warm up with over 400 students over Zoom. In previous years, the choir camp usually saw about 150 students. This year, they brought in over 430 students.
A large reason for the attendance boom has to do with the fact that Texas Tech was one of the only virtual summer camps focused TMEA All-State Choir Music in Texas. According to Cruse, here are typically anywhere from 25 to 30 of those camps for students to choose from. They were one of the first to transition and promote their camp.
“It was nerve wracking,” she says. “We wanted it to be perfect but we went into it know it was not going to be perfect. We knew we were going to make mistakes.”
Once plans began unfolding and virtual camps became an option, Olivier brought it to the attention of Dr. Sarah Mckoin—the Director of Band and Orchestra Camp, at Texas Tech. They followed suit and are on day three of their summer camp.
“I hadn’t really considered virtual at all until Chase told me about what choir was doing,” McKoin says. While they saw a pretty steep decline in attendance—typical they see an attendance of about four to five hundred students, this year it’s around 140—But their reach has expanded. “The farthest away is from North Carolina,” Olivier says. They credit that to loyal alumni around the country.
The team has learned a number of techniques for teaching virtually. But when asked about the possibility of the fall semester returning to a shutdown, the concern was palpable from all three. Performance is a major part of the curriculum and there’s only so much they can do in a virtual space. That’s the part the concerns McKoin the most.
“I have to think about what students can gain from performance in a different sort of way,” she says. She sees it somewhat as a silver-lining though. “It’s forcing you to consider ways that performance can be done in a way that you’re not accustomed to.”
All three agree that the thing that matters most is making sure they’re giving kids a worthwhile experience. “That’s what motivates me and I know talking to Dr. Cruse and Dr. McKoin, it’s the exact same way,” Olivier says.
In an effort to remain transparent, we should mention that the school of music is a sponsor of Texas Tech Public Media.
