Precautious Performance
Safety alterations made the school year’s first choir concert possible
In order to keep choir members and spectators healthy, singers were spaced out and the amount of viewers was limited to two per student. These safety precautions allowed the choir to finally show off the skills they have been building this semester. Photo courtesy OF FHC Choir
The lights dim. You feel the lights brighten on you, and the concert you never thought would happen begins. After singing yourself through about four songs, the lights dim, and you find your way back to your family who congratulate you.
At the beginning of the year, the choir concert was not expected to be held by the majority of the choir.
“Our first concert is always in the fall/winter and there has been talks about a second COVID [wave] coming around the same time so I honestly feared that the second wave would effect everything,” chamber choir member Dakota Dunman said.
However, because of safety precautions, the choir concert was able to take place on Dec, 4.
The choir students were expected to continue to wear singer masks the entire performance. These masks are made for singers to have adequate space to sing clearly. These masks fit like most, with elastic to go around the ears.
“Singing with the mask is definitely a lot different and more difficult because a huge part of being able to sing our songs more normally is being able to get a good, big breath in to get through a phrase. That is hard enough without a mask but adding the mask makes it more difficult as you can imagine,” junior Jane Childs said.
For the audience, seats will be marked off with a four-seat space between families and masks will be mandatory at all times. There will be two tickets available per student, and the physical ticket will be required. The audience is allowed in 10 minutes before the start time.
The choir themselves are spaced out, allowing each choir the stage before leaving the hall, and allowing the next performance to get set up. Each choir performance is about 20 minutes, allowing the choir to show off what they have learned this semester and the growth of the choir as a whole.
After leaving, there will be a marked exit that the audience will follow out to avoid contact with the next group. The students will then meet their families by exiting through the back door.
All students currently quarantined may not attend the performance. However, the choir concert was live streamed on the FHC Choir Youtube channel.
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