As the COVID pandemic continues to make group gathering even more difficult to orchestrate,  director Jeff Pottinger and the rest of the SLUH band have found new ways to come together and make music during the Concert Band’s Christmas performance on Dec. 8, as well as the Jazz concert on Dec. 15.

Unlike past years, where family, staff, and other students filled the Schulte Theatre and Si Commons, Pottinger and the rest of the band faculty were forced to make multiple changes in regards to attendance. 

“Our first question was ‘what about the audience?,’” said Pottinger. “There are a lot of things to figure out, like how many could come? Who should be allowed to be here? and how are they going to be interacting with each other?” 

At first, Pottinger, Jazz Band 2 director Joe Koestner, and percussion lead Micheal Farris were hoping to host a scaled-down concert in the Si Commons for parents only, where guests could be seated at a table already partitioned with plexiglass. Unfortunately, a spike in regional Covid cases forced the school to reconsider. 

“As everything spiked after Thanksgiving break, several of us just felt it was irresponsible to try to bring that many people in at once,” recalled Pottinger, who then made the decision to stream the event instead. “We chose to send out a Zoom link to allow people to watch from home as if it were a regular concert.”

Many players like senior Alexander Unseth, noted that the lack of an audience made for quite a foreign dynamic. 

“It was strange without an audience. Normally after a performance, a lot of applause ensues, but it was eerily silent afterwards,” said Unseth. “It certainly was a confusing moment.”

Other students, such as Ryan Pineda, a trombone player for the Symphonic Band, found the more empty space to ease usual pre-concert jitters. 

“I liked the playing without the crowd a bit,” commented Pineda. “It brings the stress down and lets you just relax and play.”

Even before the night of the concert band performance though, school scheduling uncertainties posed other challenges. One of these, present in the minds of many students, was that due to the Hyflex schedule, neither band had played as a full group since last spring. In addition, the decision to hold the week before classes online meant Pottinger and the bands had not been able to rehearse in the two weeks prior to the concert. 

“Leading up to this (concert), we were expecting to go back to in person school. We thought it was the perfect time to run through the songs a few times before our concert,” said Pottinger, who explained the reliance on these practice times. “As a musician, when you are in the classroom, you realize things like ‘oh, I’m out of tune’, or ‘everybody got louder but me.’ All of those things we listen and respond to.”

Despite all of the aforementioned challenges though, both teachers and players alike were surprised and proud of how the concert played out. 

“It was fantastic and a very special moment,” said Pottinger. “Especially for those bands, to have all the instrumentation there together, it just transformed the sound.”

Many students were equally as proud of their groups’ ability to come together and play. 

“It felt really good,” said Pineda. “Especially having never played together, I thought it sounded great.”

Other musicians took the time to enjoy finally being able to play with the rest of their class and to reflect on the ordeal. 

“It was incredible, and playing with other musicians is always a great feeling,” commented Unseth. “Being separated by COVID and then all coming back to share the gift of music. It truly shows the resilience we have as a band, as well as the musical potential at SLUH.” 

“We literally got the band back together. . . playing that first note it seemed like we had never separated,” said senior baritone sax player Tim Torrez.

The jazz concert last night was livestreamed to parents and family watching from home. The jazz groups also shared an outlook similar to that from the concert band.

“It was great to get together with the whole group and to be jazzin’ and groovin’ for the first time in a while,” said senior Franco Schmidt, the namesake of jazz combo Franco’s Congo. “As far as Covid concerts go, I thought it went really well.”

Players and staff were grateful for the ability to come together to close the semester, and are looking forward to new opportunities for next year.