VALLEY CENTER, Kansas — On its face, band camp at Valley Center High School looks pretty normal: Lines of students with instruments march up and down a football field while the color guard practices throwing flags into the air.
Band director Jan Verboom drills the horn section on technique.
“Keep the eighth notes together, guys,” he said. “Vertical alignment.”
Other things are very different. You don’t see the whole band together, just small groups. Trumpets, saxophones and clarinets cover their horns with nylons. And for the most part, when the instruments go down, the masks come up.
They’re changes that not only band directors, but also football coaches and choir directors are being asked to make as they prepare for the beginning of a school year under the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic. They say they’re doing the best they can, but many have unanswered questions about whether they’ll be able to continue — and if they do, what’s the best way to keep students and staff safe.
Already, at least one school district, in Kansas City, Kansas, canceled all fall activities, including marching band.
Verboom is doing what he can. At camp, at the end of a morning session with brass players, he shouted, “Band meeting around me. Take a seat and have your mask on.”
After going over a few issues discovered during practice, he gives the group a pep talk — one with a very coronavirus-centric message.
“I don’t want you to ask yourselves, ‘What’s the point, we don’t really have a season coming up,’” he said. “We don’t know that yet.”
Drumming up motivation among his students is a top priority this year. That’s because this school, which is about 20 minutes north of Wichita, already has lost a lot. The band was supposed to perform at the National Memorial Day parade in Washington, D.C., in May, but that was canceled. Annual state marching band competitions are also canceled. And while football is still on, there’s no guarantee that won’t change or that the band will be allowed to play at halftime.
Verboom said it’s hard to make a plan when there’s still so much uncertainty. His district moved the start date for school back to Sept. 9. It’s also left open the possibility that not every student will be able to come to campus daily if the spread of the coronavirus becomes a problem. A block schedule would make coordinating rehearsal even more challenging, he said.
Faced with similar uncertainty and safety concerns, Wichita’s East High School Band Director Maranda Wilson moved band camp online.
“I know that my students overwhelmingly wanted to do band camp,” she said. “But when I thought about what that would look like at a time of such high risk in our community, it just wouldn’t be a traditional band camp.”
Knowing that remote band camp likely wouldn’t sound as exciting, Wilson tried to make it more attractive by inviting guest performers to offer training and encouragement. She also tried to find online team-building exercises.
But even with the workarounds, she’s worried about what she’ll do once school starts. Wilson wonders how many students can safely gather at one time or whether rehearsals will have to be held outside.
