Performing Arts Update

PERFORMING ARTS

Music in ‘Red’ Setting

Throughout history, times of crisis and difficulty have regularly led to increased levels of creativity and expression in the arts. Alongside developments in technology, composers, artists and writers have often been inspired by challenges and constraints resulting in evolution and development across a range of disciplines.

Without a doubt, the past two years of the COVID-19 pandemic have seen all of us navigating diverse and complex disruptions to our lives, and consequently seeking new outlets for relief and normality. For many, music and the other arts have provided solace and a sense of connection.

In both the arts and education sectors, organisations have been forced to become extra creative and come up with innovative ways of keeping the arts alive. Initially, digital platforms were the most viable way of delivering the arts to audiences, and here at Kristin we were able to share visual art, dance, drama and music through our Facebook page, and also in pre-recorded assemblies and livestreams.

Nevertheless, despite being able to find these small opportunities to share our creative work, the limitations of the COVID-19 Protection Framework still led to the cancellation of many of our major performance events, and brought a halt to numerous Performing Arts activities that are a central part of Kristin’s dayto-day timetable, as well as our school spirit and culture.

Everyone was extremely pleased to start 2022 on site at school with students attending their lessons in person rather than online, as was the case in late 2021. However, there were many guidelines we needed to work within to ensure the health and safety of our students and their teachers. Very few of us in the Music Department would ever have imagined that in our teaching careers we would see the Ministry of Education deem singing and playing the flute as ‘high-risk activities’, yet this is exactly what happened.

Owing to the nature of singing and playing wind instruments, the Ministry of Education set guidelines that banned singing and playing of wind instruments indoors. Here at Kristin, this meant that our choirs and Senior School production could not prepare and rehearse as usual; all wind and vocal itinerant lessons were put on hold, curriculum Music classes were affected significantly and our wind instrument ensembles could not proceed.

However, across the country Music teachers stayed resilient and sought out solutions that enabled as many activities as possible to continue. In most cases, this meant taking things outdoors. Fortunately, this all took place during the summer term, so for the most part we were able to proceed in the sunshine. Throughout Term 1, staff and students across the school were party to the sounds of bands, choirs and classes echoing out across the Kristin campus. In normal times these activities would have been relegated to the Music Department; however, it was clear that people loved hearing the music and seeing the students in action in spaces like the Octagon and Cafeteria deck.

It was definitely an exciting novelty for many, and wonderful to be able to share the music in a time of stress and strain. For our musicians, the move to ‘Orange’ was well-timed with the weather becoming colder, wetter and windier (flying sheet music definitely makes performance more challenging). As Term 2 of 2022 gets underway, we are now able to sing and play indoors, and also welcome parents into the school as audiences. All of our itinerant teachers are now able to teach face to face, and there is a real buzz as we start to plan to share our students’ work with audiences for the first time in many months.