A LIMESTONE Coast choir group is not letting COVID-19 restrictions derail its rehearsals, joining a growing number of performing arts groups using video conferencing to connect members.
Phoenix Music Studios may have lost its ability to hold in-person lessons but studio director Jodi Swiggs said all students had been retained and were using video conferencing to fine-tune their singing.
“We are trying to keep teachers in the job and so far it has worked really well,” Ms Swiggs said.
Ms Swiggs said the choir’s first group lesson via the video conferencing method was a fantastic experience, but was difficult to navigate given the number of participants.
“As good as it is, because of the delay in the sound you cannot have multiple people doing things at the same time,” Ms Swiggs said.
“We have used it more as a platform of keeping in touch and seeing everyone’s faces.”
As far as rehearsals are concerned, Ms Swiggs said multiple hours of work had been put in behind the scenes to prepare pre-recorded material.
“There is also needing to upload to Dropbox, letting people know what they have to work on and people letting me know how they are going and how we can continue to help them,” she said.
Ms Swiggs said the choir group may look to split its members into smaller groups after the school holidays.
“We would have the sopranos and bass and split them into sections to see if we can get more efficiency out of the program,” she explained.
With all participants responding positively to the changes, Ms Swiggs said many look forward to their lessons as a social outlet.
“Some people are feeling very isolated and alone and they are enjoying the lessons and being as positive as they can,” she said.
“We continue to remind them this is not permanent and when we get back to normal we will hit the ground running because we have kept working and making progress.”
