Things continue to look more and more promising for our Fall 2021 season.

Effective vaccines are being mass produced, some countries are even distributing already! 

But we’re not out of the thick of things just yet. In fact this winter will continue to be difficult as we wait for a realistic plan to roll out. In last week’s post we discussed how to plan for your fall season, given that the upcoming months are in such flux. This week, we are going back to the very first post we wrote at Music Effect Design and revisit it for the upcoming season, asking the same question:

How do you prepare your students for the upcoming season when we aren’t able to “return to normal” just yet?

This season poses a unique position for us once again. One where we anticipate a somewhat regular season, but can’t anticipate when things will stabilize just yet. We’re are predicting socially distanced training, yet a full in-person season.

Our community has come together to support each other this year. It is beautifully encouraging to watch the problem solvers come up with new solutions while we are forced into this socially distant, technology heavy environment. I would guess that much of what we have learned will stick around and make programs better even once we return to normal. 

*In light of the developments of this lockdown, here are four tools & resources that stand out and do a tremendous job preparing our students for the upcoming fall season, no matter what your situation is leading up:

Tools to develop your team virtually & in person:

MUSIC & MOTION

Music & Motion is one of my favorites on this list. It is a collection of etudes (music & visual) that address specific training concepts for your performance. It is especially valuable for our current situation because of its versatility. The link above shares more about Music & Motion:

“Packages can be taught virtually, individually, in small groups or full ensembles. Each student only needs a 30ft x 30ft space to learn all the exercises outside of school.”

How cool is that? If you start distanced and slowly transition to a full in-person normal season, Music & Motion can offer you training tools to achieve both needs.

The etudes address common training needs for the ensemble. For example, Etude 1 utilizes “Goin Home” to to focus on long tones musically and 45 degree pathways w/ subsets visually. Each etude includes music (scores & parts), visual instructions, and a video of the drill concept.

MUSIC CHUNKS

Are you looking to challenge your students with new & challenging music to prepare them for the upcoming year? Music chunks gives you access to thousands of original compositions of varying challenge while allowing you enhanced control over tempo, metronome, and which voices you hear. What’s especially cool about music chunks is its loop feature, allowing you to practice sections over and over continuously. 

With good guidance, your students can learn great practice habits using Music Chunks to get rapid feedback via recording. And with thousands of pieces to practice, there’s great opportunity for sight reading and structured music learning. 

Music Chunks offers an ensemble discount to groups of 10 or more. Check that out here for more info.

MUSE CLASS

Are you looking for a solution for giving your students assignments directly via an online platform? Muse Class may be my personal favorite solution. With the ability to create & distribute assignments online, along with Google Classroom integration, Muse Class is a great tool for those who want to integrate online learning in their classroom for years to come.

The student app (for both iOS & Android) gives feedback on note accuracy and the requirements for each assignment. 

Not sure if you’ll like it or not- well you can try it totally free until August 2021!

Virtual Clinics

Virtual clinics continue to improve in quality as we explore the limits of online learning. These clinics can include top level educators just like many clinics hosted over the summers students normally attend.

Interested in a virtual clinic for your students? Here are just a few being hosted in the coming months:

The Breakdown Camp

Virtual Arts Indoor

Bluecoats School of the Arts

WHAT’S NEXT?

These are just a few of our favorites that we’ve discovered over the last few months. There are so many more great programs out there for your students. Remember: we’re only limited by our own creativity. There are many ways to prepare your students for this coming fall season, both virtually and in-person. 

Have more suggestions of great tools & programs for students? Make sure to leave a comment below so we can share more of the great ways we can support each other this coming year!

You’ve got this. We are almost through this difficult time. Let’s keep working together to achieve great things so we can all be ready once things are “back to normal”.

P.S.: Just this week we launched our new ebook “Planning Your Season”. It’s all about how to coordinate your design season among your staff, designers, and students to get the very best out of your program. It is for sale on our website. If you’d like a copy of the first chapter, send us a message and we’ll get it to you for free!

*= None of the above links are affiliates. We are not earning anything for these clicks. In fact, we are not affiliated with any of these programs, other than the fact that we are big fans of what they are doing.