ROTR - One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
The entire choral world was taken out of commission in March 2020, when COVID-19 first came into our lives. We were suddenly “superspreaders” and forbidden to do the one thing we do best: sing. Especially sing together, on the risers, in the same room, raising arm hair with ringing chords.
Like everyone else in barbershop, Rhythm of the Rockies found themselves, instead of scrambling happily towards their regional competition, scrambling to figure out how to keep a lifestyle of close-harmony singing together when nobody could get together to sing.
The Music team and leadership worked very hard to figure out how to keep rehearsals going at all, never mind engaging enough to keep the membership involved. Zoom was one medium that most choirs and choruses turned to and worked well for bringing education we could probably otherwise not have been able to bring in. But Zoom is not well-suited to harmony singing. In addition, many people found they just could not connect in that way, especially if they were among those working online from home all day.
Members left. Many left with the intention of returning once we could get together again in person. Of those who stayed, approximately half the membership attended each rehearsal online. We put out two virtual songs which were well received. Kudos to those that worked very, very hard to make those happen.
Competitions were cancelled. Each cancellation made it harder to believe it would ever all come right again. Things like a retirement party for our long-time director had to be put on hold. No performances anywhere. No quartet rehearsals for the most part. Two steps back? Felt more like two hundred steps back without any prospect of moving forward.
Jane Best, ROTR’s newest bass
Surprisingly, we gained a couple of members during this time, had at least one quartet form, and have at present several guests attending as well as several more prospective members.
Finally, we found out we could partially return to the risers. Not the full membership at one time but some at least could, with precautions mandated by our rehearsal venue, finally sing together again. We worked with everyone: masks, social distancing, hybrid rehearsals with half the singers on the risers and half joining in with Zoom. We could finally hear actual four-part harmony instead of learning tracks. Our tech team worked to make this a wonderful experience, and it was! We were finally moving forward again. There was hope for next spring’s Regional. We might soon be able to perform locally in person again. One rehearsal down with half the available singers. A second rehearsal with the other half of the available singers. This was going to work!
Enter the fourth wave. Renewed restrictions, changed restrictions. How many steps back were we going to have to take? We went back to Zoom only for a week while we found out what we were going to need.
Well, it wasn’t quite as bad as it could be. The only change to our venue was that now any members attending had to be vaccinated or provide a negative covid test. Those who are not vaccinated might not be able to attend in person, but we’re keeping the hybrid rehearsals going indefinitely. Is this a step forward? We don’t know yet. It’s certainly better than it was in March 2020.