This piece first appeared in our March 2021 Magazine
Visual and performing arts students had to make big changes when classes went online in March but now these adjustments have become part of their new normal.
Levi Sanford, a senior majoring in graphic design, said in an interview last year that canvas discussion boards for critique didn’t work as well for him. But this year he said they work pretty well since students have become more acquainted with them.
“It’s definitely been quite the transition for me and a lot of other people as well. Just discussing things with other people in person is something I definitely miss,” Sanford said.
Sanford said he’s been doing self-portraits for his photography classes in order to be safe, but he said it’s also been good for him.
“It’s a time of just learning about yourself more and self-growth,” he said.
Some students said they’ve been able to be more creative with what they do for class.
Sanford said although this time has allowed him to push his creativity, it also has gotten in the way of his art.
“While being isolated I’ve experienced imposter syndrome and feeling like a fraud. I’ve just got this far by luck,” Sanford said. “I know that’s not true, but your brain tricks you into thinking that. And when you’re alone you have all that time to think so it’s distracting.”
Briana Hernandez, a junior majoring in musical theatre, is in a musical theatre history class and is doing a project on a figure from musical theatre history with a performance.
“I do think there’s more freedom with what we’re doing because it doesn’t have to be ‘I’m standing in front of the classroom and performing my thing’,” Hernandez said. “Instead I can make a music video or something else.”
Cameron Johnson, a freshman instrumental education major, said he didn’t know what to expect starting school during the pandemic.
“I don’t want to say it was discouraging. It was just so different and jarring,” Johnson said. “It was like ‘Oh this is more difficult than it already is normally’ because of the extra precautions we have to take.”
“It’s a time of just learning about yourself more and self-growth”
Levi Sanford
Johnson said his professors have made it clear they have been a lot more lenient than they would be because they don’t know what to expect either.
“Last semester we were on Zoom for a class and half of us couldn’t hear the piano because of the way she had her speakers set up so she cancelled class for the day and pushed back the quiz until she figured it out,” Johnson said. “They’re in the business of ‘let’s get this done some way or another’.”
Johnson said one of the things that’s gotten in the way of his education the most is getting practice time in.
“In high school it was easy to go somewhere after school and practice for x amount of time. Coming into college it’s a hassle to go and make sure I have everything with me and then go to the practice room for my scheduled time. It was almost discouraging because I can only do this for small increments of time and that’s not an effective way to practice in my opinion.”
Johnson also writes music in his spare time and that has also been impeded because he can’t play very easily. He said working on music with other students was something he was looking forward to but can’t do right now.
“Inspiration has been harder to come by because I’m confined to a space and can’t get out and see other things,” Johnson said.
Last year Roy Lightner, assistant professor in the department of theater said “this is a challenging time for everybody, especially in the creative and performing industry, in a world where we exist with the audience and we exist with collaboration and we exist with peer-to-peer learning.”
“Inspiration has been harder to come by because I’m confined to a space and can’t get out and see other things”
Cameron Johnson
Hernandez said she and her peers have adapted and so has theatre.
“I have an acting class on zoom and we’re just doing monologues but that’s how we are auditioning for things now. We’re sending videos of ourselves doing monologues and singing songs,” Hernandez said.
The move online has also changed job hunting for students.
Hernandez said she’s been able to audition and get callbacks for things they normally wouldn’t have necessarily been able to before.
“There are audition conferences around this time of year but we’re doing all of them from home. So, it’s less expensive and we’re getting all these companies to see us.”
She said she hopes that these sorts of accommodations become standard alongside normal in-person auditions.
Sanford said this has given himself and other students opportunities they normally wouldn’t have.
“It’s given people these opportunities for remote internships that you normally couldn’t access in New York, California and Colorado,” Sanford said.
