By Khoi Le, Staff Writer.
The Music Doesn’t Stop
PRIDE: Even during a pandemic, the Riverside Poly High School band does not stop making music!
As COVID-19 cases continue to rise throughout the United States, many high school departments such as performing arts, sports, and clubs are scrambling to adapt. Athletes worry about their upcoming season, teachers stress as they figure out their new system of teaching, and counselors frantically fix schedules. The fields are empty, no longer cared for or played on, the classrooms collect dust, and the band room, a place that many musicians once called home, lies empty and abandoned. Although the classrooms at Poly High School are lifeless, the homes of the musicians fill the void with music.
Just as students go to their academic classes, such as chemistry or calculus online, the band kids go to their band class the same way, playing together even in the worst of times. Out of the speakers of their computers, their beloved band teacher Ms. Hernandez greets them, letting them know that although they are separated physically, they’re still together through their music. Like a normal band class, the musicians prepare their instruments, assembling the parts that will allow them to fill the room with music. As a class, they warm up their bodies with breathing exercises. The band teacher then raises her arms like a puppet master, ready to perform a show. Although the students can’t hear each other since their computers automatically mute the noise, they can still make beautiful music in their band class together. Their bedrooms become concert halls, filled with the sound of their peers, who share the same passion for making music. “Together” they replace the world’s problems with the sound of music.
The Riverside Poly High School band is not just a group of musicians or a group of talented students-they are a family. As the problems of the world continue, the band deals with them together. With the help of the teacher, the musicians continue to radiate positivity in the worst of times through music. Although they may be physically apart, wherever the music continues, the musicians are together.
To learn more about COVID-19, please visit: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html