How COVID-19 Has Affected Music Students

COVID-19 has taken many things from us, such as family reunions, events, and interactions with other people. College students are some of the groups of people that have suffered the most in these times. Zoom, Collaboration, and other social media platforms have become our only way to talk to our teachers and classmates. Music students especially now have to adapt to new formats to play their instruments while also staying safe. Even during a pandemic, Music students keep creating music and expressing themselves. Here is how COVID-19 has affected music students and how we are slowly going back to normal.  

In the beginning, music students had to adapt by sitting alone in their room with just a computer in front of them. The main problem that music students face was the audio on their computers. The audio might sound terrible, or sometimes it will not work, which can be frustrating for a music student. The rate of them learning an instrument was also a big problem. Music class is a hands-on type of class that is very hard to do when you get instructions through a computer. Students were not learning at an efficient rate, and instead, many of them were failing. The biggest problem that this pandemic has brought was that many talented students gave up on their dreams of becoming musicians.

Universities worldwide took their classes to Zoom and told music students to practice at home by themselves. This sounds like a good idea, but learning any instrument by yourself is extremely difficult. Some governors are opening the colleges now but with a lot of safety precautions. The precautions that are being used by the University of Michigan School of Music, Theater & Dance are some examples of how universities are opening up again. The plan states that “Music students will be required to maintain social distancing, as well as use bell covers for any breath-powered instruments, and maintain 12 feet of space between each player. Additionally, practice rooms are limited to 40-minute uses, with an additional 40 minutes between to facilitate safe air exchange.” These might seem extreme, but it’s a start to going back to normal.

Music students also have a secret that can help them decrease their stress, which is playing music. Playing music can help your brain deal with stress, anxiety and lift up your overall mood. Many music students not only learn music to be an artist, but many also use it to relax. Music has been shown to release dopamine which is precisely what these students need now that we are isolated. In conclusion, music students can perform music therapy by themselves, which is a great thing to do next time they are stressed out.

The fantastic thing is that even with all this madness, many music students are not giving up. Music students keep creating music and expressing themselves. This just goes to show that it doesn’t matter how tough it gets; we can all smile through the toughest of times. COVID-19 has affected music students in many ways but we are slowly going back to normal.

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