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What is the long term impact of Covid-19 on the Marching Arts


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we have all thrown out our opinions as to if or when the marching arts should resume or if they should resume at all in 2020. With BOA and a number of other outlets on local competitions all cancelling their events, it appears that Texas UIL may be he only real competitive event for the marching arts this season.  Setting our politics aside on if you agree or disagree with the UIL decision. for the programs that have already stated that they will not compete this year, what is the long term impact on their programs?

There is the financial impact, parents that are impacted by Covid that will go into the coming year and not be able to afford band fees in the future, Business sponsors that no longer have the ability to support programs. There is also the financial impact on the district - we have all seen that when district budgets get tight, Fine Arts is usually the first item that is decreased or cut all together. These cuts could impact program cost increases that could also impact participation levels

and then there are the kids themselves, how many that lose competitive marching for a whole year, just never come back. Teenagers are funny that way. We have all seen some amazing musicians in programs that plan to pursue music beyond high school. but for every one of those, there are 20 more kids that marching band is a social event and have no intention of pursuing a career in music. if they bow out for financial reasons, the fact that their is no competitive season or such for a whole year, will they come back? 

I hope I am wrong, but I think the impact of Covid-19 will linger beyond the nightmare we call 2020 - thoughts?

 

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My opinion is longterm on a larger scale the impact won’t be hugely significant if the activities return to normal next fall and the finances are still breathing. I can see most competions and groups bouncing back with force and gusto, passion and excitement for what was missed this year. Clearly, the financial impact is going to be significant, however, and as the millions of people out of work/furloughed etc- this will have an impact that trickles to all kinds of activities dependent on social gathering- obviously marching arts aren’t excluded.


However, I think the impact on specific groups (or individual kids) is going to vary widely. This will depend a lot on what kind of strength the group had to begin with, how well they adapt to what’s happening this year, and frankly how motivating the leadership is to get back on the field. This isn’t a judgement, just a statement of how I see it moving forward.

I think some bands that had retention problems (regardless of the cause) to begin with might have even more significant issues with this going forward. I imagine many seniors will quit this year, and that has a sortof spiral and poor morale issue on the band as a whole (ask me how I know lol). I think bands that have strong leadership with communicative and personal band instructors, involved parents all eager to get the kids back at it sooner rather than later will likely have a better outcome. It’s not going to motiv kids to stay in band if the directors themselves aren’t eager to figure a way to work it out. Again, not a judgment on the part of teachers and instructors- only that from a kid’s perspective they are eager to get going asap is what I’m hearing. My lame comparison is to look at restaurants- those that adapted quickly to all of this curbside, online ordering, masks and cleaning survived (if weakly) and those that didn’t have gone forever. It’s quite unfortunate. This is just my .$02 I’m sure there are many perspectives here.

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3 hours ago, GeekyBandMom said:

My opinion is longterm on a larger scale the impact won’t be hugely significant if the activities return to normal next fall and the finances are still breathing. I can see most competions and groups bouncing back with force and gusto, passion and excitement for what was missed this year. Clearly, the financial impact is going to be significant, however, and as the millions of people out of work/furloughed etc- this will have an impact that trickles to all kinds of activities dependent on social gathering- obviously marching arts aren’t excluded.


However, I think the impact on specific groups (or individual kids) is going to vary widely. This will depend a lot on what kind of strength the group had to begin with, how well they adapt to what’s happening this year, and frankly how motivating the leadership is to get back on the field. This isn’t a judgement, just a statement of how I see it moving forward.

I think some bands that had retention problems (regardless of the cause) to begin with might have even more significant issues with this going forward. I imagine many seniors will quit this year, and that has a sortof spiral and poor morale issue on the band as a whole (ask me how I know lol). I think bands that have strong leadership with communicative and personal band instructors, involved parents all eager to get the kids back at it sooner rather than later will likely have a better outcome. It’s not going to motiv kids to stay in band if the directors themselves aren’t eager to figure a way to work it out. Again, not a judgment on the part of teachers and instructors- only that from a kid’s perspective they are eager to get going asap is what I’m hearing. My lame comparison is to look at restaurants- those that adapted quickly to all of this curbside, online ordering, masks and cleaning survived (if weakly) and those that didn’t have gone forever. It’s quite unfortunate. This is just my .$02 I’m sure there are many perspectives here.

Your two cents actually makes a LOT of sense and the restaurant comparison was spot on. 

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On 8/24/2020 at 8:53 AM, GeekyBandMom said:

My opinion is longterm on a larger scale the impact won’t be hugely significant if the activities return to normal next fall and the finances are still breathing. I can see most competions and groups bouncing back with force and gusto, passion and excitement for what was missed this year. Clearly, the financial impact is going to be significant, however, and as the millions of people out of work/furloughed etc- this will have an impact that trickles to all kinds of activities dependent on social gathering- obviously marching arts aren’t excluded.


However, I think the impact on specific groups (or individual kids) is going to vary widely. This will depend a lot on what kind of strength the group had to begin with, how well they adapt to what’s happening this year, and frankly how motivating the leadership is to get back on the field. This isn’t a judgement, just a statement of how I see it moving forward.

I think some bands that had retention problems (regardless of the cause) to begin with might have even more significant issues with this going forward. I imagine many seniors will quit this year, and that has a sortof spiral and poor morale issue on the band as a whole (ask me how I know lol). I think bands that have strong leadership with communicative and personal band instructors, involved parents all eager to get the kids back at it sooner rather than later will likely have a better outcome. It’s not going to motiv kids to stay in band if the directors themselves aren’t eager to figure a way to work it out. Again, not a judgment on the part of teachers and instructors- only that from a kid’s perspective they are eager to get going asap is what I’m hearing. My lame comparison is to look at restaurants- those that adapted quickly to all of this curbside, online ordering, masks and cleaning survived (if weakly) and those that didn’t have gone forever. It’s quite unfortunate. This is just my .$02 I’m sure there are many perspectives here.

YES!

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