Music Makers of Vista

Although everyone had a difficult time during lockdown, choir students had it rough in the age of online learning, being unable to play and sing together as a group. As a result, the dynamic was completely changed.

Director of Choirs at Sierra Vista, Jonathan Baltera shares, “It was vastly different…There was so much we couldn’t do, we couldn’t sing together, which is what choir is.”

Baltera goes on to say that the choir felt separated.

“So, what kids did was they learned the music on their own, they sang on their own, and I took all of it and squashed it together and made a choir performance. That’s not a choir performance, that’s just a bunch of people singing by themselves…” said Baltera.

However, there was still growth during the at-home period. Baltera shares that there was one good thing to come out of quarantine which was better understanding the music. “The good thing is that we could work on a lot of those things- the musicianship, reading the music, understanding the music.”
Baltera also mentions that he didn’t think the students particularly enjoyed doing choir from home.

Estella Datu, a freshman advanced choir student says, “The pandemic really kept us away from each other. We couldn’t exactly sing or practice together like we used to,”

“So, we had to practice on our own, but surprisingly, even though we were miles away from each other it still felt like we were a whole family…we missed each other so much. I’m glad we were able to keep a great connection during this difficult time.” expained Datu.

Datu said that although being online was difficult, her teachers exceeded the students’ expectations. “Thank God for all my choir teachers. They were amazing and went above and beyond trying to help us learn our parts. We were still able to submit part tapes, turn on our webcams and see each other. We would often joke around and have fun even though we were bonding from a distance.”
Throughout the interviews, Datu expresses her love for music. There’s no doubt that choir students across the board share a talent and passion for music.

Online learning was a roadblock but it also provided plenty of practice time which means that choir students are back and better than ever.