SPOKANE, Wash. — When Spokane Public Schools students resume classes on September 14, there’s going to be a list of adjustments they'll have to get used to.
The most glaring change is social-distance learning and receiving an education through computer screens, but it's not just missing out on being inside of the classroom. There’s a trickle-down effect to everyone involved which means students in the band will have to practice with a new smart program.
“It seems like a really good solution for the times we’re in,” said Dan Nord, who is the Lewis & Clark High School's band director.
Nord has been teaching at the high school for more than a decade.
This year, his students won’t have large in-person concerts or Friday night football games to play. They will, however, have a chance to improve on their musical gifts.
“We enjoy that time together and that’s what makes band so great,” he explained. “Being around the other musicians and creating together. We’re still going to miss that part of it, but the music can still be there and this is a vehicle to get it done.”
The smart program that students will use provides interactive feedback.
They play their instruments to the sound of other music and the computer tells them what notes they hit correctly or where they can improve.
“Up here in the upper left it gave me a score,” Nord demonstrated. “The students can change the tolerance levels and make it easier or harder depending on where they are.”
Although this is how learning will take place for students in the band, the smart program is something that could be beneficial even when there’s a return to the classroom.
It’s focused on practice but serves as an enjoyable method of improving on a craft.
“Maybe it’s not the band on stage, but it is all the kids playing what they’re accomplishing. So the performance aspect is still going to be there, it’s just going to look different," Nord said.