MONROE COUNTY, Ga. — If it were any other summer, Mary Persons High School band students would be practicing their music together in-person at band camp.
"It was the first or second day of leadership camp where they were up in the band room getting things ready to go for the season and that's when we got the news that Monroe County had been elevated to that substantial spread," Mary Persons High Band Director Miles Benson said.
Luckily, he already had a back up in plan in place to make the camp virtual instead of cancelling it all together.
"Essentially their music, their schedule, their links that they need for their various Zoom sessions all of that could be found within this sort of Google Drive hub and so all that. Students were given access to all that," Benson said.
Trombone/Baritone section leader Charlotte Wilcox didn't think she'd spend her senior band camp year online, but she's adjusted well.
"We teach like step sizes in marching band, but you can't really see your step sizes on like Zoom. So we've had to like adjust that as much as possible, but yeah I teach it to them and then I go through one by one and see how they're doing. Like give them direct feedback and then once we end that lesson for that day, they have to send me the video of what they were practicing today," Wilcox said.
She critiques the homemade practice videos.
"Some of them are in their backyard or front yard. Some people are in their living room and they have their cats running around and they're trying not to step on their cats when they're marching. It's been very entertaining to see the locations that people chose," Wilcox said.
Benson says virtual band camp was a tough challenge to pull off, but it was worth developing these young musicians' skills.
"I'm sure that the first time that we do get them back together and hear them play again for the first time, there will probably be some tears shed," Benson said.
Benson was able to reach expert musicians locally and out of state to give students one-on-one sessions over Zoom video chats.
He also says they'll be able to help other band programs who may look into virtual camps in the future.