'I hope students come back to reaping the benefit of being involved in something that's bigger than themselves'

November 17, 2022

School music tours are back on for one school in Kent. Here their Head of Music, Jane Werry, explains how she's getting her department back on its feet again.

Q: What have been the main challenges you have faced post Covid and what advice would you offer other music departments trying to get everything going again? 

Students have been reluctant to commit to rehearsals and belonging to a group. There has also been a sense of them not wanting to put themselves 'out there' and perform in front of others. Our groups are now much smaller than they were pre-Covid, and building everything back up is proving to be a very slow process. One piece of advice I would give is to find out what students are interested in, and adapt accordingly. We found out that we had a lot of students interested in musical theatre, so we set up a musical theatre group, which is now one of our most successful activities.

Q: Would you say Covid will have a permanent impact on music education or do you think things will eventually ‘return to normal’?

It's difficult to say whether the reluctance to commit is temporary or permanent. It could be that we are attributing a shift from service and collegiality to individualism (and therefore away from music ensembles) to Covid when actually it is something more deeply societal. Either way, I very much hope that students will come back to reaping the benefit of being involved in something that is bigger than themselves as individuals.

Jane's choir on tour in Saxony before Covid

Q: What challenges did you face getting your Spring tour to Belgium going?

Having been unable to tour in 2020 or 2021 due to the pandemic, we failed to get enough students interested in coming in 2022, which was desperately disappointing. We felt that our touring tradition had been lost, and that students didn't realise what they were missing out on! This year we have got just about enough students to make it viable. We are looking forward most to inducting them into our tour traditions and showing them just how much fun it can be.

Q; How important is it to get young ensembles touring again?

For us, it is a vital part of what we do all year round. It provides a spark and an impetus to everything - it is a reason to turn up to rehearsals every week. We need touring to keep our snowball rolling and growing again.

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'I hope students come back to reaping the benefit of being involved in something that's bigger than themselves'

Q; How important is it to get young ensembles touring again?

​For us, it is a vital part of what we do all year round. It provides a spark and an impetus to everything - it is a reason to turn up to rehearsals every week. We need touring to keep our snowball rolling and growing again.

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For us, it is a vital part of what we do all year round. It provides a spark and an impetus to everything - it is a reason to turn up to rehearsals every week. We need touring to keep our snowball rolling and growing again.