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VWU GOES REMOTE: Professor Bryson Mortensen
This series explores innovative ways faculty are adapting instruction for remote delivery
University News | April 30, 2020
Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Choral Music Bryson Mortensen notes that the move to remote delivery of instruction and activities prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic has been interesting, especially for the choral ensembles.
“We are having a great time experimenting with this new normal,” said Dr. Mortensen. “While, of course, we all wish that we could be making music together, I felt that this gave us an opportunity to try something a little bit different and let us stretch ourselves in new directions.”
During a traditional semester, he says that the choral ensembles spend so much time preparing for concerts that they have little time to think about anything other than the music for those performances. With the changes imposed, his students are now trying their hands at arranging music for Vox Vera, the top chamber ensemble in the VWU Choirs program. The auditioned mixed choir of 12-16 singers can use much of what they are creating when they sing next year and are back together in person.
Professor Mortensen says that students are building their skills in music literacy by engaging in activities like online sight-reading activities each week.
“One of the most exciting things we are doing is using a format I have built where choir members can share their performances with each other. I give them a weekly prompt, such as ‘rewrite a broadway song to be about quarantine,’ or “give us a song to wash our hands to,’ and they record themselves singing a song in response.”
The students then watch each other’s videos and record their responses.
“It has been so exciting to see the creativity of our students as they sing for us via Zoom! What so many of our students are craving is an opportunity to connect with somebody, and for a lot of them, this happened during choir. Connecting in this virtual way gives them a chance to create, perform, and stay connected!”
Read More in the Series:
VWU GOES REMOTE: Professor Maury Howard
VWU GOES REMOTE: Professor Paul Ewell