“Music has always been important to Miguel Rodriguez, who plays the flute in the Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra,” writes Gloria Casas in Friday’s (11/6) Elgin Courier-News (IL). “It’s become a lifeline for the 17-year-old during the COVID-19 pandemic…. This fall [the orchestra’s musicians] resumed in-person rehearsals…. Executive director Eric Larson and artistic director Matthew Sheppard and other staff spent the summer figuring out how the 2020-21 season could be held during a pandemic. By following the rules laid out by local health departments and the CDC, they split things up, spread things out and gave it a shot…. Parents can’t come into rehearsals. Volunteers take students’ temperatures…. Students rehearse in small groups… A bell cover [for woodwind and brass players] helps minimize the aerosol spread.… The Nov. 15 [livestreamed] concert is free—they’ll do performances at 2, 4:30 and 7 p.m…. Larson said they are just happy to be able to present live performances…. ‘This is one way or another a stressful time for most of us,’ he said. ‘These students love performing music and being able to do that in a time like this is a fantastic benefit to them.’ ”
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