A group wind instrument lesson took place at Nashua Community Music School last year, long before the COVID-19 virus threat prompted the school, and others, to conduct lessons online. Courtesy photo

NASHUA – Just because the lesson rooms have gone silent, and collective voices no longer fill the recital halls at their Pine Street Extension school, it doesn’t mean students learning to become musicians must lay down their instruments or put off vocal cord exercises while the COVID-19 virus lurks about.

In a nod to the (mostly) wonderful world of modern technology, and especially to the creative perseverence of those making it happen, places like the Nashua Community Music School are embracing the brand-new process called “virtual learning,” allowing their students to keep up their lesson schedule without, well, missing a beat.

“So far it’s going very well,” NCMS executive director Lindsay Rinaldi said this week of the transition that was as necessary as it was sudden.

Of course, she added, there was “a pretty steep learning curve at first,” but she is quick to praise the instructors and staff for doing what was necessary to negotiate that curve in timely fashion.

“I have a lot of respect for how they reinvented their curriculum in such a short time,” Rinaldi said. Their willingness, and ability, to “embrace the technology” has allowed the school to not only conduct all their private lessons virtually, but also to continue welcoming new students.

Over at North Main Music on Charron Avenue, director Mike McAdam said the first mention of going to online lessons was a month ago, the question posed by a student.

“Ten days later, we were in the midst of transitioning to online,” McAdam said. “It just goes to show how fast this all happened,” he added, referring to the onslaught of the COVID-19 virus threat.

Similar to the experience at Nashua Community Music School, staff and instructors at North Main Music ran into a few issues at first, but they kept at it and soon things were running smoothly, McAdam said.

The school also moved up its annual cover project, which is now underway. “It’s a good way to keep people plugged in,” McAdam said.

He recalls one student, early in the transition, becoming a bit apprehensive when asked if he was OK with online instruction. “He said, ‘it’s not ideal,'” McAdam said. “I told him, well, nothing is ideal right now.”

Virtual music lessons have also fit in nicely for a group of young budding musicians collectively known as Sinfonietta Strings of Greater Nashua, a program that gives school-age kids of all socioeconomic backgrounds the opportunity to learn to play a stringed instrument and perform as a group a couple of times a year.

In its seventh year, Sinfonietta Strings – “sinfonietta” is derived from an Italian term meaning “small symphony orchestra … especially an orchestra of strings only” – was founded by local violinist Nancy Goodwin to “complement existing school band programs,” which don’t offer string-instrument training, according to its mission statement.

The program relies upon donations and grants, which are coordinated through the United Way of Greater Nashua. Several local organizations support the program, and it also benefits from grants by the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

At NCMS, meanwhile, Rinaldi, who is also the chairwoman of the Nashua Arts Commission, said she “feels lucky” that the school is able to conduct its lessons virtually, although it has, at least temporarily, lost the ability to have group performances.

“We’re not yet able to do ensembles, concerts … we’re taking a pretty big financial hit,” she said. And the school isn’t alone among arts-related organizations finding it impossible to make any plans for the future, given the uncertainty swirling around the virus threat.

Still, there’s reason for optimism, Rinaldi said. “What I think is really special is that artists are naturally adaptive creatures … they know how to make changes when they need to,” she said.

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.

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