May 7, 2021
As vaccinations against CoViD-19 are becomming more readily available, there is eager expectation that we will be able to safely play together in person this fall. But for now, we continue to meet online via Zoom for our monthly chapter meetings and through the member-led meetings in the summer. It's been quite a year, learning how to play alone-together under the direction of great teachers presenting engaging and beautiful music. Without this technology, our musical participation would have been limited to our own households, or playing along with music-minus-one files (nb: some great ones are available in the ARS music library). An unexpected benefit of these online meetings has been the growth of the chapter, and we now have 48 members on the roster, although not everyone can be present at every meeting. We have also been able to hire teachers from out of the area when our local teachers are unavailable, such as Anne Timberlake (St. Louis, MO), Vicki Boeckman (Seattle, WA), Alexa Haynes-Pilon (Washington, D.C.), John Tyson and Miyuki Tsurutani (Cambridge, MA), and Malachai Komanoff Bandy (Los Angeles, CA). We are very happy to contribute to the continued employment of our recorder professionals.
In keeping with the current norm, we will be holding the May 2021 meeting online. Go to our Conductor page to read about Malachai Bandy, his remarkable virsatility, and his impressive CV. Music and the Zoom link will be sent to the members about one week ahead of the meeting. If you are not an SFRS or SRS member, please contact me and I will add you to our mailing list and be invited to our virtual chapter meetings.
We have really been enjoying our partnership with the Sacramento Recorder Society (SRS) during this period of distanced participarticipation. To help cover the fees for our conductors, we have been suggessting a small, voluntary fee from non-members. Preparing materials for online teaching requires considerably more time and labor than in-person meetings, and these teachers need to be compensated fairly. We also want to support our professionals now more than ever due to lost revenue they are experiencing during CoViD-19 with no live engagements.
Hopefully you are all connected - albeit remotely - to music and friends via the Internet. The online meeting platforms such as Skype, Zoom, FaceTime, and others, have become very important as a way to stay in touch. And of course, we can spend more time practicing! If you haven't read it yet, an excellent article and perspective by recorder professional Anne Timberlake, read her blog post titled "Recorder in the time of COVID-19". She also helped to author the latest ARSNova article about online lessons (for both teachers and students), which you can find HERE.
To all: Keep informed, use trustworthy sources, and follow the guidelines. We hope this will all settle down enough for us to meet again in person. We will continue to update you and offer news or tips when possible. Our host venue, Christ Church Luther has begun holding limited capacity in-person services and has great hopes that we will soon return to meet there as well as provide music for one service per month. Our goal is September - just 4 months from now!
Let's all do our best stay well and keep playing. We hope everyone is on track to receive their vaccinations against CoViD-19!
Greta Haug-Hryciw
President, San Francisco Recorder Society
American Recorder Society Board of Directors
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