For months, the Tenino band had to be quiet.
Known for providing an entertaining display of school spirit during Tenino sporting events under the direction of Band Director Andrew Bowerly, it simply wasn’t possible during the pandemic.
“Music connects us,” Bowerly said. “The composer, the performer, the listener. It’s great to be connected again.”
Headlines during the spread of COVID-19 focused on a choir practice in Skagit County. The practice had created a super spreader event when the two-and-half hour church singing session attended by 61 people resulted in 32 cases of COVID-19, three hospitalizations and two deaths.
This made it difficult to facilitate music and bands during the pandemic. Since music requires collaboration everyday in order for it to be performed, teaching band got a bit interesting during the virtual learning part of the pandemic.
“Most general education classes are individually focused, where band and choir are all about doing everything together,” Bowerly said. “To have that taken away created a void for our students and a challenge to figure out how to bring that together.”
On March 13, 2020, Bowerly was busy preparing for multiple festivals and concerts that were going to occur the next week. That, however, would turn out to be the last day of in-person school for an extended period of time as COVID-19 cases began to spread across the world and into the United States.
Bowerly said it happened quickly. The direction things were headed in was still unclear at a staff meeting on Friday morning. It wasn’t known if school would be canceled, and by the time noon rolled around, everything was shut down.
What followed was a frantic scramble as a shift to remote learning took place. Educators worked to set up online curriculum and worked to figure out how they would remain connected with kids who were no longer physically present in school buildings.
“So many kids we tried to connect with just disappeared,” Bowerly said. “I was fortunate to have a great group of kids that connected with me regularly. Even if it was just to check in, talk about life and play games online.”
Bowerly planned weekly lessons and also recorded hours of rehearsal tracks and play-along songs in his garage. Since state guidance didn’t put a huge emphasis on participation and grades, engagement was minimal.
“We were able to squeeze out a virtual recording of the school fight song for our graduation parade but not much else,” Bowerly said.
Through online classes in 2020 and 2021, Bowerly said while they did have online band classes, they couldn’t play in real-time because he didn’t know his student’s home situations.
“We never did any ‘real time’ playing because we were never sure what was going on at the house — mom and dad working, kids napping, I mean, who wants to practice their trumpet at 8:25 in the morning by themselves?,” Bowerly said. “We spent our Zoom sessions talking about musicians, music theory, music videos, playing Among Us, how to clean your instrument, playing Mafia, Pictionary, scavenger hunts, talking about gaming, Kahoot, name that tune and much more.”
Along with this, there were black screens during the virtual sessions. Some kids would log in, but would keep their camera off or they wouldn’t respond. There were a few days, however, that Bowerly was able to get everybody to turn on their cameras and participate.
Bowerly said he felt the Zoom sessions were well attended. He worked around the live recording sessions with playing tests and vlogs where students could record weekly.
“We got some pretty awesome vlogs from our kids,” Bowerly said.
The Tenino band also performed some virtual concerts that were big hits during the fall and holiday season. Bowerly spent hours on sound and video production so the final products of student submissions could be highlighted.
This turned Bowerly, the educator, into Bowerly, the film director. He gained some sound work experience in college but had to take a crash course in becoming a true technical wizard during the pandemic.
“I am fortunate to be a part of a great community of band directors that shares their experiences and is always available to help,” Bowerly said. “There were some great colleagues that made learning some of the virtual performance fun much easier.”
Bowerly had to take raw sound files that students recorded through a Chromebook and fit it in with the rest of the ensemble. Think part Beethoven and part Doc Brown.
“Making a product that kids and parents and the community can enjoy is what worked,” Bowerly said.
When cohort classes began, Zoom session participation began to dwindle. Due to difficulties, band classes were not included in the middle school schedule.
“I had to make a plan to keep my kids connected and playing somehow,” Bowerly said.
The nature of splitting students into cohorts also meant the groups of instruments created interesting results at the high school level. Despite this, people were just grateful to have music. The school district purchased personal protective equipment, special masks and bell covers to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 through the instruments.
By spring of 2021, Tenino schools were able to bring kids back in some capacity. The wind symphony was small enough to spread out in the band room and play. Bowerly was also able to take the Tenino symphonic band and spread them out across the school’s common area.
The Tenino band then marched in the Tenino Oregon Trail Days Parade in July of 2021. Things looked like they were getting back to normal. While other schools grappled with rising case numbers and some switched over to remote learning again, Tenino was able to continue on.
“The kids that got to participate had a great time,” Bowerly said. “By the time we got to spring, we were able to pull off multiple outdoor concerns with social distancing and celebrate being able to play together again.”
Bowerly said at first it was uncertain if there was going to be a pep band due to COVID-19 case numbers. By the time fall of 2021 rolled around, all of the students and the school were all-in to bring the marching band and pep band back together to create music.
“When 2021-2022 started we had a goal to make every student feel safe and get every kid to participate as much as they could,” Bowerly said. “Throughout the process of masking and other practices, I have been super proud of our school and my students. We were one of the few schools to not have to pivot to online learning or reschedule games due to COVID outbreaks.”
Despite being a high-risk activity, the Tenino band had zero outbreaks, something Bowerly credits to the students for their diligence and respect for one another. While travel was limited in the fall, the Tenino marching band was able to return to the blacktop in 2021. They also got to see the Bucoda Hearse Processional in person.
“The kids were hungry for the experience they had missed out on,” Bowerly said. “Our concerts returned to the gym and we started making music in a way reminiscent to pre-COVID times. We still had to accommodate for random people being in quarantine (or) out sick at random times. We did the best we could.”
In fall of 2021, the Tenino band was able to perform in the band room together again. Middle schoolers — who had been perhaps the most isolated without band classes during a time when many pick up their instruments for the first time — also found their stride.
Bowerly’s seventh and eighth graders, now freshmen and sophomores, learned much of the pep band music for a “Middle School Pep Band Night” during the pandemic so they had some experience going into high school.
“There are still some things that we may be behind on, but if you listen to our groups at concerts, they are prepared and ready,” Bowerly said.
And now in March of 2022, the Tenino band is back in action with concerts without masks and performing at festivals that they missed out on two years ago. A large part of the Tenino band experience is community performances. It’s what they practice for, it’s what the students look forward to and it’s exactly what was missing two years ago.
“My students enjoy making music. They enjoy being a part of Tenino and the special thing that our community is,” Bowerly said. “So many of them have grown up in the school district and appreciate what the band brings to our small town.”
Coming up for the Tenino band is the Jazz Night and Silent Auction event at the Kodiak Room with the Adna High School Jazz Band on April 27. The band will then travel to Long Beach for the Loyalty Days Parade. On May 25, the Tenino band will perform a jazz band concert at the Eagle’s Club on May 25. They’ll also perform at the Tenino High School graduation on June 10.
The next school year is also being planned out. Bowerly hopes to host the Tenino Band Festival and Drumline Battle, and hopes to perform at Disneyland.
Bowerly said educators struggled during the pandemic. They had to learn new ways to teach, and had to wait on guidance from the state.
Tenino has a vibrant band culture and it’s evident with the Beavers having 1A enrollment numbers but a large and energetic presence during sporting events. Nationally, however, band enrollment is down and teachers are leaving the profession.
“I cherish the opportunities I have to share music with my students,” Bowerly said. “I am thankful for the relationships I have with them that kept them connected during this hard time. We have shared this trauma together and come out stronger.”
Bowerly said the experience has made him closer with fellow teachers and music educators.
