From splendid to surreal: reflections of a weekend at an online national singing conference

From last Friday evening until late Sunday afternoon, I was online on my laptop, attending the 2020 ANATS National Conference. This conference of Australian singing teachers was originally planned for Adelaide, but after Covid-19 rendered a face to face conference out of the question, the planning shifted to a virtual conference. I was part of the organising committee and therefore experienced the weekend both as a delegate and organiser.

Conferences are certainly not new to me; over my 30+ years of singing teaching I have attended many, both nationally and internationally. I have assisted in the planning and running of several. But this was my first fully online conference.

It was refreshingly relaxing not to have to pack a suitcase and race to the airport after teaching classes up to the last moment. But I missed the flying and the opportunity those few hours in the air give to separate oneself from work at home and into conference mode. For the same reason, I missed the whole hotel experience – the catchups with colleagues over breakfast, late night drinks in the bar while going over the next day’s schedule and so on.

We did have a welcome reception on Friday evening. When planning for a conference in Adelaide, the Beatles famous appearance there in the 1960s, provided a theme. One venue which was considered in the early stages of planning was the Adelaide Town Hall, on the balcony of which the Beatles famously appeared on June 1964, to the largest crowd of fans of their Australian tour. Thus, the conference title “Come Together” was born and even when the conference planning moved towards an online format, the title and theme remained. 

At the welcome reception, delegates changed their computer screen backgrounds to Beatles themes, dressed in Beatles and / or 1960s inspired costumes and poured their own drinks at home. The inimitable Pat Wilson wrote and performed (with a little help from music theatre students at Elder Conservatorium) a song welcoming us all to the conference and showing us what we were missing in Adelaide. Delegates turned off their mics and sang along to “Come Together”. Random break-out rooms were created twice during the reception so that delegates could chat in small groups. This was a very popular activity. Vocalocity – Amelia Nell’s singing ensemble from the Blue Mountains, sang for us and provided a link between the previous conference and this one. Another link was provided by a video of the song composed by Di Hughes for, and recorded at, the previous conference in 2018.

An important aspect of any conference is the networking that happens during meal breaks and various social activities. The Beatles theme provided some opportunity to engage in asocial way despite being online; for example there was a photo competition for the best photo referencing to a Beatles song. Delegates were very creative with their photo submissions.

The conference took place over a conference app – Whova – with Zoom used for larger sessions. Delegates engaged easily with the app and were able to send messages to presenters and other delegates during sessions and throughout the conference. Similarly, the Chat function on Zoom was used both for personal messages and professional questions. Most of the keynotes were delivered live but papers and other presentations tended to be pre-recorded.

The 3 keynote speakers came from the USA, UK and Australia and during their sessions I felt a strong sense of being at the conference. But at the morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea breaks, it felt surreal to duck out and into my own kitchen to boil the kettle. I missed the chat with conference friends and colleagues. 

On the Saturday afternoon (we were 2 hours behind in WA) delegates from WA gathered at a bar in South Perth for a conference get-together. That was fun and a chance to chat with colleagues. Interestingly, many had not yet watched any of the conference. With the conference app, all sessions will be available for one month after the conference. The upside of that is that, unlike face to face conferences when one has to choose between concurrent sessions, with this one, all sessions can be watched eventually. 

Overnight on Saturday, some Australian states moved into daylight saving time. That meant that in my state of WA the Sunday 9.30am session started at 6.30am. Differing time zones is certainly an issue to be considered in virtual conferences.

This conference attracted around 300 delegates which is big for an ANATS conference. We had delegates from New Zealand and the USA – again unusual. Management of large groups online can be challenging; for example in the special interest group which I chaired, there were 4 screens of participants and I found it quite stressful to constantly scroll across screens to spot delegates with hands raised to speak, while at the same time focussing on the discussion.

In a post - Covid world there is likely to be an appetite for more online conferences – or at least  an online option or component in future conferences. Just as teachers have upskilled in online teaching this year, I am sure we will all become better at engaging in the virtual conference world.

Music Monday - staying vigilant

Yesterday the WA Chapter of ANATS (Australian Association of Teachers of Singing) held its AGM. We are the only state to hold our AGM in person this year, and at the meeting there was a real sense of how very lucky we are on the west coast of Australia that currently we have no community transmission of Covid-19. Life feels pretty normal right now.

And yet the situation could change in a matter of days. All it takes is a single breach of the rules from a returned international traveller or staff at a quarantine hotel doing the wrong thing and the virus could take off again.

And there is a potential danger in the kind of complacency we are starting to feel in the west.

In the past few days I have observed a number of behaviors which would be risky with even a slightly larger higher viral load here.

I attended a high school music theatre performance on Friday evening. It was SO good to be back in the theatre. But although the theatre seating had been sold at only fifty percent of capacity (in line with the current restrictions) there was no actual separation of patrons inside the theatre. We were seated next to each other with no spare seats between. Of course, there was less congestion than usual in the foyer, but any virus here would have had ample opportunity to spread during the show.

Furthermore, at both of my workplaces recently I have had the awkward experience of being in a toilet cubicle when the cubicle alongside was vacated- then no sound of water running at the wash basin followed - ie no hand washing.

I too have definitely caught myself being less constantly vigilant about frequent hand washing and hand sanitizing lately. But FaceTime chats with our daughter and her husband in the USA are a stark reminder of how much worse things could be. And tend to pull me back on track.

As arts workers we make close physical contact with each other on a daily basis. Singing and woodwind playing produce significant aerosols. Many pianists play the same piano. Dance routines often involve touch. So many scenes in plays involve embracing and kissing.

In order to inch slowly towards being able to do all of these things again we must stay vigilant in doing what science tells us to do in this pandemic: wash our hands regularly, avoid touching our face, keep a social distance from each other and where required- wear a mask.

Music Tip Monday #5 - Useful Apps for Singing Teachers + Singers

Liz recently attended an excellent ANATS WA event on contemporary singing presented by Perth singer and teacher Liyana Yusof. Liyana referred to some of the many phone apps which are useful to singers, singing teachers and music teachers in general.

How many of these do you use?

Perfect Piano -  free – for those times when you need a keyboard on the run

Shazam – Free – for identifying songs you hear in the car, at a concert and elsewhere and think they could be useful in class

Spotify – Free  - with a premium version at $9.99 per month

YouTube – Free – for playing examples of music performances to your students. A great aid when paired with a mini speaker.

Pro Metronome- free – can be used to provide beat when practising rhythms and rhythmic patterns in class, as well as setting the speed for a performance.

Voice Recorder / Voice Memo function on your phone – ideal for recording rhythms, melodies and other practice tracks for students.