August Update

Masks are Now Optional

As the Mask Mandate came to an end this past Saturday August 7th, we are moving to a optional mask policy (like we did last year at this time).

Teaching in general, and music in particular, is very difficult for both the teacher and the student. Pronouncing the names of the musical alphabet is dicey. The letters BCDE and G all rhyme and the masks make seeing the lips and hearing the consonants next to impossible. It is hard to show emotion, encouragement or humour with just just words and eye brows.
Having said, staff is not discouraged from wearing a mask and neither are students. It is about making your own decisions and your comfort level. I’ll remind you, we have windows we can open (when it’s not smoking hot) in 2 rooms and plexiglass barriers. We also had a new HVAC system installed last year dedicated to our unit only. At no point in the pandemic did anyone associated with the River Heights School of Music contract a case of COVID-19.

Not Checking Your Vaccine Status

As well we have not and will not be asking anyone about their vaccine status. On top of having serious doubts about the security of the QR scanner app that ANYONE can download, We have serious doubts about the legality of asking medical questions of any sort.

If You Are Sick

If there is one aspect of ‘normal’ this pandemic has brought us that we’d like to retain it’s stay home if you are sick. We now have great familiarity with online teaching and, while not perfect, is a great fill in. So if the student, parent or whomever is sick, you can stay home and have your lessons online. Very few students have preferred it over in person, but to have one here and there is a great way to not miss a lesson and not have to deal with the inconvenience of the make up lesson.