Music class during coronavirus: How the band plays on

Just a week before the new school year started, Paula Ortelli finally learned she’d be allowed to teach hands-on, in-person music classes, but with some important caveats. Anxious to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, school board and health officials had banned wind instruments such as flute, clarinet, trombone, and trumpet from school property. Singing was allowed, but only outdoors and only if students stood at least nine feet apart.

“I understood why, because of COVID, but it’s almost impossible to be that far away from each other,” says Ms. Ortelli, a veteran music teacher at Stratford District Secondary School, a high school in Stratford, Ontario, a two-hour drive west of Toronto.

Ever the optimist,