COVID-19 made a lasting impact by shutting down much of the economy, and having millions become unemployed. For essential workers, they were required to adapt to the new normal and adjust their normal job duties into being socially distant throughout the pandemic.
Sigma Alpha Iota members have always committed themselves to their talents and energies-
whether it was in the field of music or not. Our sisters who became essential workers had to
adapt and expand their normal day to day tasks to cater to the pandemic.
Educators had to navigate remote learning since March of 2020. Many Sigma Alpha Iota sisters who teach music have been forced to think up creative and innovative ways to teach their students on a virtual platform.
Elizabeth Urquiola, an initiate of the Lambda Omicron Chapter at Florida International University, is no stranger to stepping up to assist her students and fellow teachers with innovative ways to engage music students during distance learning. Throughout the month of May 2020, she and her husband created YouTube videos that demonstrated and explained specific instruments in the different families of musical instruments. This allowed for a virtual interaction with music for not only the students she taught, but also was a resource for other music colleagues to utilize for their online platforms in order to have students become more engaged with their music education lessons. Elizabeth and her husband would begin each video by describing the similarities of instruments, and even continue on how to make a DIY instrument at home.
Besides music educators, many essential workers had to modify their normal job duties in order to adjust to working through COVID-19. Like many health and behavioral professionals, healthcare workers were concerned with the impact of COVID-19 and the well-being of their patients, families, and the community. Aniza Cantillo, a member of the Fort Lauderdale Alumnae and Patroness Chapter, is a Case Manager who saw the direct repercussions of COVID-19 by continuing to work in the healthcare systems. “My job is normally very interactive and relied on the interpersonal communication with patients. With COVID-19, there are a lot more precautions in place that has removed the personal aspect of my job. Adding social distancing measures and a face mask to the job definitely cut off the communication aspect with patients. Non-verbal communication during interactions such as a simple smile changed the tone of a statement, and without it being visible, it changed the personal approach towards patients. Face masks also forced me to speak with more enunciation, and without non-verbal cues (such as smiling), the tone would not sound as warm or friendly as I would’ve liked.”
With all the policy and procedure changes in the health field, COVID-19 took a toll even on how music therapists could serve their clients. Nicole Camejo, an initiate of the Sigma Chi Chapter at the University of Miami, discussed the challenges of keeping the attention of clients during COVID-19 (primarily with children of special needs). “Children with special needs often have difficulties maintaining their attention. With some clients, it was difficult to not only maintain their attention, but also to keep them engaged. There were times I had to reduce the session time for some clients. With other clients, they are more attentive when their parents are assisting them during the session and helping model or move certain ways to meet the goals and objectives.”
As a way to combat difficulties faced with online sessions, Nicole came up with creative ways to deliver her therapy. She provided music interventions that were successful such as music jeopardy- which worked well for adults especially if she was looking to work on cognition, attentiveness, and quality of life (if done in a group setting). She would make these
music jeopardy games themed with a certain time periods, artists, or a season. She modified
interventions by creating music meditation sessions where she would read a script and play
along with either a happy drum or a keyboard. Another innovative session that she
implemented was on where shared her screen on her computer with her clients and set poems to music or start a song writing session.
Even though the spread of the coronavirus has changed the normal way of life, those working through the pandemic have needed to become more creative with their day to day tasks out of necessity. This has allowed workers to adapt to the changes and embrace the new normal. As we get more comfortable with virtual platforms, we can only move forward with even more creative online interactions.
