Young Artists Conservatory of Music Prepares for Fall Learning in 

Hy-brid / Open Air Model. 

 

YACM is partnered with teaching artists who will deliver music education in a hybrid model both in person and online.  We understand learning is different for each child and that in-person and/ or remote learning offers varied benefits.  We have used what we learned from the past spring and summer months to develop a guide for best practices, ensuring that the value of arts education at YACM continues to be transformative in the life of a child whether online or in-person. 

 

We know the best learning happens in person. We also know that increased risks associated with Covid-19 have reduced learning opportunities for children.  Although we are making every effort to create a covid safe in-person learning environment, we know on-line options may be the best choice for some. Students who consider themselves to be at risk may learn from home via online lessons. Faculty members who consider themselves to be at risk have the option to teach at home. 

 

Please Note 

It is because YACM has followed the most stringent county policies that we are able to offer a program consistent with the health and safety standards in our region.  This, combined with our outdoor facilities, and YACM’s extremely low faculty to student and student to student ratio makes these plans possible.

 

Private Lessons will be delivered in person and on-line, depending on the instrument and whether at-risk students and/or faculty are on campus. We anticipate that piano, percussion, guitar, violin, cello, viola, and drum lessons will occur in person. In all cases faculty and students will be required to adhere to all safety protocols (details below). For wind instruments and voice, we aim to offer in person instruction. These lessons will take place in larger rooms or open-air spaces to provide a significant distance and air flow between faculty and students. Staff collaborative pianists and vocal coaches will join in-person lessons in socially distanced spaces. Again, all safety protocols described herein must be adhered to by students and faculty in this process.

 

Instrumental Ensembles, which will meet and rehearse in person, will be small enough to allow for maximum physical distancing. Masks and safety protocols will be strictly enforced as detailed below. 

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Small Group Vocal Ensembles, which will meet and rehearse in person will be small enough to allow for maximum physical distancing or held in open-air spaces.  Face Shields will be required of all participants. 

 

Classroom Groups (Theory and Musicianship) will primarily be delivered online in the Fall in order to maximize the use of space at the YACM facility for the practice, rehearsal and performance of music. In other words, courses that would normally take place in classrooms will move online so that those large spaces can be repurposed for lessons and ensembles.

 

Small Group Instrumental Elective Classes will be offered in-person with online options for others and will be small enough to allow for physical distancing or in open-air spaces.  Again face coverings are required of all individuals in the facility.

 

Recitals and Performances will continue to take place on a regular basis. YACM is currently in the process of renovating the garden to include an outdoor open air stage. Other performances will be offered live via ZOOM, pre-recorded and published on YACM social media, and in venues (once venues are opened and made available) with decreased audience capacity.  

 

Musical and Theatrical Performances of SYT will not include the rehearsal or performance of musicals during the Fall 2020 Season.  SYT will offer online and in-person small group classes for acting, storytelling, speecharts and book-club in the Fall 2020 Season.  In-Person classes will be held in rooms that allow for social distancing or in the newly renovated Tarrega Garden Venue.

 

GENERAL FACILITY SAFETY PRECAUTIONS

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The YACM Facility consists of the main Victorian building at 500 Davis Vacaville where administration is headquartered and where most classes and lessons take place. 

 

Open Air / Outdoor Spaces 

This Fall, the adjacent and newly named and renovated Tarrega Garden Venue will provide shaded outdoor spaces for learning, waiting, and a new outdoor performance stage space.  YACM has also created in the front facing Davis Street, the Honor’s patio in honor of the annual Featured Soloists. It may be made available as an open air waiting space.  The deck, recently painted and named the Veranda de la Verona is located at the end of the 2nd story hall and is now available for open air lessons or waiting.  

 

Most studios are supplied with fresh outdoor air.  Each room has a portable HEPA filtered air purifier with a UV-C sterilization light. When indoors, a plexiglass partition will be used to separate a wind, vocal or acting students from the class or teaching members.  Sanitation supplies can be found in each studio room for use between lessons and classes. 

 

Off-site indoor spaces may be procured for classes in an effort to allow for greater participation while ensuring maximum distance learning. 

 

GENERAL PROCEDURES AND PROTOCOLS

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Surveillance

Most studios and classes have door windows. Those without door windows are equipped with camera surveillance. 

 

Masks

All those who enter the building must wear a mask and will have their temperature screened.  

 

Lesson Cancellations for Unrelated Covid -19 Illness

A student who cancels a lesson due to illness will have their next week's lesson online.  In-person lessons may be resumed the following week if no symptoms are present. 

 

Self-Monitoring

Anyone with a forehead temperature of 100 degrees or higher will not be admitted to class.  All family members are required to self-monitor and report immediately to YACM if a member of the family falls ill to Covid-19.  

 

Distancing

All staff and students should make every effort to maintain a distance of 6 feet from one another.  This will require staggered class times and work hours.  Students are not allowed to enter the building in groups and should text their instructor for the “okay” to enter.  Transferable rubber blue circles are used to indicate waiting and class participation spaces.  New capacity limits are established for halls, studios and offices to enforce physical distancing. Virtual meetings will continue for staff and administrators.  

 

Waiting Areas

YACM has reduced the waiting room chair count to discourage lingering and create the 6 feet of distancing required.  Only families are allowed to wait together in the first level hall, or second level landings outside Bach’s Bay or Mozart Manor. Individuals from different families are not allowed to wait together in the building.  All private students / parents are to text their teacher upon arriving at the facility and wait for a reply that the facility is safe to enter.  One parent  may attend lessons as along they are fully masked and the studio capacity is not exceeded. Parents or siblings are not allowed to wait for their student inside the YACM facility. The Tarrega Garden, Honor’s Patio and Veranda de La Verona can be used for outdoor waiting space.  

 

Entrance and Exit

Everyone should enter at the front on Davis Street and exit from the back at Tarrega Garden Ramp, with the exception of those with ADA needs.  A door code will be provided to all staff and family members. The door code will be changed at random intervals.  Please check your online portal for updates on the door code. 

 

Janitorial / Sanitation

Each studio is supplied with alcohol spray, disposable paper towels, hand sanitizer and extra disposable face masks.  All surfaces will be cleaned between lessons and classes. Rubber gloves are made available for instructors and employees who handle high touch objects. 

 

Bathrooms / Kitchen

The bathrooms are not open to the public. If you must use the facilities, you must inform a staff member immediately following use so the surfaces can be sanitized before the next use. 

 

POLICIES FOR PRACTICE ROOMS, REHEARSALS, PERFORMANCES

 

Studio Rooms

• All studio rooms have been equipped with a UV HEPA air filtration system. These filtration devices provide extra protection against airborne particles. 

• Studios / Classrooms will be available by reservation only, and times will include buffers in between for the air to be filtered before the next use. Certain spaces will be prioritized to certain disciplines based upon size and use such as vocal wind and drama students.

• Students and staff are expected to wash hands before and after each use of a practice room, as well as using materials supplied by facilities to wipe down piano keys after each use.

• The maximum capacity in rooms are listed as follows and must not be exceeded.   

  • Beethoven’s Parlor:  3

  • Mendelssohn Hall: 10

  • Vic Virth Studio:  2

  • Buddy Rich Room: 2

  • Mozart Mano:  3

  • Bach’s Bay:  6

  • The Ellington Room: 3

  • Pucci Place: 2

  • Chopin’s Corner: 2

  • Verand de La Verona: 4

  • Office of the Executive Director: 3

  • Administrative Offices: 4

  • Tarrega Garden Venue: 75

• Janitorial staff will clean each room daily, which will include the use of disinfectant in wiping door handles, light switches, thermostats, chairs, music stands, and piano benches. Piano keys will also be sterilized with isopropyl alcohol daily.

• Signs will be installed outside of each practice room to remind students of these protocols.

Ensemble Rehearsals and Performances

• Face masks are required at all times. Vocalists, brass, and woodwind players can only remove face masks when singing or playing their instrument.

• Social distancing is also required during rehearsals and performances. Non-brass and woodwind instruments will distance 6 feet apart, and brass and woodwinds will distance 10 feet apart. Ensemble rehearsals larger than trios will only take place in Bach’s Bay, Mendelssohn Hall or Tarrega Garden and performance halls, and in accordance with posted capacity limitations. All rehearsals or performances must be scheduled in advance with the administrative staff. 

• Brass, woodwind players, actors,  and vocalists  will also have plexiglass shields (6’ x 3’) placed between them and others in the room along being distanced 6 feet apart.

• Brass players must bring their own disposable towels to empty valves of condensation.

• Ensembles  for the fall semester will not be larger than 10 -15  musicians, depending on instrumentation, to allow for distancing on the Hume Concert Hall stage. Most ensembles will consist of 5-10  musicians or vocalists on stage at a time.

• Ensembles  rehearsing in Mendelssohn Hall  will be provided specific instructions for entering and exiting the room. Students in each ensemble will be assigned a specific location, and all chairs and stands will be spiked and not moved from their locations.

• Janitorial staff will clean rehearsal and performance spaces daily.

Studio and Performance Classes

• Studio and performance classes will be scheduled in spaces that can accommodate the number of students and faculty for each class while socially distancing.

• Some classes or performances will be made available to distance learners via Zoom. 

• Face masks will be worn by all students and faculty in these classes at all times, except by wind and voice students performing.

• Indoor wind and voice studio classes will take place in Mendelssohn or Bach’s Bay . A student performing in class will do so behind a 3-sided plexiglass barrier, with the other students sitting on the opposite end of the room and wearing face masks.

• All students and faculty in these classes will sit 6 feet apart from each other. Wind and voice students performing in these classes will distance at least 10 feet apart from others.

Recitals, Concerts and Audiences

• YACM’s hybrid approach to performances will include both on-line and in-person performances based upon the conviction that live performances and frequent performances are integral to the learning experience for children. 

• Online performances may be streamed or pre-recorded and will offer more frequent performance opportunities. This will also allow for reaching larger audiences. 

• In-person performances will occur outdoors in the Tarrega Garden or a venue facility that will allow for maximum distancing.

• Seats will need to be reserved in advance. Seats will be prioritized for students, immediate family members, faculty, and guests in that order. The Box Office will email when seats can be reserved. 

• Entering and exiting of performances will be very detailed for each performance space for one way traffic flow when possible, and Production staff will help with directing people.

• For Indoor Events, Face masks must be worn at all times while entering performance spaces, watching performances in seats, and exiting the spaces.

• For Outdoor Events, Face masks must be worn while entering, and exiting and preferably while watching.

 

RESPONDING TO INFECTIONS

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Any student, faculty, or staff member who tests positive for COVID-19 or has come into close contact with an individual who has recently tested positive has a duty to immediately submit the positive results to the executive leadership of YACM at executivedirector@youngartistsconservatory.org 

Additionally, any YACM community member who tests positive for COVID-19 will be asked to provide a list of every individual they have come into contact with. YACM tracing associated with the programs in which they are associated will be used to identify spaces and others who may be vulnerable. 

 

Response Specific to Students / Families

Students who test positive for COVID-19 will be required to quarantine until results establish that they do not have COVID-19 and they do not exhibit symptoms. They may attend virtual lessons and classes from quarantine. 

 

Students who have come into close contact with someone who is positive will be required to self-quarantine and continue their lessons and classes virtually until results establish that they do not have COVID-19 and they do not exhibit symptoms. Students will be permitted to end their quarantine after 14 days without symptoms and/or testing negative for the virus.

 

Response Specific to Faculty and Staff

Faculty and staff members who are infected or have come into close contact with someone who is infected will be asked to refrain from coming to campus for 14 days or until they have tested negative for the virus.

 

Summary COVID - 19 Health Protocols

• All students must have this signed WAIVER on file before commencing their first lesson or class. 

• Face masks or shields must be worn at all times.

• Please wait in the parking lot until your instructor texts you clearance to enter the building.

• Enter only from the front. 

• Exit only to the back. 

• Check in at the office where your temperature will be recorded. If your temperature reads 100 degrees or higher you will not be able to attend your lesson. 

• In-door classes are limited 10 participants

• Some Classes will be held in the gardens as possible. 

• There is limited waiting room space available and congregating is strictly prohibited.

• Bring your own filled water bottle, as the kitchen and water dispenser are closed.

• Bathrooms are closed to the public. 

• Keep your hands from touching surfaces as much as possible.

• Use hand sanitizer before each lesson.

• Stay home if you feel ill or are experiencing symptoms. 

• A student who cancels a lesson due to illness will have their next week's lesson online.  In-person lessons may be resumed the following week.

• Anyone suspected of COVID-19 will be removed from YACM programming for 14 days, and those in contact will be notified and recommended to self-isolate for 14 days.