Adam Miller, the Head Director of Totino-Grace Show Choir has found a way to keep the season going despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of a normal show with a performance, they will put together a music video to showcase all of their hard work. 

Totino-Grace Show Choir, a leader in the show choir community, has come up with a plan to have as normal of a season as possible. This comes as a shock to many because most high school activities that will begin in the fall, according to a Star Tribune article, will have either a practice only season or a shortened season with only about twenty to thirty percent of the normal amount of games. 

A typical show choir season would start at the end of August, starting with a vocal camp where the students would learn the show.

The choreography of a show would be learned mid-October and practices would typically be three times a week for about two and a half hours. Competitions would start in early January and go until mid-March. The team would usually participate in seven competitions.

The biggest difference with this season compared to others is that there will be no competitions.

This is a “big deal” said Adam Miller, “because many of the other Show Choir leaders in Minnesota had no other option than to cancel but we found a way to make it through with only minimal changes.”

Some of the other changes being made are to follow COVID-19 guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These include wearing masks while singing and dancing in an enclosed space, going to other larger spaces such as churches and outdoor spaces to rehearse, and having smaller rehearsals for each voice part instead of one large rehearsal for everybody.

While Adam Miller is very excited about the changes being made to the upcoming season, some of the students are not as excited. An opinion poll that was sent out to students in show choir highlights how some students truly feel about this upcoming season. 

The most shocking answer to the question, do you like the music idea video for the season: over o25% of the students in Show Choir thought that it would have been better to cancel the season and wait until the following year. 

When asked if show choir would change forever Miller said, “competition drives show choir and that art will never truly change.”

While COVID-19 will not be changing Show Choir forever at Totino-Grace, it will be a little different for the foreseeable future. Virtual performances instead of live ones and mask changes instead of costume changes.