Totino-Grace’s moving schedule is already complicated on its own. But for some students it has another layer of complexity: they have band and choir in the same class period.

According to Cross River Therapy, forty-five percent of high school students feel stressed every day. Why then do these students add more work to their days at school? 

One of the reasons is to learn about all types of music. This is the reason for Isaac Schmit, a senior in both classes. “I do enjoy both aspects of music, like the instrumental part and also the singing.”.

Andrew Burnes, a junior in both classes, shared this sentiment: “I decided to take both classes because I like to sing, so I wanted to stay in choir. But then I also just like other music, like piano.”

However, this interest in music has its downsides. The classes are in the same period. And that limits the time they have in each class.

This does not mean you have an exact split of work for each class. Burnes said, “You just get half the amount of practice time on some things; some things you barely practice, some things you practice more just depending on what you’re doing that day in that class.”.

Schmit also says that this split is difficult: “Having to spend half the time at one place and half the time at another makes it harder to learn the music quickly.”.

Tim Hoffman, the band director at Totino-Grace, also expressed the difficulty of having students in both classes: “I mean, it’s tough because they’re missing half of each rehearsal, so basically they get 50% of the rehearsal for both.”.

Students have different ways of dealing with the split. Schmit does this by focusing on concentration: “A lot of it is just concentration, concentration within the class, like making sure that I’m actually completely focused on what I’m doing so that I can overcome that challenge of not being somewhere for the full time.”.

For teaching, Hoffman said how he works with students in both classes: “Through lessons and some outside things, we try to make up for that a little bit.”.

As the school year continues, students like Schmit and Burnes will continue to adapt to the situation they are in, and they will further their interest in the musical arts.