As the coronavirus pandemic sent higher education into scramble mode, it was hard for Stony Brook University’s Department of Music to keep the beat.

That’s because in music, as in comedy, timing is everything.

“Music as a program of study relies on acute listening skills, nuance in gesture and sound, and an exact awareness of time. There is no program or service that allows musicians to collaborate in real-time,” said Michael Hershkowitz, Director of Community Music Programs.

Judith Lochhead, a professor of music history and theory, teaches a course titled “Perspectives on the Performance of Music Since 1945” with Contemporary Chamber Players Director Eduardo Leandro. She described the class as “very hands-on and experiential,” involving composers, performers, and music scholars.

“The pandemic required not so much a rethinking of how to teach performance practice, but rather a refocusing of content that would be useful for our seminar participants and allow us to connect up virtually with musicians around the world,” Lochhead said. “We called the whole project ‘Lemonade out of Lemons.’”

Most of all, the pandemic made all Stony Brook music-makers aware of the invaluable human connection, as best expressed by Daniel Beckwith, a professor of conducting and opera performance.

“We as humans desire contact, being in the presence of another person. I personally didn’t change anything in the curriculum to adapt to online teaching; I was able to work on vocal issues I heard in their singing as well as diction, interpretation, artistic choices, etc.,” he said. “I was a little hesitant at first because I’ve never done online teaching, but technology taught me that one can effectively communicate with students and accomplish what would otherwise have been done in person.”

Read the full story: Music Department Makes “Lemonade out of Lemons” During Pandemic