THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2021 • THE BULLETIN
GO! MAGAZINE • PAGE 3
LIVE
MUSIC FOR
THE WEEK
p.23
ALL THINGS MUSIC
bendbulletin.com/golisten
Bend music teachers, students rock
on through COVID-19 pandemic
Schools offer virtual lessons, opportunities for budding instrumentalists
BY BRIAN MCELHINEY • The Bulletin
B
efore March of last year, 13-year-old Jaymi Dickinson was a singer with one of Cascade School of Music’s rock ensembles. Then COVID-19 hit Oregon,
triggering closures and restrictions on gatherings throughout the state. Playing music with a large group of students was out. Dickinson started taking
songwriting and guitar lessons through Zoom with Cascade School of Music instructor Matt Puccio Jr. She has since composed roughly 35 original,
complete songs or portions of songs.
Jaymi Dickin-
son, a 13-year-
old student at
High Desert
Middle School,
takes an online
songwriting
and guitar les-
son with Cas-
cade School of
Music teacher
Matt Puccio Jr.
Tracy Dickinson/
Submitted photo
“I had always wanted to write songs, and the
pandemic almost helped me find what I wanted to
write songs about,” she said.
Students and teachers at music schools across
Central Oregon have had to adapt to a pandem-
ic-stricken world. But with families stuck at home
together trying to work and attend school under
one roof, learning and playing music can be an im-
portant stress reliever.
“We all know how powerful music is,” Cascade
School of Music Executive Director Robert Lam-
beth said recently during a Zoom call with voice
instructor, Cullie Treichler, and violin instructor,
Miya Saito-Beckman. “... How this is a constant in
so many people’s lives and how this has been a cor-
nerstone for their mental health has been very tell-
ing and very obvious to all of us.”
Like most things music during COVID-19 times,
lessons haven’t continued without some hiccups.
Cascade School of Music’s enrollment dropped to
almost zero in March when Oregon closed due to
COVID-19 and the school transitioned to virtual
learning, Lambeth said.
That number has steadily risen. There are cur-
rently 325 students enrolled in music lessons with
Cascade School of Music, roughly 44% fewer than
in a normal year, Lambeth said.
The school restarted in-person lessons in Octo-
ber after unveiling its safe studio for use with voice
lessons and other aspirant instruments. The studio
features rooms for the instructor and the student
separated by a plexiglass window and a thin wall
that allows sound to travel through it.
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