In light of COVID-19 restrictions, the Tri-M Music Honor Society has found a new way to safely perform music together for this holiday season.

Every year, members of Tri-M volunteer to perform holiday music at local nursing homes and book stores. However, because of social distancing measures, these opportunities have not been offered this year. For this reason, Tri-M thought of a new idea: digital performances.

“We’re having [Tri-M members] from each of the [band, orchestra and chorus] ensembles record their part for a holiday piece and [stitching the recordings] together. Since we can’t really do live performances in these circumstances, [this] will allow us to have some semblance of an ensemble performing,” said Tri-M President, senior Dylan K.

Most students feel they have lost numerous opportunities because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Everyone is getting so sick of hearing and talking about COVID. It’s been eight pretty terrible months. We haven’t been able to do so many things. Because of the virus, these holidays are not going to be the same at all. We just want to have something that’s going to bring people together to have that holiday spirit, and even after the holidays, just to have something to bring us together at a time where we can’t really do that conventionally,” said Dylan.

Many students have felt disconnected from others as a result of social distancing and virtual learning. Ensemble members have been unable to collaborate and rehearse together.

“I think the importance of doing things together and making things together is vastly underestimated right now, and it’s just not happening because it’s really difficult. Usually, we’d have holiday performances at nursing homes and lobby performances right now [but we don’t have that this year]. So, we just really want to do something together and give back to the community, even if it’s just one song,” said Tri-M vice president, senior Catherine T.

The main goal of these performers is to bring people together during this time of separation.

“I have a true belief in music’s power to bring people together, and this is a testament to that. Even during a time when we’re so separated, we’re still able to find something to bring us together, and I think there’s nothing better than music to do that,” said Dylan.

Even so, these performances are completely different from what student musicians are accustomed to and present a challenge in itself.

“It’s something new, and we have no idea how to navigate it. It’s a little bit scary because we don’t know how [the performance videos] will turn out. We’re nervous,” said Tri-M adviser Stacey Franzke.

If all goes well, Tri-M is planning to post these performances on the Commack Tri-M Instagram page (@commacktri_m) and the Commack website.🔳