Update 12/2025: We have been building a Community Singing culture at BAS, and our culture is one of mutual care, which includes transparency and caution around illnesses. Thank you for continuing with that, so we don’t have to put strict safety guidelines in place. Please know, if things change with the pandemic they might also change for us.
A note from your teacher
Singing together is a high risk activity for airborne viruses and COVID is one of the most complex and contagious viruses in the world with potential for massive complications, so I don’t eff around too much. As we’ve now begun to see, the post-isolation landscape is a strange one for public health in general, with many new or evolved illnesses in the world.
Every one of us has lives outside the classroom where we meet, and some of us (like me) have medically fragile people in our lives or are medically fragile ourselves. What may be a small cold to you may be very significant to someone else, so let’s take care.
Singing together is one of the most healing things in the world, and it’s ironic and sad that we have to deal with this at such an intense level. But, in a way, it’s exactly right, because we’re practicing community and interconnectedness. There is no way to completely guarantee safety from COVID with any in-person gathering, but we as a community can practice using awareness, research, and reasonable group-safety measures in the name of protecting each other.
In early cohorts, I asked people to either test weekly, or mask up for class. This was in large part because, as a brand new class, there’s no cultural agreement among us yet on things like this. However, as time goes on, the BAS Community Singing culture has begun to emerge and it is undoubtedly one of mutual care and illness-caution, so I feel comfortable relaxing guidelines. I’m open to hearing from you about it if you have input, but my inclination is to continue establishing a culture of care for one another.
The guidelines we follow are below.
If the Community Singing class at BAS continues trending in such a caring direction, I don’t feel the need to put further guidelines in place.
As the song Safe Here says: I’ll take care of you, you take care of me.
Current Guidelines for BAS Community Singing
- Stay home if you’re actively sick
- If you’re on the mend from sickness, make sure you’ve taken at least 2 negative Covid tests at least 24 hours apart before returning to class
- If you have been exposed or aren’t sure, please mask up that week til you know more. I will bring N95 singers’ masks with me.
- If you were in a risky situation (ie, unmasked in an airport or crowded event) consider masking, distancing, and/or rapid testing before class to protect others
- If you do contract COVID or something similarly contagious, I ask that you let me know. I will let the group know that there was an (anonymous) exposure so people can make informed decisions and not risk transmitting it further
- My teaching mask-exception: If I’m on the mend from something or would otherwise mask as a singer, I may not be able to do so easily as a teacher. This is because teaching is heavily reliant on visual facial cues and expressions, as well as directing sound and diction which all becomes harder and more exhausting in a mask. I may choose to rely more on distance than masking and will always be transparent with you, and/or get a sub if I think it’s too risky.
- Our current space does not have window-ventilation but it is a large auditorium and I feel good about the airflow in there after taking some CO2 readings. I own an Aranet CO2 monitor which tells me about ventilation levels, and helps inform my choices about whether to implement or relax extra safety guidelines in a certain space. At its last reading it was between 600-700ppm which is a very good reading for an indoor space. You can ask me if you want more data.