COVID masking update

Dear members of the Eastman community,

We are writing with an important update regarding our indoor masking policy, as with cases on the rise throughout Monroe County we felt it important to clarify the expectations for music performance at Eastman.  We are receiving lots of questions from the community and hearing of some recent performances that didn’t adhere to our safety protocols, so we thought this was a good time to send out a quick reminder to everyone.

For music-making situations, faculty may unmask when teaching or conducting in a private lesson or rehearsal, or any musician may unmask when in a solo performance situation, but only one person may be unmasked at a time.  If, for example, the conductor is unmasked in a performance then the concerto soloist must be masked.  Or, if a jazz combo is performing each musician may unmask when they perform their solo but must put their mask back on when they are done.  This applies to recital performances as well.  If two students are performing a duet they must both be masked, or they will have to determine a sequence of masking and unmasking so that only one person is unmasked at any given time.  Bell covers follow the same rules as masks, so if a mask is required then a bell cover is as well. 

We understand that this guidance is slightly more restrictive than what we have been evolving towards over the course of the semester, but we did clarify with UHS that this is the expected protocol for musicians at Eastman as long as the current mask policy remains in place.  For all other situations on campus, the University’s indoor masking policy applies and can be found here: https://www.rochester.edu/coronavirus-update/indoor-face-masking-requirement-goes-back-into-effect-for-all-university-campuses/.

Finally, we want to take this opportunity to remind you of the importance of completing Dr. Chat Bot every day you are on campus.  Dr. Chat Bot takes less than a minute to complete and truly does help to keep our Eastman community safe from the spread of COVID-19 infections.

Thank you for everything you are doing to maintain a healthy campus environment this semester, and do not hesitate to reach out with any questions about our COVID-19 safety policies.

All the best,

Dean Fox and Dean Hain