College of Performing Arts provides specialty-made masks for singers

Faculty and students are eager to get back to live performances with the help of masks, designed specially for singing, that have been distributed within Chapman’s College of Performing Arts. Pictured is singer Jacqueline Botz. MAYA BRAUNWARTH, Staff Photographer

Stephen Coker, the Director of Choral Activities for Chapman’s College of Performing Arts (CoPA), said he forgot what it was like to teach his classes in person due to the pandemic.

“My first two rehearsals, I was feeling something that I hadn’t in a long, long time — I figured out that thing was happiness,” Coker said. “We were next to each other, and we were listening to voices in real time ... It just reminded us of the precious nature of art in a world that sometimes is in short supply of it.”

Students and faculty in music classes have been unable to perform together in person for two full semesters. With the campus reopening for on-campus instruction, Dean of CoPA Giulio Ongaro decided to do some research on face coverings capable of maintaining students’ safety while not sacrificing the quality of their vocal performance.

Ongaro eventually found one online and shared links to it with his faculty. 

This “singers” mask was designed with three layers of high-thread count cotton, silk and chiffon fabric. A scarf-like covering extends from the nose to the collarbone and is designed to prevent aerosols from falling to the floor. According to Peter Atherton, Director of Operatic Studies, the mask does not get in the way of jaw movement and extends out in front of the face to prevent any sudden breathing from getting sucked into the singer's mouth. 

Jacqueline Botz, a senior vocal performance major, joked that students look like bandits when they wear them.

“It feels fine on my face, it's just a different feeling,” Botz said. “I’m not used to, as a singer, having something covering my face, but it's definitely better than some of the other masks we’ve been using for auditions.”

Botz was concerned that wearing a mask during performances might impact students’ comfort on stage or skew the sound of their voice. 

“We’re trained to differentiate between bad singing and singing that is just muted because they have to wear a mask,” said Rebecca Sherburn, Chapman’s director of vocal studies. 

Having received approval from the university’s Environmental Health and Safety department, the masks are now being distributed to singers enrolled in performance classes at the Hall-Musco Conservatory of Music.

Although Botz said taking classes virtually was not nearly the same as joining classmates in Oliphant or Bertea Hall, students were still able to connect with each other and their professors. Now, as the university transitions back to in-person learning, Botz said the compromise of masking up is worth the opportunity to teach students and watch them perform face-to-face. 

“I would take (wearing a mask) over Zoom any day,” Botz said.

Correction: An earlier photo attached to this story inaccurately reflected the style of the mask distributed to students in the College of Performing Arts.