b'myself practicing the actual assigned music pieces, sitting down with a metro-nome. Wiggins strikes a similar note. I would say I started playing a lot more creatively, I started thinking differently, I had a lot more time to think about how I was playing. A lot more ideas would come to me more often than they did before.As the pandemic wears on, Murphy considers the unexpected downtime a small positive for his students. Nowadays, kids environments are just so much faster; there are so many things vying for their attention. The glass half full is that it has slowed everything down. They arent as busy as they were. So they are able to practice so much more.In fact, Murphy believes the burst of creativity and focused practice connects students not only to their recent past, when their lives were unencumbered by the ubiquitous virus, but to the distant past decades ago, when budding musicians like himself had little else to do but play. It was the mid to late \'80s when I started guitar. There was no internet, no iPhones, no social media. Reminiscing on the many hours he spent in his basement practicing, Murphy recalls that I became obsessed in the best possible way with music. He sees similarities to the way his students have adapted during the shutdown. They are spending that basement time, alone time, but now they have this technology to share the results.Many of the students music studies incorporated software technology, such as audio engineering, which requires an understanding of Logic Pro X, a digital and audio workstation. You use it to record, mix, and master music, explains Wiggins. They had a Logic class I was taking before the shutdown, and after as well. Its something Ive been getting really into. Murphy speculates his stu-dents sudden free time spent practicing in the basement, just like he did decades ago, has been accelerated by such modern capabilities: We live in a technologi-cal world and there are so many tools at their disposal. We saw our kids rise up in unique ways.Rising to the creative challenge, Wiggins worked on covering the Beatles. I ap-proached Mark with a cover of The Long and Winding Road and he suggested Emma sing over it. Murphy was more than impressed with what he heard from David Wiggins and Emma Herrero recorded a version of the Beatles "The Long andWiggins. I was blown away, he confesses. After Wiggins sent the mp3 file to Winding Road, trading mp3 files remotely.Herrero, she worked on it in her basement, eventually recording her vocals, then phy considers himself lucky the schoolhappened so fast. Despite his initialsent the audio file back to Wiggins, where he put it all together in Logic. They was able to transition to remote andconcerns, Wiggins was impressed. Itreleased their collaboration the day before graduationheld virtually.his students adjusted with him. Thisworked out. You are still able to con- I chose that song because it reminded me of a high school graduation, is our best summer enrollment in thenect through the screen.history of the school. Studying music not only provided Senior David Wiggins recalls, Foramuch-neededsenseofconnection; a while, everything kind of stopped.the way the students practice has actu-Everyone was figuring how to adjustally flourished without the burden of to this whole situation. While schoolsrushed schedules. Senior Eloise Wendt everywhere struggled with the transi- found that the extra time has changed tion to remote learning, Wiggins hadherapproach.Istartedpracticing mixedfeelingsaboutmusiclessonsmore. I think being home all the time, takingplaceremotely.Iwasabitit just makes it easier. Another musi-cynical, because when you are learningcian, Rafi Colton-Max, filled his time something, you always think to your- with music. A lot of the activities.self, What is the best way to learn?shut down everything, but with mu-Its in person. It wouldnt be the samesic it has continued, just in a different going digital.manner. I would say I was busier than Andthatabilitytogodigitalmy fellow classmates because I would provedcriticalforthemusicschool.practice so much.SaysMurphy,Aroundthe12thofFrederickreflectsonhowherap-March we closed, and within a weekproach to practicing has evolved. Ive wewentfromneverdoinganythingbeenabletoreallyexperimentwhat online to doing it all online. The rap- works best for me, what styles of music id transition required a monumentalI like. Herrero echoes this sentiment.With more time on her hands, Vivienne Frederick explored layering different parts of effort: It was startling because it justOncequarantinestarted,Ifoundsongs with an app called Acapella.feature story /31'