Sigma Alpha Iota

P A N P I P E S Summer 2020 7 for the foreseeable future, there have been many virtual ensemble and solo artist videos popping up online to try to fill the void. ese include musicians from all levels of the industry — major orchestras, small hometown choirs, military bands, famous recording artists — and our very own eta Nu Chapter from Florida A&M University. ey shared a moving rendition of their chapter song, written by charter members Joy Moon and Carolyn Tribune, via Instagram and Youtube on SAI Founders Day in June. eta Nu Alumna Jhori Stallworth coordinated the effort using Garageband and iMovie. Jhori said, "I asked all of our sisters to send in a video of them singing the song. I put them together on my computer and we were even able to get our charter member (Sister Carolyn Tribune) who wrote the music to play along with us. e process took about a week once I got all of the videos in. It was very emotional to watch the final product but definitely worth the time and effort!" You can view the full performance here: https://youtu.be/i8e8YWyDjGg As the world continues to grapple with the many unknowns of this virus, musicians will continue to adapt and find ways to share the work they love. Music will be created together, just as sisters did for the Founders' Day SAI Sing-a-long of the Sigma Alpha Iota Chorale, led by eta Nu Alumna Stacey Ali (Alto) and NVP, Ritual and Fraternity Education Tracey Wygal Withrow (Soprano). SAIs will be creative and carry on with Fraternity activities, but we all look forward to the day we can meet in person once again. Members of the Theta Nu Chapter performing together. SISTERHOOD ways, the distance has made our chapter even closer. We have held our typical monthly chapter meetings, an agenda is shared through Google Docs and the link is pasted into the chat of the Zoom session once we are all logged in. e meeting proceeds as it normally would, although we do now have to bring our own snacks. We share updates, brainstorm projects, and make announcements. We were even able to hold our annual American Musicale over Zoom. With some digital accompaniment, performers shared their talents with sisters and invited guests. Performers included Becki Tarby, Abigail Raiford, Angela Zurlo, Deanna Roberts, Andrea Kwamya, Erica Koehring, and Patricia Bradley-Struven. Selections ranged from Sondheim and Schwarz to Violin Sonatas! Outside of our normally scheduled events, we have found ways of keeping up the social side of our sisterhood. e first activity being a "Wikipedia Race", in which sisters met on Zoom and then used their phones or desktop browser to begin at one Wikipedia article, and then reach another unrelated article by only clicking on internal links in the text. e winner then gets to share the "path" they used to get from one to the other. Another event we held was a Music Bingo night. One of our sisters, Christina Paparo, created randomly generated online bingo cards and then put a playlist on shuffle of some great hits and throwback tunes. We had a lot of fun singing along as we marked our cards. Sigma Alpha Iota continually demonstrates how music unites us. Whether in person, or over a video call, we continue to connect and share in this cherished sisterhood. — Submitted by Grace N. Lazos, Editor, New York Alumnae Chapter Lambda Chi Zoom meeting from March 30, 2020. The question on many musicians' minds due to the spread of Covid-19: "When will we be able to safely perform in groups again?" It is important to understand what risks exist in performing arts classrooms and performance venues. To help find the answer, many organizations have joined forces to commission scientific studies at the University of Colorado and University of Maryland. The studies will examine aerosol rates produced by wind instrumentalists, vocalists, and actors, and how quickly those aerosol rates accumulate in a space. Sigma Alpha Iota is one of the arts organizations supporting the study. To see a full list of participants and learn more, visit: www.nfhs. org/articles/performing-arts-covid-19- resources/.

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