Newfield schools cancel holiday concerts

Newfield Central School District canceled this year’s middle and high school holiday concerts due to safety concerns in the face of the drastic increase in COVID-19 cases in Tompkins County.

Sharon Powell and Adam Tarpey, who are the band and chorus directors, respectively, for Newfield’s middle and high schools, answered questions about the holiday concert via email. According to Powell, who has taught for 23 years, the concert was an established tradition when she began teaching in Newfield, and she believes that Vincent Aiosa started the concert series when he was band director from 1960 to 1991.

“It has always been an old-timey traditional band and chorus concert with lots of holiday music and excited children who love to perform,” Powell wrote. “Yes, this year is a big change because of COVID restrictions, but the spirit of the concert is still in place.”

While the concerts got canceled, the middle and high school band and chorus were still able to perform this month, opting to perform for students in the middle of the day rather than a full concert open to the public. The high school has 25 students in the band and 35 students in the chorus, and the middle school has 20 students in the band and 36 students in the chorus.

At their small performance, the high school band played “Minecraft,” “The Mandalorian,” “Disney Blockbusters” and “Circuit Breaker.” The middle school band performed “Swingle Little Star,” “The Muffin Man,” “Up On A Haunted Housetop” and “Bell Carol Rock.” The eighth-grade flutes played “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer.” The high school chorus performed “Favorite Crime,” “Glory,” “Praise His Holy Name” and “White Winter Hymnal,” while the middle school chorus performed “Pompeii,” “The Ghost of John” and “Hashivenu.”

Over the years, a few concerts have been canceled due to inclement weather. Last year’s concert was canceled due to COVID-19-related safety precautions, and the students recorded virtual performances for school events.

This year, Powell and Tarpey had planned to hold the concerts with safety precautions in place, such as having performers be 3 feet apart and wear masks and bell covers. Ordinarily, both the middle and high school concerts would perform on the same night for the sake of families with busy holiday schedules who might have children in both schools, but they were scheduled on different nights this year due to COVID-19-related safety concerns.

Powell and Tarpey planned to allow performing students to bring up to three guests as long as the number of active COVID-19 cases in Tompkins County was lower than 200 on the day before each performance. After the number of COVID-19 cases in Tompkins County rose to record levels on the weekend of Dec. 11 through 12, with more than 300 new cases Dec. 12 alone, Powell and Tarpey decided to cancel the concerts and instead hold performances during the school day for students.

“The one thing I would like to change about the concert is how many people can attend,” Tarpey wrote. “I know it’s to keep everyone safe, but the students have worked so hard and deserve to have their music heard!”

Powell expressed a desire to open the concerts to the public again, stating that there are legal barriers to streaming the concerts. According to her, the school cannot legally stream the concerts due to copyright issues and costs associated with streaming, nor can it legally post recordings of its concerts on public sites like YouTube, since doing so requires mechanical and sync licenses for each piece.

“We like the opportunity to share our musical gifts with others, and we are sorry that the community won’t be allowed to join us this year,” Powell wrote. “But our rehearsals together are much more enriching to us as musicians if we can perform.”

Powell believes in the importance of music and the arts for the district, as well as how performing in a band or chorus can help students in their future careers.

“Our students are learning to be creative problem-solvers and have learned to function in ensembles where musical decisions affect everyone in the group,” Powell wrote. “These skill sets are important later in life no matter which career path they choose!”

Powel expressed her excitement about conducting the middle school concert for the first time in the revamped Aiosa Auditorium. Tarpey was similarly enthusiastic about his role as conductor for the high school concert, which is also a first for him.

“After a year and a half teaching at Newfield, this will be my first concert as a teacher!” Tarpey wrote. “We’re all excited to finally be performing again, but this concert holds a special place in my heart as a big first. It’s both exciting and terrifying to finally show what we’ve been working on!”

Newfield Notes appear every week in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@vizellamedia.com.

In Brief:

Newfield Public Library news

The Newfield Public Library will hold its Family Storytime from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Dec. 28. The library will be closed Dec. 24, 25 and 31 and Jan. 1 in observance of Christmas and New Year’s.

For more information, visit the library’s website, newfieldpubliclibrary.org.

Newfield Town Board holds work session

The Newfield Town Board will hold its monthly work session from 7 to 9 p.m. Dec. 23. For more information, including the agenda and the Zoom link, visit the town’s website, newfieldny.org.