For Pickerington high schools Central and North, the schools’ bands and choir groups didn’t let COVID-19 disrupt their longtime music traditions earlier this year.
The organizations’ directors and students adapted their traditions to fit a new normal that requires physical distancing and virtual engagement.
For instance, one of the band traditions is to play Amazing Grace as a warm up before performing. At the end of the school year this spring, more than 100 students from both schools joined forces to record a virtual performance of the song in an effort to keep the tradition alive and the community’s spirits high.
Emily Baldwin, a 2016 North alumna, watched the performance from home and says it struck a chord, helping her to remember her time as a member of the band.
“I definitely felt nostalgic about my years in the band,” she says. “It was great to see that the Pickerington band family was able to come together to create something that could touch the lives of so many people during such a difficult time.”
The other music groups are no exception. Both the orchestra and choir at each high school enjoy a number of traditions and special moments shared with each other and the community.
Many of these traditions center on celebrating the seniors during the final performance of the year. This spring, those performances were canceled, so the directors adapted the traditions to make sure the seniors still received the recognition they deserve.
PHSN Orchestra
Jordan Koogler, orchestra director at North, rose to the challenge.
“I still wrote a hand-written note for every orchestra senior, made them a video message and delivered their senior plaque to their houses as I played our school’s fight song, Panther Victory,” he says. “It was not the best substitute for our banquet, but it was something for all of us.”
Central choir director Heather Wilkins hand delivered roses and awards to each senior’s home and hosted a virtual senior night with a slideshow highlighting each senior and their future plans.
PHSC Choir
True to tradition, the song Friends played in the background of the slide-show and Wilkins created a virtual choir of the students singing How Do We Say Goodbye.
“It wasn’t perfect,” she says, “but it was important for the seniors to know that we loved them and wanted them to experience our traditions regardless of our circumstances.”
North choir director Lori Vance made sure senior roses and goose pins were included with their diploma at graduation and also hosted a virtual senior night to recognize the students.
PHSN Choir, virtual performance
The roses are an important tradition at both high schools. Before the split of the Pickerington High School North choir virtual performance high schools into Central and North, past choir director John Long began the tradition of handing the seniors a white rose upon graduation.
In 2016, Vance created a new tradition at North.
“We switched it to an orange rose because of Lu Oliphant,” she says. “She was a choir member that passed away from cancer. She passed away in 2016 and would have graduated in 2017. And so, because her colors were orange and gray, we switched it to an orange rose.”
PHSN alumna Emily Baldwin in costume for senior night, 2016
The traditions of senior night stick with students long after graduation. Baldwin fondly recalls her own senior night when students dressed in costume to perform on the field.
“A lot of my favorite traditions were during my senior year of band,” she says. “The seniors were always celebrated so well and appreciated for the hard work they put in over the years.”
Another true mark of a strong bond through tradition is the number of alumni that are involved in music and in the Pickerington community to this day.
“Many orchestra alumni are still performing in churches, college ensembles and for their own wellbeing,” Koogler says. “I think the fact that so many orchestra alumni still gravitate to their instrument is a huge accomplishment.”
Throughout the school year, each high school puts on concerts and performances, often sharing the stage with each other. One tradition that’s a crowd favorite for students, audience members and directors alike are the holiday concerts when groups perform together on stage for grand performances of the Hallelujah Chorus, Carol of the Bells and Do You Hear What I Hear.
“This performance always ends up presenting some really cool collaborative works and is so well attended by our community,” Koogler says.
Though each high school and organization practices its own unique traditions, they share the same opinion that music students deserve to be celebrated.
PHSC Choir
“They do some really good things for our community,” Vance says.
While there’s no guarantee that the organizations will be able to return to the old traditions for the class of 2021, the music directors will work harder than ever to ensure their students are celebrated well.
“I am committed to finding creative solutions and providing a new way of keeping these traditions alive for the 2020-2021 school year,” Wilkins says.
What’s in a pin?
North choir traditions center on one odd symbol: the goose.
This tradition began in 2003 after Vance read a story about how geese work together. They fly in a V-shaped formation because it’s more aerodynamic and they don’t leave the side of a sick or dying goose. She decided to bring a decoy hunting goose into the classroom for the students to discover.
“It was hilarious to watch the reactions as (the students) noticed it,” Vance says.
Students named the goose Jack and he travels with the choir wherever it goes, whether it is onstage or outside during fire drills.
“I knew it had made its impact when we had a fire drill and I got my stuff and I go out and there is (student) Ben Moore, who says, ‘Don’t worry: I saved the goose!’” Vance says, laughing. “And he was standing there in the fire drill with a goose!”
Jack began accompanying the choir on trips to concerts and performances, and students volunteer to take him home over the summer.
“You know, we take a goose everywhere with us,” Vance says.
She knew that Jack and the goose story had made such an impact that she wanted to order a goose pin for every graduating senior.
The tradition has stuck and Jack even made it to graduation this year, dressed in his own cap and gown.
Sarah Robinson is a contributing editor. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
