...

Communication Pipeline for Fall Planning Groups

When Planning Groups are ready to share information with students, faculty and staff related to our hybrid re-opening in the Fall, please use this form:

https://utexas.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4TLKtostid437q5

This will help the Communications Planning Group organize the extensive amount of information that needs to be shared over the course of the next few months. The information submitted by Planning Groups will be shared in the following ways:

• Weekly (or more frequent, if necessary) emails from BSOMTogether@utexas.edu
• A COVID planning section on our public website music.utexas.edu, to include FAQs
• Social media posts following up email updates

Any responses to these weekly emails will be checked daily and forwarded to the appropriate Planning Group lead. 

Helpful Links

• UT Student Emergency Fund
• Counseling services
• Resources for remote work compiled by COFA (especially helpful for Staff)
• COFA's COVID-19 landing page 
• UT Austin updates on COVID-19
• Faculty and TA/AI remote teaching tools
• BSoM Academic changes due to COVID-19

Facility Use during Campus Closure 

Students

Students will not have access to MRH or "MBE" for the duration of the semester for any reason, unless accommodations are arranged directly with Page Stephens, Russell Podgorsek or Travis Weller.

Locker Clean-out

UT Housing is using measures to comply with the city order in their process of having students move out, scheduling times for individuals to move and limiting occupation to ten people per floor at a time. We think this is instructive for our situation with lockers:

Pursuant to Housing's plan, our lockers staff will communicate dates and time blocks (potentially, subject to change) for students who left materials to come claim them. We will schedule it such that only ten students will have clean-out times simultaneously (and not any in the same "block" of lockers). If someone cannot come at their assigned time, they will have the opportunity to request a new time, or have us store their materials until Fall 2020. We will end this procedure by April 30 to give our lockers staff time to reset before the (presumably still happening) HVAC renovation.

Faculty

...

MRH

MRH is officially shut down for electrical and HVAC renovations until August 22. There will be no access to MRH until the power has been turned back on. MBE is accessible for faculty and staff with a high-assurance UT ID, but everyone should follow all precautionary guidelines if/when on campus . Any (wear a mask). If you have an old ID, access will need to be coordinated with Russell Podgorsek. Any access issues should be reported to r.podgorsek@austin.utexas.edu or 512 900 0666. Faculty should not teach from their own offices without written permission from the Associate Director Jeff Hellmer No students will have access to the Butler School building during the summer.

Mail

Do not have any mail sent to 2406 Robert Dedman Drive. The University has given permission to ship pro-card purchases to personal residences.

Status of Renovations and Maintenance Work

MRH/MBE

Currently, the electric prep work that was scheduled for the week of Spring Break in MRH and MBE has been canceled. As of today, the abatement work that was happening in MRH basement is still happening next week (just not the power shutdown) and the HVAC will be shutdown Tuesday-Thursday “if Zone is available to shut them down”.

We have no information as to the HVAC work in MBE, originally scheduled for 3/19-3/22 at this time.

Jessen

The lighting renovation at Jessen is being completed this week. We will be fully functional with new lights in the hall when return to campus.

Recitals

...

For the summer, any mail delivered to the Butler School will come straight to Tony Zapata's temporary office in MBE.

Lockers

Lockers have been cleaned out and the locks changed. If you had a UT owned instrument (instrument room or LHB) it will be checked in for you. If you had a UT library book or materials from the BSOM music library it will be checked in for you. If you have a personal instrument or other belongings, they are being stored for pickup once building access has returned to normal.

Performances & Recitals

Publicizing streamed concerts

If you are streaming a performance from home and would like to make it publicly available, feel free to send your information to scheduling@mail.music.utexas.edu and Page Stephens will post it on our web calendar!

Student Recitals

All Recognition in Music Performance Recitals and Non-Degree Recitals have been canceled for the remainder of were canceled after Spring Break in Spring 2020 and recital fees have been removed from accounts or refunded. If you are a returning student in Fall 2020 and would like to perform this recital then, you can sign up for a new recital date when Page Stephens reaches out at the end of the semester. Faculty will work with students who had planned on giving degree recitals critical to graduation in Spring 2020 on an alternate plan to evaluate a grade. All recital fees will be removed from students’ accounts or refunded before the end of the semester.recital protocol is undecided; decisions will be communicated to students in late summer. 

All recitals that were planned for the remainder of Spring 2020 by students who are did not graduating graduate in May will be rescheduled for early Fall (before October 15). Page Stephens will reach out before the end of the semester with instructions for requesting a new date. These rescheduled recitals will have scheduling priority. Your recital fee will remain maintain the recital fee on your account and be counted towards your a rescheduled recital. If you need that fee temporarily removed in order to sign up for classes, contact Page Stephens at scheduling@mail.music.utexas.edu. 

Faculty Tracking & Grading Recitals

Mary Ellen Poole and Jeff Hellmer will send instructions for communicating your revised plans for evaluating recitals that are critical to your students graduating in May soon (expect an email after March 30). 

For DMA Lecture recitals, only the co-supervisors will be required to grade them. For all other recitals, only the main faculty member will need to grade the student.

...

Resources for Faculty

Online Teaching Tools

• For general guidelines and assistance, please consult the Provost’s Office web site

• Music-specific assistance using Zoom made by Caleb Hudson from UNT and the Canadian Brass

Here are portions of that video that are particularly useful:

4:15-7:48   Audio settings for Zoom that improve sound dramatically. Most of you do not have or need an interface, so please disregard his statements about his Duet interface. At 5:00, there are excellent instructions about how to select your external microphone (if you have recently obtained one) for use within Zoom.

7:48-8:56  Description of how to use an iPad as a document projector or whiteboard within Zoom. The iPad would need to be dedicated to that task, so Zoom would need to be running on a separate desktop or laptop.

16:08-16:51  Sharing screen with computer sound: a description of how to share video and/or audio from your computer within Zoom.

• Facebook group Higher Ed Music Lessons in the Time of COVID-19
  
  
• List of resources that the College Music Society has assembled (no CMS membership is required to access this list)