Cleaning Your Music Room in 2020
Cleaning Your Music Room in 2020
September 30, 2020
Recently, we’ve talked about some of the different things that schools around the country are doing to make sure they’re reopening safely. To recap, surface cleaners and hand sanitizer will be used, schools will update their air filters, social distancing will be followed, and temperatures will be taken just to name a few.
We also focused on what social distancing will look like for music programs. If your school is one that’s reopening, you obviously have a lot of new processes and procedures that you need to work with.
This post will focus on a couple specific areas of cleaning and what it might look like for your program.
Cleaning Your Equipment
First and foremost, you need to clean your equipment regularly between uses. This is especially true when it comes to elementary or smaller school bands because there may be a greater chance of needing to share instruments.
Cleaning your performance equipment like risers, shells, and staging is different than cleaning desks, for example. You need to make sure that what you’re using to clean is approved by the manufacturer so your gear stays in peak condition for years to come. For other items in your music room like tables, chairs, etc., it’s been recommended to use wipes that are at least 70% alcohol.
Spit Valves
When it comes to spit valves, there may be a bigger need to monitor students cleaning them out and dealing with the proper clean up. Using puppy training pads that can be thrown away between classes has been recommended by some.
Puppy training pads can be used to make the clean up from spit valves easier. Click To TweetHVAC
Schools are also updating their HVAC systems. They’re being fitted with HEPA filters, if possible, to provide additional filtration to help catch bacteria and viruses. Typical air filters are only designed for catching larger items like dust and lint particles.
These updated HVAC systems are able to clean the room between classes. We’ve heard from one music educator who uses this and he said that it takes 30 minutes to clean his room. To allow enough time during his 55-minute class, he has students play for the first 25 minutes while the last 30 minutes is spent doing other work. This schedule ensures the room will be clean before the next class begins.
The time it takes to clean the room will depend on the size of the room so make sure to check with your HVAC experts to find how long it will take for you.
There’s a lot that goes into cleaning and that’s especially true right now. New procedures will be implemented throughout the school but the points mentioned here touch on how they’ll affect your music program specifically.
Whatever you do, make sure you’re following your local guidelines to help keep everyone healthy.
Whatever you do, make sure you're following your local guidelines to help keep everyone healthy. Click To TweetGet weekly tips to make your events better. Subscribe here:
September 9, 2020
What Some Schools Are Doing to Reopen (And What This Might Mean for Your Music Program)
