Musicians, teachers and students across Northern Ireland are calling to reverse the ban on singing and wind instruments in schools.
The initial ban was announced just before pupils were due to return to school after the Easter break.
The updated restrictions prohibited students from singing individually or in choirs indoors. Face to face teaching and playing wind instruments indoors was also banned under the instruction of Education Minister Peter Weir.
In response, around 400 music teachers and performers came together to issue a joint statement and petition highlighting their concerns.
The petition has already reached over 5,000 signatures from a mixture of professional musicians, teachers, past pupils and parents.
In their statement, they highlighted that they had, so far, provided “safe, effective music education throughout the pandemic”.
"Risk assessments have been undertaken, and the appropriate safety measures have been put in place.
"The benefits of singing and music-making in terms of children's confidence, as well as their social, emotional, and educational wellbeing are well established,” they continued.
"Music enhances wellbeing, it lowers stress levels and studies show it may boost the immune system.
"Our young people have never needed these things more,” the statement said.
A week after the announcement, a smaller group of 80 music teachers and pupils released a video to encourage the NI Executive to rethink its decision. The video has had more than 7,000 views on Facebook and YouTube combined.
Chelsea Pascoe, a music teacher at Wallace High School in Lisburn, was one of the contributors.
She said: "[The news] came out on the first of April, because everyone thought it was an April Fools. That’s why I remember. They said no singing and no wind instruments to be played in school.
“They didn’t tell us why we had to stop, they just said 'you have to stop'. There’s no explanation. There’s no data or statistics on why we had to or whether, when we were doing it before, it was doing any harm.”
Since the petition was launched, schools have been granted permission to allow students to play wind instruments and sing indoors when recording practical exams. Chelsea said this step forward only made the group want more answers.
“I don’t know what the difference is between recording it in a room for an exam and just playing or singing for another reason. Just because it’s an exam the Coronavirus doesn’t say, 'Oh well that’s alright then. I’ll not turn up'.”
In a statement to the BBC, the Public Health Agency said: "Singing produces both large droplets of respiratory secretions that generally fall onto surfaces within two metres of the singer, and small droplets that are carried on the air for some distance (aerosols).
"These droplets of respiratory secretions are a major route of transmission of the Covid-19 virus between individuals.
"Playing some woodwind instruments has a similar effect."
Chelsea said it’s been hard to teach music with Covid-19 restrictions in place, but the lack of extra curricular groups has had a larger impact.
“I think we’re seeing people give up a lot quicker than what they would if they were face to face. If you haven’t seen your teacher in a year, more than likely you’ll be thinking 'do I really want to stick at this'?
"Loads of people are struggling with their mental health and struggling with the lack of routine and seeing people. Music really helps that. It helps de-stress. It helps that social aspect as well.”
The next formal review of the restrictions by the Executive is due on June 10 th.
