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Last summer, digital audio networking world leader Audinate published an article commending the Stephen F. Austin State University’s Sound Recording Technology program for its use of Audinate’s cutting-edge Dante networking platform.

The article explained that by using a Dante-backed audio-over-IP system, SRT could alter workflow so multiple students were actively engaging with a production – allowing for more hands-on educational opportunities.

After using Dante through a full semester of COVID classroom social distancing this past fall, the SRT program has provided a different kind of success story for the global leader of professional digital audio networking. SFA SRT has demonstrated how use of Dante in a pandemic enables safe social distancing while still providing students with real-life studio experiences.

As a result, Audinate has again recognized SRT with another nationally published article, keeping the SFA program in the industry limelight and its students in the forefront as highly knowledgeable and skilled potential employees.

James Adams, assistant professor in SFA’s School of Music and director of the SRT program, facilitated campus integration of Dante over the past few years because he not only wanted to enhance university technology, he also wanted to heighten instructional offerings at SFA.

“The traditional workflow for performance was your standard front-of-house endeavor,” Adams was quoted in the first Audinate article. “It worked, but it wasn’t flexible, and it wouldn’t allow us to get additional technologies or students involved.” By converting to a Dante-backed audio-over-IP system, Adams was able to significantly alter the workflow so multiple students were actively engaging with the production – allowing for more “hands-on educational components and a more robust digital production,” the article explained.

Now, the Dante platform has also proven itself as an effective means to connect students musically while they are isolated in studio control rooms as a safer means of social distancing.

“In these times where COVID transmission prevention is one of our top priorities in the studio, I have learned how fortunate we were to already be working with a technology that could easily adapt to our new needs,” Adams said. “In the past, Dante-enable technologies helped us overcome hurdles presented by standard, analog audio equipment. During COVID, the value and flexibility that Dante grants us has been realized on a whole new level, keeping in mind that this is also only made possible by our institution’s existing and vast ethernet systems.”

Like many programs that were previously housed in the Griffith Fine Arts Building on campus, SRT had to relocate last summer as demolition began at Griffith to make way for a long-awaited fine arts expansion initiative. SRT is temporarily housed in the Robert McKibben Building in a former TV studio built in the 1970s for broadcasting lectures.

“The layout of the rooms in our temporary space is not like a recording studio,” Adams said. “A recording studio typically has a control room with a big window that looks into the ‘tracking’ room, which is usually a room large enough to fit a band. Sometimes we have auxiliary isolation rooms that we typically use for vocals or to isolate amplifiers and certain instruments. Music spaces are designed for musicians to be together to create music. Well, in the time of COVID, we need individuals separated or in completely different rooms. Our temporary space just so happens to have several separate rooms in addition to one large one.”

In pre-Covid times, before face masks and social distancing mandates, these temporary spaces would not be ideal for how music is usually recorded and produced. But now, the space is actually better for delivering a safe recording arts education than the previous space, Adams explained.

“Because of the separate rooms, we are able to isolate the individual performers that need to be,” he said. “For example, we can place a vocalist in one room and a saxophonist in another. We can completely separate the ‘wind-powered’ instruments and voices from each other. Non-wind instruments can safely be in the larger room together where they can socially distance.

“Dante-enabled technologies made connecting these isolated rooms to our control room simple, fast and easy,” Adams explained. “It is also incredibly stable and reliable.”

Last fall, Adams’ department was utilizing a total of 250 Dante signals. But, he told Audinate he expects that count to go up as the university begins to consider the use of audio-over-IP networking outside of the music department.

“The IT department is looking to us as a model for AV right now,” Adams said in the Audinate article. “I’m getting asked daily about how we successfully solved our social distancing challenges. There are a lot of ideas about what our system will look like long term.”

Michael Coffee, deputy chief information officer for Information Technology Services at SFA, said it was helpful to see how the Dante technology worked across the network.

“I don’t know if we are going to implement that type of technology any time soon, but it will be considered when we do our next iteration of classroom upgrades,” he said.

In the renovation and new construction planned for Griffith Fine Arts Building, SRT’s new facilities will be completely connected by a Dante network.

“We learned a lot last semester about how flexible and scalable Dante really is,” Adams said in the article. “People can still achieve a lot of great things if they can’t see each other. If they can hear one another, and there is minimal delay, then that is definitely enough. We’re at such a negligible delay right now that we can perform small concerts together. It’s very exciting.”

For more information on how Dante is impacting higher education and to access the most recent article about SFA SRT, visit audinate.com/edu. For more information about the SRT program, contact Adams at adamsjf@sfasu.edu.

The Stephen F. Austin State University Police Department has acquired two new community relations vehicles. These vehicles will help promote UPD’s mission statement of providing a safe environment for all students, faculty and staff on campus.

“The CRVs allow us to interact with people on campus in a new and safe way,” said Robert McDonald, UPD police officer II. “We can be more present on the campus and better establish a relationship with community members.”

The CRVs’ off-road capabilities allow officers to attend numerous events, whether they are on the pavement in front of Surfin’ Steve or on the unpaved azalea trails. The vehicles are able to move officers from one place to the next in a quick, efficient manner.

The officers behind the wheel of the CRVs are committed to becoming a visible presence in the community by attending public events that allow them to interact with the campus community.

“We want people to come up and talk to us, and we want them to feel comfortable around UPD and the CRVs,” McDonald said. “I was able to visit the charter school and let the students have fun with the sirens. The next day, I stopped by the athletics pep rally event in front of the student center and spoke with numerous community members about the UPD. Standard police vehicles make it difficult to have those kinds of interactions.”

For more information about SFA’s University Police Department, visit sfasu.edu/upd.

By Emily Brown, marketing communications specialist at Stephen F. Austin State University.

Nacogdoches community members and Stephen F. Austin State University students, faculty and staff are invited to attend the fifth annual International Women’s Teach-In from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 24 virtually on Zoom or in person in Room 201 of the Human Sciences Building North on the SFA campus.

Sponsored by SFA’s Organization for Women’s Leadership and Equity, or OWLE, the teach-in will kick off with a session by Judy McDonald, former Nacogdoches mayor and the namesake of the city’s public library.

“From teaching during the pandemic, to gender and sexual policing, to inherited perfectionism, to reprioritizing, the 15 30-minute sessions offer good information and strategies for everyone, including men,” said Jamaica Ethington, a graduate student in student affairs and higher education from Las Cruces, New Mexico.

The teach-in was established as an alternative to the nationwide A Day Without a Woman strike in 2017, which was held March 8, International Women’s Day.

“Rather than participate in that, some SFA faculty members planned a teach-in for that day,” said Dr. Heather Olson Beal, a professor of education studies and faculty co-chair for OWLE. “A teach-in is like a sit-in, though instead of sitting and protesting, we taught. The event was fabulous, and now we do it annually.”

Due to COVID-19 guidelines, those attending the event in person must wear masks and practice social distancing. Paid parking is available in the Wilson Parking Garage or the Student Center Parking Garage (accessible via Alumni Drive).

To register to attend the teach-in virtually via Zoom, visit https://tinyurl.com/owleteachin2021.

For more information, view OWLE’s Facebook page at sfasu.edu/teach-in.

By Jo Gilmore, marketing communications specialist at Stephen F. Austin State University.

Rehearsal time lost during spring break is always a consideration for the Stephen F. Austin State University School of Music as it prepares to present the SFA Opera Theater each spring.

But throw in an additional seven days of lost rehearsal time caused by an unprecedented winter storm that shut down the entire state of Texas for a week, and you have a situation that demands creative, detailed scheduling to make up for lost time.

Dr. Deborah Dalton, associate professor of voice at SFA, believes the voice students can and will rise to the challenge.

“We are scrambling,” she said. “We lost six two-hour rehearsals to the storms, so now we are playing catch-up. It is difficult but not impossible.”

This year’s opera theatre, scheduled for Thursday through Saturday, March 25 through 27, will feature portions of two operas: Act I of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Così fan tutte,” or “School for Lovers,” followed by Act II finale of “Die Fledermaus” by Johann Strauss. These selections were made with COVID-19 social distancing protocols in mind, Dalton said.

“I needed to find something with a small cast – six roles – in order to be able to observe social distancing for safety,” she said. “It would also need to be shorter so that we could use the disinfecting foggers every 30 minutes. ‘Così fan tutte’ fit those parameters and offers the singers an opportunity to learn how to sing Mozart recitatives.”

Additionally, SFA’s production of two shorter operas in 2020, “The Medium” and “Sister Angelica,” only had men in an offstage chorus. Then COVID hit, and the School of Music had to cancel all performances. As a result, Dalton was looking for a work that would feature some of those younger vocalists whose performance opportunities were cut short last year by the pandemic.

“I needed to find a piece that featured a chorus to give the younger singers some stage experience,” Dalton said. “The Act II finale of ‘Die Fledermaus’ is roughly 15 minutes long. The chorus is featured in some of the most gorgeous waltzes by the “Waltz King,” Johann Strauss.”

Directing an opera performance in a pandemic has its share of obstacles to overcome.

“That has really been a challenge for all of us,” Dalton said. “All of the singers will perform masked, and as I said previously, we must take breaks every half hour to fog the stage. It has taken lots of creativity to stage the love scenes with the lovers 6-to-10 feet apart. For ‘Die Fledermaus,’ the challenge is to place the chorus far enough apart to be socially distant on a much smaller stage – Cole Concert Hall.”

Opera performances traditionally take place on the spacious stage in W.M. Turner Auditorium. But with Griffith Fine Arts Building in the midst of a major renovation and expansion project, most music performances are now being held in Cole Concert Hall.

Because of other pandemic-related limitations, costume design and set design were also scaled back. For ‘Così,’ the costumes are rented from Norcostco, a costume rental company in Dallas. This presentation of “Fledermaus” is set in contemporary time, so the men have been asked to wear tuxedos, and the women, an evening gown similar to a prom dress. A few special costumes were rented from Norcostco, as well.

“We’re still working on a solution for the sets,” Dalton said. “Our venue is a concert hall stage, not a theater, so there are no curtains or line sets to hang back drops. The beautiful costumes, props and some furniture pieces will suggest time and place.”

Creative scheduling is helping to make up for lost rehearsal time.

“Assistant director Nita Hudson does a wonderful job scheduling our rehearsals in a way that each segment of a show is blocked/sung by both casts in one rehearsal, and then we work on that same segment a few days later,” Dalton explained. “I am confident that our students will rise to this challenge and perform beautifully.”

The memorable music and funny story lines for each of the operas should give patrons a respite from the anxiety of the past year, Dalton said.

“I hope that patrons will enjoy a break from the stresses of this past year and leave smiling and humming the beautiful tunes,” she said. “I also hope they realize all the many hours and hard work that these students have put into their performances in addition to all of their classes, COVID, snow and ice storms, etc.

“The finale of Act I in ‘Così’ is hilarious!” she added. “The men, disguised as Albanians, are wooing each other’s fiancés in order to win a bet that the ladies will remain faithful and not give in to the temptation of these exotic visitors. The men rush in drinking ‘poison’ because the ladies have rejected their advances. Chaos ensues. The ladies are shocked, the men are delighted, and the maid comes in disguised as a famous doctor to take away the effects of the poison. It definitely leaves you laughing and wanting more!”

Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, March 25 through 27, in Cole Concert Hall. Seating is limited, and audience members will be required to wear face masks and social distance from others not in their immediate group. Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for seniors and $7.50 for students and youth. For tickets or more information, visit finearts.sfasu.edu or call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407. Free access to online, livestreamed performances will be available at music.sfasu.edu each night. For more information about the School of Music, call (936) 468-4602.