For Hamilton students who experienced life on the Hill before COVID-19, the past year could best be described as unrecognizable. However, while life has not returned to any semblance of normalcy, especially at Hamilton, students are still able to get what they want out of their experience here. Nowhere is this more apparent than with first-years, who have been thrust into the unfamiliar environment of college in a universally unfamiliar time. More than ever, taking advantage of Hamilton’s vast array of extracurricular activities has been instrumental in establishing their place on campus.
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sat down with Phoebe Child ’24, the newest addition to a cappella group Duelly Noted, to understand the role of club involvement for students who entered Hamilton during COVID-19. She chose to come to Hamilton because its culture encourages and enables students to engage in the full breadth of their inclinations and curiosity.
For Child, who plays trombone for the Jazz and Brass Ensembles and takes private guitar lessons on the Hill, music is more than a passing interest. Rather, coming to Hamilton presented an opportunity to continue building her skills, but also to reconnect with her passion for singing.
“In middle school,” she explains, “I sang in musicals and the school choir, but when high school came around, there were a lot of scheduling difficulties that forced me to take a break from singing.”
Before jumping into a cappella, Child cut her teeth with the Hamilton College Choir. While she enjoyed this experience, she sought out a cappella for its social atmosphere.
“I always thought it would be fun to sing in a less formal group setting,” said Child. With many of her friends having auditioned for Duelly Noted, Child found her decision to join the group as obvious.
In this more relaxed scene, Child hopes to get to know fellow members outside of a performative context, forming friendships that feature, but are not centered around, a shared love of singing. She expects that the COVID restrictions for the group will not affect her ability to achieve this.
“The only real challenge is that there aren’t many venues we can use to practice,” said Child.
During practices and performances, singers are required to stand twelve feet apart and wear masks. However, the masks that have been issued to singers are specially designed to facilitate singing while still limiting air particle outflow. Child showed
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her mask, which has a structured bow that gives singers more space between their mouth and the covering.
Like most of Hamilton’s clubs, Duelly Noted will take a markedly different form and appearance this year, but the social potential for the group is just as strong as the talent of its members.