Dual-Degree Students Double Down Amidst Instruction, Performance Interruptions

As Harvard students have transitioned to online instruction for the remainder of the semester in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, undergraduates enrolled in dual-degree music programs say they have faced a number of interruptions to their coursework.

Harvard’s dual-degree programs allow students to simultaneously enroll in the College and either the Berklee College of Music or the New England Conservatory. Participants earn a four-year bachelor’s degree at Harvard and stay on for an extra fifth year at one of the partner colleges to obtain a master’s degree.

Evan L. Vietorisz ’20, a student in the Harvard/NEC program, said because Harvard announced it would dismiss students before NEC, dual-degree students were left temporarily uncertain of how arrangements would be made for them.

“NEC dismissed its students a few days after Harvard did, so temporarily the dual degree program participants were wondering if and how we would remain in Boston if NEC did not cancel in-person classes,” Vietorisz said. “This quickly became a moot point, though.”

Eric A. Tarlin ’21, a student in the Harvard/Berklee program, said he feels his classes at Berklee have experienced more interruptions than those at Harvard since moving online.

“The fact that Berklee is a performance-based music school means that its classes’ formats were more drastically affected by the COVID-19 epidemic,” Tarlin said. “My Berklee ensemble, private lessons, and recital workshop all involved playing together with other people, in real time, which is simply impossible with the latency of video chatting.”

Tarlin also mentioned that the move off-campus created challenges for juniors in the dual-degree program who needed to audition for graduate programs this spring.

“As a second semester junior, this spring was supposed to be an opportunity for me to really hone in on what Berklee graduate programs I wanted to aim for,” he said. “Now, the process is delayed, and my class won’t have the luxury of a live audition and live accompaniment.”

Avanti Nagral ’20 — a student in the Harvard/Berklee program who is currently taking her classes virtually from Mumbai, India — said she is “functioning on an EST schedule courtesy classes,” but nonetheless remains optimistic about online learning. She added that the changes have simplified the logistics of moving between campuses.

“The only thing that has changed for me beyond the time zone, but I think for everybody generally, is when we were in Boston, doing this program involved a lot of travel back-and-forth,” Nagral said. “And I guess that travel has now completely been cut out — we can just log into Zoom, or Webex, or whatever, one after another.”

Jennifer Baker ’21, a student in the Harvard/Berklee program, said that while the transition to virtual instruction has posed challenges, faculty at both institutions “have been very accommodating and flexible.”

“I am particularly impressed with how my performance-based classes at both Harvard and Berklee have transitioned so well to online learning,” Baker said. “Navigating the transition to virtual instruction has been difficult for performance classes, but overall it has worked better than I expected.”

Vietorisz said faculty at NEC have also been supportive of dual-degree program participants, noting that instructors have become more flexible when assessing students’ work.

“This is especially important because people who do creative media are often expected to work more during times of crisis because of the idea that the stress of the moment fuels creativity,” Vietorisz said. “This is true for some people, but not others, and NEC has made it clear that both responses to the current situation are okay.”

Grading policies at all three schools have reflected the increased flexibility that Vietorisz observed: Harvard has adopted a universal emergency SAT-UNSAT system, Berklee has instituted an opt-in pass-no credit system for all classes, and NEC is offering a pass-fail option for courses other than studio lessons.

Tarlin said that because the two schools’ grading systems operate entirely separately throughout the dual-degree program, differences between the College and Berklee’s new policies will not affect his Harvard transcript.

Jennifer C. Caraluzzi, who serves as the program manager of graduate studies at Berklee, wrote in an email that she has encouraged dual-degree students to maintain “a sense of control in their daily lives in this difficult time.”

“Although there’s so much uncertainty right now, we can only encourage them to approach this one day at a time,” Caraluzzi said. “One of the main messages I have tried to communicate to the students is that we will continue to make music and grow as artists despite these unique circumstances.”

—Staff writer Meera S. Nair can be reached at meera.nair@thecrimson.com.