Music educators spent the last year dealing with creating virtual instruction, but have you wondered about what music students experienced the shift in pedagogical offerings? In the case study titled Creative Pedagogies in the Time of Pandemic, twenty conservatory students were asked about how lockdown measures impacted their musical learning. The questionnaire that they filled out focused on their experiences with the efficiency of the new educational settings, the musical activities developed through technology, and interactions with peers.

Students find that the use of technology can be stressful, particularly when there was a lack of communication from the instructor or seeming problems with organization. Because of the physical separation between teacher and student, novel approaches are needed to enhance creativity. Faced with the lack of in-person interaction, they see the importance of the collaborative experience of musicking.

Three interrelated aspects of music students' experiences of learning through the pandemic emerged:

1. During sheltering-in-place, it became clear the importance of being in a community with peers who can offer suggestions and provide encouragement.

2. The need for newness led to discovering novel ways to communicate among students, highlighting the link between creativity and collaboration.

3. The students find motivation from an instructor using a systematic approach and benefit from clarity regarding final goals.

The charge becomes students taking on more responsibilities while instructors stimulate open discussions and collaborations.

Teachers have had to think and create outside of their comfort zones with the onset of the pandemic. We cannot expect to return to a previous sense of normalcy. Rather, we can take lessons learned and lean into new ways of collaborating with our students for musical, intellectual, and emotional nourishment.