The ramifications of HB 1481 which bans students from using a personal device that has communication capabilities continues to be seen more than a month into the school year.

In orchestra classes, school supplied music tuners are now being used rather than mobile apps students could previously use on their phone. 

“It was a learning curve for all of us the first few weeks because most of us have switched to tuning apps in the last 10 years,” assistant orchestra director Brandon Lucio said. ”We were hesitant with tuning the first few weeks, but it seems to be going well now. We feel confident with it after adjusting to the physical in-class tuners.”  

However, the process to ensure instruments are in tune does take a bit longer.

“Most of us used our phones for tuning. We have class tuners now, enough for one per stand. If your stand partner doesn’t have their own tuner either, you have to take turns, which is less time effective,”  junior Valerie Nanton said. “The tuners are kept in the caddy where our phones used to be, so it’s the same process minus the extra step of grabbing a tuner from the wall once you’ve uncased.”

Using a phone to help tune their instruments may have been easier for most students, but the move away from apps could be a silver lining. 

“They get the job done well enough for the most part,” Nanton said. “I think they do a better job at listening to my instrument because they clamp onto the bridge instead of using a microphone from all the way over on my stand as with my phone, so the class tuners are actually easier to use in that regard. I dislike being denied a choice in how I tune my instrument, though.”