Online Lessons
Who are online lessons for?
I offer online lessons as a temporary substitute to in-person lessons, or as a supplement to in-person lessons.
- Current students who are temporarily out of town, or who are temporarily unable to get to an in-person lesson (due to a family member being ill, etc.) may opt to take their lesson online.
- Older students (high school age and up) who live in areas where there are currently no local teachers available to them can set up distance lessons with me until they can find a local teacher.
- Students with a long commute to my studio may opt to blend in-person lessons with online lessons to ease their travel time. For example, a student may commute to an in-person lesson once or twice a month, and on other weeks would log in to online lessons during that same time slot at home.
How does it work?
Just like an in-person lesson, the teacher will set aside a specific time each week to run a video conferencing session with the student. These lessons might take place via Skype, Facetime, Google+ Hangouts, or other video conferencing / video chat software, and may include text messages, emails or audio phone calls should the video connection fail.
During the first online conversation, the teacher and student will need to adjust their equipment. Internet connection speed, camera placement, and the lighting in the space you plan to take lessons will all be assessed and may need adjustments before an ideal lesson setup is achieved.
Because most video conferencing software is designed to optimize visual and spoken communication, the full tone quality of a musical instrument is often compromised in transmission during live online lessons. Therefore, you'll be asked to send higher quality audio/video recordings of the student playing short pieces, exercises or excerpts the day before the lesson begins, so that the teacher can give accurate feedback on tone quality each week.
Any written homework the student has (music theory, etc.) is emailed to the teacher or uploaded to a shared cloud service (such as Dropbox or Google Drive) in between each online lesson.
During the first online conversation, the teacher and student will need to adjust their equipment. Internet connection speed, camera placement, and the lighting in the space you plan to take lessons will all be assessed and may need adjustments before an ideal lesson setup is achieved.
Because most video conferencing software is designed to optimize visual and spoken communication, the full tone quality of a musical instrument is often compromised in transmission during live online lessons. Therefore, you'll be asked to send higher quality audio/video recordings of the student playing short pieces, exercises or excerpts the day before the lesson begins, so that the teacher can give accurate feedback on tone quality each week.
Any written homework the student has (music theory, etc.) is emailed to the teacher or uploaded to a shared cloud service (such as Dropbox or Google Drive) in between each online lesson.
Online/Tech Equipment neededYou'll need a fast internet connection, quality speakers, and a quality camera (webcam) with a good microphone. Also useful is a cell phone, for texting or calling during the lesson if the online call has quality issues.
The student needs to be able to scan sheet music or worksheets, and record their own playing, to email to the teacher or upload to a file sharing space (such as a dedicated Dropbox folder, a shared Google Drive folder, a Youtube or Vimeo channel, etc.) |
Musical Equipment neededStudents will need all of the things on the "What you Need" page.
Of particular note for distance lessons, the student needs to pay special care to acquire a decent instrument, as the teacher might not be able to see the instrument in person, and the student will also need to learn how to tune it. I might be able to recommend a reputable local luthier's shop local to you, or I may recommend an online luthier. Beginning students will need instruments with working fine tuners and well-fitted pegs, as well as an electronic tuner or a tuning app (for example, Cleartune). A portion of each online lesson will be dedicated to helping teach tuning from the start. |
Music neededHow can we ensure that we're on the same page during lessons?
The student and teacher need to have the same edition of sheet music to work from during lessons. This along with screen sharing, or sheet music apps like forScore, and scans of completed worksheets, allow the teacher and student see each other's annotations or work. Shared cloud services, such as Dropbox, or video streaming websites, such as Youtube or Vimeo, allow teacher and student to share materials as needed. |
