We have all had to change the way we do things in the past year. One of them for piano teachers was to start teaching piano lessons online. While our country was on lock-down due to Covid-19, people scrambled to figure out how they could do their jobs without contact. Now that the initial threat is not so threatening, we can all get back to normal, right?
One of the surprises I’ve had recently is that some of my families want to stay online. This caught me off-guard since I thought everyone was more than ready to come back to lessons in person. Some like the idea of being back in person, but for lack of time during the week, have chosen an ‘at home’ lesson for convenience.
Knowing that online lessons are here to stay and that some people prefer them, are online lessons as good as in person? I have gone over a few items that come up when questioned about online verses in person lessons.
Low contact
Starting back at the beginning of lockdown, the reason many turned to online lessons was to have less contact. The virus is spread through airborne means, so this was the safest way to still have a piano lesson. Now, when the danger is diminished is it necessary yet? One way I will continue to use the online platform is if students are sick, but not too sick to have a lesson. In the past, I have had students come in that really shouldn’t be anywhere out in public. They didn’t want to miss their piano lesson, so showing up in person was their only option. Now we can simply move that lesson to an online lesson. The same goes for me, when I am sick. I have switched my lessons to online for the day when coming down with a questionable ‘cold’.
Teaching Pedaling
I have had a few students this past year have legato pedaling for the first time during online lessons. At first, it was awkward because it is something that I taught by actual demonstration. What I have found with online teaching is you need to use your words to describe things. That is why it was awkward at first because I didn’t have words in my regular vocabulary to describe the action of legato pedaling. After a few lessons, it became more natural to use the words and my hands to describe the pedaling action. In every case, students came back to their next lesson using the pedaling technique correctly. Watching their posture and the way the upper leg moved was enough to tell me if their heel was on the floor. Do I prefer to see it in person? Yes, but it does work online.
Internet connection
One of the ways that teaching online can be ineffective, or maybe not as effective, is if one of you has a bad wifi signal. After over a year of teaching online and problem solving, this would be my biggest complaint. What I learned is that using a musical instrument online takes a lot of bandwidth. What is that? To me it is something magical, but when it doesn’t work, I take note. During a lesson with bad wifi this looks like buffering, horrible sound, or freezing up. This makes for a frustrating lesson on both ends. From my experience, the best way to not have this problem is to hook your device to your wifi with an ethernet cable. I tried everything to not have to do this but am happy to say it isn’t expensive or that difficult. Having no one else streaming during a lesson is also extremely helpful. Also keeping background noise to a minimum is a must.
When a person has a good connection, a lesson can go quite smoothly. Taking turns talking is something I have found to be helpful (and for that matter respectful!). Demonstrating certain keys or hand positions or chords is easy with an overhead camera. When a student practices their lesson and plays for an online lesson, all the dynamics (louds & softs) can be heard along with their phrasing.
Personal attention span
When teaching in person, it may be a bit easier to redirect a student that gets distracted easily. Pointing to where they got lost in the music or something they forgot about is helpful when you are standing right there. Again though, learning to use certain words or having the student learn how to find measures is the game changer for online lessons. It may seem easier to use a finger to just point. It can also be just as easy once the student and teacher get used to certain verbal ques, to hear the direction.
Having a parent nearby to direct the online student that gets distracted is often helpful. Some students are not as in tuned to giving responding ques when hearing a question online. They may have to learn to respond so that they give acknowledgement that they heard their instructor.
Making progress
All of my students that took online lessons this past year progressed at the same rate or even better this past year. Chalk some of that to families being less busy and therefore more time to practice. Progress is progress though, and students did not fall behind due to online lessons. I helped prepare some for festivals where they had to submit a recorded video of them playing and these students did well also.
Maybe you have been a firm believer that online lessons just don’t work as well. Have you tried them? I have found them a helpful tool to use permanently for some and occasionally for others. You can use them when you want to stop the spread of infection (not just covid-19). You can learn the same techniques using different cameras and using hand demonstration and verbal ques. Having a good wifi signal is important. Being in person may be helpful with someone whose attention gets distracted easily but can be overcome online with another adult in the room and verbal ques.
The end conclusion to my pondering this sometimes controversial subject is that online lessons can be a very good alternative to in person lessons. I am happy to offer them as an option for piano lessons. I personally consider online lessons to be a bonus addition to lessons that is very useful.