10 Practical Tips for Teaching Music Online
2020 heralded a brave new world for music teaching – whether we liked it or not. The pandemic meant we had to adapt and evolve and bring our music studios online. During the first few months there was a lot of trial and error as we ventured into the unknown.
Whether it was bad internet, or forgetting to plug in your laptop, lessons could come to an abrupt end. Cameras would freeze and mics would crackle and hiss. Sure we were all familiar with communicating online, but video calls were still quite novel. And with that we all became internet bandwidth experts!
I’ve spoken with many teachers and students about conducting music classes online. In this article I’ve detailed below some practical and technical teaching tips to help both teachers and students get the most out of online lessons. While in-person teaching remains the best medium, we will have to make the most of online lessons for the foreseeable future.
- Set up. Place your laptop, phone, tablet facing you. Make sure that the window is not directly behind you or you will appear dark like a silhouette. Placing a light shining on you from above and from the front will help the other person see you clearly. Try to situate in a place that is quiet and not a focal point in your house where you are not likely to be disturbed.
- Tripod. Using a tripod with your phone or tablet attachment is the most efficient way to be able to adjust your picture so that your student has the best view of you. These can be bought quite cheaply (here’s one for €20 from Argos). If you are using a laptop, set it on a table with books as a height aid if necessary. You can move yourself back or side to side if you need to adjust the picture. The camera should be at eye level or a bit higher and you should be able to see you and all your instrument.
- Screen size. The bigger the screen you have, the more clearly you can see your student. This makes it easier to catch important technical issues that might be missed on a smaller screen. Pro tip: connect your laptop to a TV using a HDMI cable to bring a cinematic quality to your lessons!
- Volume. Turn up the sound level on whatever device you are using and ask your student to do the same. This reduces the need to shout and saves our voices! Also, if you are experiencing feedback (you can hear your sound through their mic picking it up and sending it back to you) you may need to adjust your mic and/or headphones. Or another easy way to solve this is to mute yourself when the other person is talking/playing. There’s a detailed post here about handling feedback issues on video calls.
- Choose the best platform. There are so many online teaching platforms available that it can be hard to choose which one to use. I find FaceTime and Zoom the best for my students. Some other options are Skype, WhatsApp video, Google Meet etc. Often it is dependent on the day which works best due to the internet speed and how many people are using the platform at a given time. Be flexible and don’t be afraid to change the platform midway through a lesson if it is not working efficiently. Most platforms can be used without too much hassle signing up. All of the providers listed here are free for one-to-one calls.
- Internet connection. The lessons work best if there is a strong uninterrupted internet connection. If you find the connection drops often and you find yourself or your student freezing, it is worth asking if other people are using the internet in your house and your student’s house at the same time. Someone playing video games or watching Netflix at the same time can really disrupt the lesson flow. Ask them to pause just during the time of the lesson. Also, if possible, try to set up your WiFi router in the same room as your lesson.
- Student set up. Tell your student about the optimum set up (see no.1 above). It is helpful to have a parent in the room at the start to help with the set up and for the entire lesson if they are young. This is also important for child protection. It is best if the student is not in their bedroom but in an area which is a public area of their house. It is worth spending the extra time needed to get the set up right as it means you can get more from each future lesson.
- Student preparation. Once the optimum set up has been organised in the first online lesson, the student should set this up 5 minutes before the lesson is due to start. Collect all the music for the lesson on the stand. Have a pencil and eraser at hand to write in fingerings.
- Teacher’s notebook. In online lessons, there is no access to a teacher’s notebook. Email can be used efficiently as a substitute. Reply to each old email to keep them all in the one place. Alternatively, a shared Google Doc can be easily accessed and updated by both the student and the teacher for note taking.
- Microphone. Last but definitely not least, the difference an external microphone makes to the overall sound is incredible. None of the popular video call platforms were specifically made for teaching music and each have their own issues. If both yourself and your student use an external microphone, the difference in quality is astounding. It does really change the online teaching experience. Invest in one for your sanity! Mics can be quite expensive, but even a budget mic for €20-30 is still better than most inbuilt mics (see here from Currys).
Do you have any other practical online teaching tips you’d like to add? Please get in touch by email or social media, we’d love to hear from you. Alternatively, sign up to our regular newsletter using the form below.