Zoom Teaching for Music: a Year in Review
As the school year approaches an end, I find it important to reflect on what has been a tremendously difficult year for all of us. The fact is that we have made it through! The school where I teach at has now transitioned to in-person with the option of staying home, and it is so nice to end the year together, albeit still socially distanced.
We all have had to adapt to extreme circumstances and make the most out of what the pandemic has brought before us on a professional and personal level.
As a music educator, I was skeptical and afraid of how well my teaching would translate over online platforms. Having grown up during an era that only started to rely on technology, I feel blessed to have been gracefully immersed in this transition. But even this fortunate timing did not prevent me from overcoming my own hurdles acclimating to online teaching.
I wanted to touch on some successes that came out of online teaching for clarinet. While I understand this may not have been your experience, as it can vary between different instruments and genres of music, the sheer size of a class, and diverse teaching styles, these successes have translated quite well into in-person, and I thought it would be helpful to share.
Obviously nothing can ever replace the in-person experience of hearing live music and learning from an organic source, but all things considered, we were able to teach these middle schoolers and have them committed and enjoying the process of learning music. At the end of the day, I think that is what matters when life throws us limitations.
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A centralized camera can help
When showing fingerings or parts of the instrument, the class can see the close up of the instrument over Zoom faster than if it were in person. This is particularly helpful for the beginning stage of getting used to a new instrument when in a group setting.
Online interactive material via “Screen Share”
This was one of the first features I introduced in my online teaching. YouTube has a plethora of material that can be used for educational purposes. When introducing a new composer or piece to the class, I could easily pull up a recording of preference from YouTube and link the concepts.
Using “Annotations” to quickly deliver corrections when mistakes are made
In a regular in-person experience teaching a group of students, it’s very difficult to draw the student’s attention to certain mistakes. But when I use “Screen Share” to show the music the student is playing in class and write feedback in real time of what is good and what needs to be improved, not only does it show the student what his or her errors are, but it notifies the other students in the class if they are following along what is considered an error and what is not. This form of immediate feedback is extremely helpful for students so that they do not establish bad habits.
Introducing the concept of recording oneself as assignments earlier in music education
Before the pandemic, homework would normally be practicing at home and coming prepared to play the next class. However, as we all know, the audio quality of Zoom teaching is not the best due to many inconsistencies, such as microphone quality, internet speed, software, etc. So we have had to create an alternative medium to gauge sound quality that would normally not be picked up during a group class (how many of you had to refrain from speaking too soon after someone interjects because Zoom will automatically lower your audio at the beginning of you speaking/playing?). Assigning quick audio recordings provided interesting homework assignments for the students and taught them this method of accountability.
Zoom’s “one-on-one” learning environment can create a solid foundation for tone quality and intonation at the beginning of learning a new instrument
We teachers noticed that the kids were producing better tone and intonation at an earlier stage of learning the instrument because they were matching our sound for 8 months. We surmised that it was because they were using our sound as a reference point mostly as opposed to the sounds they normally would hear from sitting in an in-person group class. Zoom teaching offered a good balance of playing along with the teacher and listening to other students play one by one.
Creating camaraderie between students
When breaking up musical numbers by phrase and assigning different students to play a musical line together in this fashion, it forced the students to pay attention and anticipate when to come in for their turn. This is very important for developing the ear and sense of timing. And it’s a form of group work!
Students are becoming more tech-savvy and will have less obstacles when working in the future.
The pandemic has completely altered the fashion in which we work. Working from home is becoming more of a viable option, and the faster we introduce our students to this new mode of learning, the easier it will be for them to acclimate to a realistic working environment.
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On a final note, I want to extend a deep thank you to the teachers who I worked with this past year to help create such a positive learning environment for our students.
I hope you enjoyed the read, and if you have any stories about your own teaching experiences from the start of the pandemic, I would love to hear about them!