Teaching during Covid-19: Lessons Learned

When I first started teaching I had one very big problem: I had difficulty watching my student's sticking and remembering that my Left was their Right. Developing a curriculum wasn't a problem since I applied the same order that my brother had taught me. Over the years I added more literature, extended techniques, and included Timpani, Mallets, and Accessories in my teaching. I evolved as a teacher. I found that the act of teaching sometimes included being a mentor that created a bond that lasted years with many of my students.

Then came Covid-19, the first thing I noticed with our isolated teaching was the difficulty of watching and listening to their playing over Skype, Zoom, or any of the other videos. I couldn't sync (in my mind) the audio and video during the lesson. It was like starting my teaching career all over again.

Dealing with the 'Sync' problem took about a week of lessons when I learned to accept the limitations of the technology and develop a different way of internalizing what was presented to me. I started to focus on their body language, their facial expression and their concentration towards the music.  I observed them as they were creating a visual experience as much as an aural one. In the past I have dealt with this concept but only when they were preparing for a performance and how their audience would perceive it. I now include this idea of visual presentation on a regular basis.

The sound of the Snare Drum is another issue during these lessons. Loose snares and out of tune heads sound bad in real life, but over a conference call they sound like the trash pick up day on my street. When a student gets a new drum I have them bring it to a lesson and tune it for them. I also check the tuning before they perform. They also know to bring the drum to me if at anytime it doesn't sound or respond properly. As the student matures, their lessons include proper re-heading and tuning of their own drum, but none of them are at that level right now. 

Another problem with a snare drum is how the mic picks up the sound. Most computers use condenser mics which means the mic automatically takes the 'soft' and the 'loud' levels and attempts to find a happy medium on playback. There are also many times when the drum's dynamic level is so loud that the mic cancels itself out and there is silence for 3 or 4 measures.

Using a practice pad gets rid of both issues. One can hear the clarity of the strokes along with a wider  dynamic range.

Mallets and timpani pose a different problem.....access to an instrument. Fortunately all of my students  are either using one of my xylophones/marimbas or have their own. Timpani of course is another issue since they have lost access to the timpani at their schools. Until they can use real timpani they can only practice using small pillows.

These are all problems that address the technical part of playing, but the one thing that I can't control is their ability to perform music with their peers in a band or ensemble setting. This I can't provide and since the opening of schools in the next month or so is still questionable I will have to wait and continue to find ways to keep them engaged in their studies.