- Our community at Harmony Music Academy is doing its part to protect against the virus by exercising a high degree of diligence. We are closely monitoring the situation, and following regular updates on COVID-19 from federal, provincial and local health officials, and taking action as required.
At this time, public health authorities are urging social distancing. To this end, all in-person classes and events are now remotely held via Zoom/FaceTime/Skype until further notice.We will contact each student individually to help set up the remote lesson.
What You Need to Know About Online Lessons:
Why continue lessons remotely when everything is uncertain? In music education, continuity is of utmost importance, particularly for beginner and intermediate students. Musical skills that have been learnt through hard work and practice can be easily forgotten, and that will make it much harder to return later. When times are uncertain, routine is extremely helpful in calming our anxieties. This is especially true for children. Routine can be one of the most powerful things in regulating our anxieties and your child has probably been taking lessons long enough that the regular routine of weekly lessons and daily practice will be a tool in helping them manage their uncertainty. In addition to the weekly lesson with your teacher, daily practice is also a routine that helps children and adults. It occupies their minds and gives them something for which they can set goals and see improvement.
Will remote lessons be like regular lessons? When it comes to learning new skills and receiving guidance in how to practice, it will definitely be similar. But the ways in which the teacher will make these things happen may look different. We are regularly meeting with our teachers (remotely!) to discuss and improve how teach online.
Can remote lessons be as good as in-person lessons? Judging by the number of teachers and platforms that taught online piano lessons before this crisis, the answer is YES! In-person lessons certainly have their advantages, but there is no reason to believe that online lessons can’t be as effective. In fact, remote lessons have some advantages.
- Online lessons can improve a students’ level of responsibility and thus increase their progress since the teacher will not be able to write in their book or write down their assignments for them (though they might email them). Requiring them to make their own marks in their books and writing down their own assignments will help the student remember their assignment better and practice more effectively from week to week.
- Many teachers are asking students to send videos of their home practice, this provides the possibility of more communication and feedback between the student and the teacher between lessons. As well, students will learn to listen to their performances’ recordings and discover their improvements and shortcomings.
The online lesson allows the teacher to see how the student interacts with their practice environment at home. Teacher can help improve how students are set up to practice and for example how they interact with their at-home piano which can differ greatly in terms of touch, tone, pedal sensitivity, etc.
What application do I need? We recommend using the free application Zoom. It provides a good quality audio and video as well as options to share screen, audio from teacher’s computer, as well white board, and notes. Also the lesson, as well as notes taken can be recorded by the teacher and sent as a link to students for reference. For those who with Apple products, FaceTime is also a very good application.
What else do I need? We recommend for students to set up using a laptop computeror iPadscompared to smartphonesas the larger screen helps communication and focus with students. Also using headphones or earbuds can help with sound quality.
How do I start my remote lessons? All you need to know is to register for your lesson or if you are new, book a free trial lesson, we will contact you, get the needed contact information, set up the time and day of your lesson, and your teacher will contact you to set it all up.
