Teaching Online Lessons (decent audio)
Hi friends! Holy cow, have things changed in the past week. I am hopeful that many of you are adjusting to the idea of online instruction, and to the many responsibilities that have now been dumped in our plates as teachers, parents, musicians, and just human beings.
A couple of years ago, I started a website called The Virtual Trombonist. The content of that site is still out there a little bit, although much of it lies dormant these days. The reason for that is that when I started it, I just didn’t have very much interest in online instruction. There are a lot of reasons for that, which I don’t plan to explore today… 😮 But, I did learn a lot about portraying a good quality trombone sound, as well as creating an experience that a student could actually hear over the internet, and found a few things that might be helpful to you all…. Many of you have likely already figured this out, but here we go…
I will preface this by saying, there are a million ways to skin this problem, so please reply with any ideas that have worked well for you!
Rule #1: Video quality can suck, but if you have good audio, things will go generally well.
Do you best to connect to a solid wifi (or wired ethernet) connection. Run a test via a site like speedtest.com to see if you have enough bandwidth. Check your upload speed. If I’m getting speeds below 10 mbps I’m going to sweat it. Most modern services will be fast enough. If you’re running on cellular service, that’s where you need to figure it out. Make sure you are in a place where you get “good” cellular reception. Test it out on some connections before you rely on it to teach.
Coach your student beforehand (and maybe their parents) to figure out the connection on their end. Good location, wifi access, etc. Give them the best chance to get set up to get the most from the lesson.
A word about video quality…. It’s awesome to have amazing looking video. If you have time and resources to get your lighting adjusted, know something about lighting for video, etc., then go for it. Otherwise, make sure you don’t have a window behind you. Don’t be back lit! Have the window behind your camera/computer, with you looking into the light. Much better view for the student. If you’re a trombone player, make sure you don’t knock your laptop over with your slide. Ask me how I know.
Rule #2: Have a decent mic, but don’t overthink it.
Any decent USB mic should suffice for teaching online. Yeah, it’s super cool to have your stereo ribbon mic on a crazy boom stand hanging over your practice area, but really, your young student just needs to hear you clearly (speaking), and get a good idea of a quality sound from you on their end. An Audio Tecnica AT 2020 USB+, or Rode USB mic, should work great. I have a super cheap Samson USB mic, that when I initially plugged it in, I actually laughed out loud it sounded so good, and for like $60! Don’t get me wrong, these don’t sound like a Sennheiser, Neumann, or Royer mic you would find in a studio. But hey, the goal here is different!
I prefer to wear headphones. I block out all the other nonsense noise in my house (kids, cats, squeaky dryer), and many of these USB mics let you monitor through the microphone. Plug your headphones in to the mic headphone jack, and listen to the sound as it comes in to the system. You will be able to tell if it’s clipping, or in other words, it’s turned up too loud. Or, not loud enough! Use your ear. If it’s distorted and nasty sounding, turn the microphones gain down. If it’s not loud enough, turn it up. You’re a musician, use your ears!
Rule #3: Pick a platform
I used to use Skype. A lot of people dish on Skype, but it was pretty reliable. You could do FaceTime but then you alienate about 50% or more of your students. I am lately a relatively enthusiastic fan of Zoom. You can do meetings with multiple people, and they have a free tier as well.
Rule #4: Include parents, and offer “extras”
As I said above, Zoom allows you to record the call, which is important on a lot of levels. First of all, if you are teaching minor children, it’s always a good idea to invite the parent to be present for the lesson. In fact, I wouldn’t teach a lesson without a parent present on the other end. At the very least, you can record the call, and Dropbox the recording to the student afterwards. That way, everyone has a copy.
Regarding recording lessons…. Joe Alessi used to require all of his students to record every lesson. This was in the mid 1990s (gasp!). No joke, those were recorded on cassette tape! Students should be listening to their lessons. They forget what you said, mom wants to know what you talked about, and they may just need to review until it sinks in! Record and Dropbox. Easy peasy.
Record other videos for your students. Record a warmup routine for them to play along with. Have them record their practice through the week for you. Make videos for the parents about what they should be doing to help. Hey, as the father of school age children, any contact from a teacher is like golden information you can take to the bank, especially the good teachers. Kids come home from school and can’t remember, literally, ANYTHING that happened that day that relates to actual education. Help your parents out. The topics are endless. How can you educate a non-musician parent about what actually happens at solo and ensemble, or all-region auditions?
Mic placement tip:
If you have one USB mic, set it up so that you can speak into relatively close up. I set mine up near my computer so I can speak into it, then swivel my chair so it’s “looking” at me from a profile view, which keeps the trombone from being super loud into the mic. I can also have my music stand off to the side. I hope that makes sense. Speaking mic = direct sound; playing mic = indirect sound.
I would love to have any questions in the comments… feel free to ask away! If you’d like more info, let me know!
Cheers to you and your families. If you are struggling, I see you, and my thoughts and resources are here to help. Drop me an email at chris@clarkmediaproductions.com if there’s anything you need help with.
