Music Teacher during pandemic

[lightbg]

Being a retired music teacher myself I can identify with this girl's anguish during this pandemic.

 

 

Music Teacher

 

Jake

[KeyboardEric]

that's just a normal day for most music teachers.

[Doerfler]

it did go where no one expected. Sign of a great song.

[MuzikTeechur]

25 years as a public school music teacher, and another 5 to go before I retire (maybe).

 

This has been just awful.. it's as though someone has put me in a straight jacket, put me alone in a small room, gave me a telephone, and told me to teach music.

 

This semester I have two sections of Band, one section of Chorus, Jazz Band, Musical Theatre, and Piano 2. Musical Theatre and Piano 2 haven't been hard - I assign musicals for the kids to watch in MT then do a reflection (hey, at least they're watching good musicals, right?). Piano 2 I "meet" with each of the students (there are 6 in this class) each week for a video lesson (we use Google Meet for video conferencing). Works out fine, unless we try to play duets. Network lag kills that.

When we *thought* we might be back in school as of May 4 (Maine), at least we had concerts, Memorial Day Parades, All-State, and Graduation performances to plan for. Now, we'll be out for the rest of the year and it's been really hard to come up with musical activities for my performance ensemble students that doesn't seem like "busy work." Plus, they all have their core academic classes and some are really struggling with this Remote Learning model.

 

This sucks.

 

Keep Rockin' in Place, friends!

[stillearning]

Thanks, I needed that. I teach music in retirement, now online.

[Docbop]

I saw that a week or so ago on YT and couldn't stop laughing. I sent it to the owner of the local music store, he was not amused. LOL

[marino]

I have retained most of my teaching time by doing it online, so I'm not complaining too loudly.......

BUT after two full months of lockdown, my nervous system is really starting to deteriorate. I find teaching online double as hard than regular teaching (and certainly not as effective). I'm almost missing crowded subways and traffic jams.

[Morizzle]

I find teaching online double as hard than regular teaching (and certainly not as effective).

 

I'm with you there, Carlo! I think it might have to do with the constant lags, the short audio dropouts and misplaced noise reduction algorithms on the video conferencing apps that constantly forces the brain to compensate for lost information - after a day of teaching (three a week for me) I'm absolutely spent. Hang in there!

[ElmerJFudd]

I signed up for an account with musicfirst.com. in one shot I got access to practicefirst, sightreadingfactory, auralia, musition, etc. etc. all assignable to individual, groups or whole classes of music students. give them a ring. makes life a lot easier once you learn to use it. and they do webinars.

 

Group vocal and playing with a student is lousy over the Internet. I send accompaniments for singers and duets for piano with a google drive link ahead of private lessons. That way the audio is in the room with them when they perform for me. Piano lesson work is back and forth. Student plays, I watch and listen, I play they watch and listen. Goes slower than in person. But my rate has remained the same.

[re Pete]

Are people charging the same rate online vs in person for lessons?

[David R]

I'm charging less because I don't have to leave my house and I can make my own coffee. The most difficult thing was finding camera angles with my limited gear that can show my hands to fix certain technical or fingering issues, and also the fact that I can't play simultaneously with my students. Teaching one-on-one online and especially making my YouTube content have greatly improved my communication skills and my understanding of what I'm teaching.

[MathOfInsects]

Are people charging the same rate online vs in person for lessons?

I charge a "drive" rate on top of my hourly rate for any students I teach in their own houses. I offered to drop it once we converted to online. Some took me up on it and some insisted on paying the same rate, as a gesture of support. Otherwise all rates are the same for me.

 

For private lessons, I really don't mind the online teaching. It's not ideal but it has some benefits, including the fact that students can remain completely within their comfort zone and not get that "white coat hypertension" thing that they often get in person (I am referring mostly to adult students here). There are a couple of students I wouldn't be surprised if they remained online after the Coronachella is over. There are downsides, of course, but I've been pleasantly surprised at the upsides.

 

College teaching is a bit of a drag this way. In some ways it's easier for me, since so much content is now hosted online for them, including podcasts that cover elements I'd usually be lecturing about. But my particular approach is highly interactive, and I am always sort of "reading the room" to see where I need to slow down or double back or explain something differently or use additional examples or resources, and I just don't get that kind of feedback online. I am grateful for it and glad to have an additional weapon in my arsenal going forward, but I'll be glad when in-person lectures can begin again.

 

Also, that song was fantastic and I laughed real sounds in the actual world.

[Docbop]

I've been taking online lessons for many years first as guitarist and now as a pianist. Now I wouldn't suggest a total beginner take online, but after a couple months then online is just a good as in person in my opinion. In fact with teachers I've had I have more contact with doing online than with a one on one teacher. One on one teacher were like you have X minutes and I'll see you next week. With my online teacher not only is emailing them a question between lesson allowed it's encouraged. I really miss my online guitar lessons with the Sherpa program at Truefire (sadly Truefire is guitar and bass only) I could send as many video or emails as I want to my private instructor. I wish there was a piano version of Truefire and the different levels of teaching they offer at very reasonable prices.

 

 

Back to original topic bottom line it's always about the student interest level, a bad online student is probably a bad one on one student too. If they want to learn they will ask questions and do the assignments.

[Morizzle]

I'm charging less because I don't have to leave my house and I can make my own coffee

 

It's fascinating how we musicians always find ways to rationalize our asking for too little money. I think you should be charging just the same. Figuring out the whole technical setup, planning lessons around the limitations, creating additional lesson content for YouTube takes a lot of time - it should be payed for.

[David R]

I'm charging less because I don't have to leave my house and I can make my own coffee

 

It's fascinating how we musicians always find ways to rationalize our asking for too little money. I think you should be charging just the same. Figuring out the whole technical setup, planning lessons around the limitations, creating additional lesson content for YouTube takes a lot of time - it should be payed for.

To be clear, I've basically just taken out the "travel time" portion I build into my cost. My base rate is still the same. The technical setup is equivalent to the travel time, generally. I also know that a lot of people who want to study with me are also no longer working and with limited income, so I'd rather keep myself busy and make my teaching accessible to those who are also hurting for cash.

 

I have also started a Patreon for people to contribute to if they want to support my YouTube channel (it's separate from my private teaching).