Practical learning through virtual media in remote society
personal review and suggestions on online instrument lessons.
Since December 2019, the entire world has had to face an enormous challenge that might change and shape the way we live. During the time of the Coronavirus (COVID-19), the government of each country and organization had to come up with ideas that could diminish the impact on an economy and citizen’s quality of living. In order to reach that point, many governments have decided to close their territories and lock down the countries, group gatherings being strictly prohibited. The result is that a countless number of people around the world have had to deal with different sorts of difficulty
Every sector of society has felt the effect of this crisis, including the education sector. As an international music student, the plans that I had made have had to be postponed, and many unique concert opportunities have been wiped away. From the moment that I knew that the school was going to close and that concerts would be canceled, I decided to come back home in Thailand. I have been under lockdown for two months now, and all of my academic subjects have been transferred to an online format. I describe here a personal review of my experience with online education, focusing especially on online guitar lessons.
In the Master study programme, I do not have as many subjects to complete as in the Bachelor programme. Several subjects have required group meetings where we had our usual lessons and discussions. Group sessions are quite manageable and feel a bit like an usual classroom, except that the ‘normal’ now has become seeing everyone at the same time without any glance in the pile of rectangles. The instability of individual internet network can be a problem sometimes.
More interesting things happen with the instrumental subject, in my case, the guitar, which teaching becomes more delicate and complex through virtual media. In a normal situation, a guitar lesson requires many different types of focuses, including visual focus, for observing and inspecting the fingering and techniques shown by the professor; auditory focus, for detecting the special quality of tone in order to be able to adjust according to guidance; body sensing of the atmosphere, etc.
With the transformation of guitar lessons from physical face to face to the online format, I need to adapt the way I approach the lesson.
First, even when the internet connection is ideal from both sides and the latency low, video quality is still a problem, especially when I have to check the fingering shown by the teacher. The camera is in a semi-fixed angle (a laptop camera can be moved vertically, a webcam or an extended camera can be moved even more), but it remains fixated on one place, which is different than in a normal lesson, where I can move around as I want and am able to select the best angle of viewing
Secondly, the quality of the sound is a huge obstacle. In music creation, we consistently change dynamics and sound colour. I find that in some web applications, the volume is automatically balance. This is great for normal usage but for music-making, the result is that all of my dynamic changes become flat. Also, the fact that we are listening to sound through a speaker (laptop build-in speaker, external speaker or headphones) means that the sounds that we hear have already been mediatized by the speaker, making it impossible to evaluate the quality of the sound in-depth.
The last thing that I want to mention is the atmosphere of studying. As a music student, receiving the advice verbally, and with fragments of music that the teacher plays to clarify ideas is not enough. It is very crucial to sense the atmosphere around studying space. To clarify what I mean by “atmosphere”: Atmosphere is the delicate details made and shown by the teacher, which affect my subconscious and let me understand what he meant. These might be a little movement of the hand, a tone/volume of the speaking voice, tapping of foot etc. In my opinion, appreciation of music does not come from large scale parameters like pitches, rhythm, or form. I don’t mean that the latter are not important. On the contrary, they are fundamental ingredients of music; playing the correct notes and rhythm is always a nice thing, and the same goes for the appreciation of the musical form, which helps build a solid and convincing interpretation. But when it comes to the aspect of art/music appreciation, from my perspective, it comes from extremely delicate and exquisite details. I always appreciate the well-chosen sound, a delicacy of vibrato, a silence between sounds, as well as congruency and balance of body movement and facial expression of the performer. As a student, learning these tiny aspects is so important for an artist and it is a pity that these things are not easy to derive from live lessons online.
New learning approaches
- Be more independent — There are technical limitations in live lessons so that teachers are not able to hear in-depth qualities of sound. Therefore, I have to decide and choose for myself.
- Ask more questions — I raise more questions to clarify the points from my teacher. Besides, conversations about personal experiences, additional exercises, and performing tips can be great resources for me to stay motivated and growing with my instrument, apart from our normal routine of working on repertoire.
Suggestions that might improve your experience in the online lessons.
Although two months is not an adequate time span to explore every single possibility, I have to conclude that internet connection is one of the most crucial aspects of online teaching. I advise you to carry out the lesson in the same room where your router is in your house. If possible, using a cable to connect your device with the router directly is the most ideal.
And in terms of sound aspect, my comments on different methods are as follows:
1. The built-in microphone of the device: It is greatly dependent on the type of device you are using and the quality of the microphone it has come with. In general, it does not give a great sound but I can hear my own playing without abruption.
2. Headphones with or without mic: It allows fewer feedback noises and the two parties can, for instance, listen to an excerpt on their devices without disturbance. But due to the blockage of the headphone, I cannot hear my own playing as clear.
3. External microphone: It is the most recommended option since they can be put freely to the best position that picks up your instrument well, without altering the position of a camera on your device. Depending on your budget range, there are numerous choices to fit your demand in sound qualities. In general, you can get a decent microphone with a friendly price in online music stores or Amazon.
A short interview with a teacher.
The analysis of online education cannot be completed with only my opinion, so I have kindly asked my teacher Enno Voorhorst, an experienced classical guitar performer and instructor from The Royal Conservatoire of The Hague, to give a short interview about his experience with online teaching.
Q: What is challenging in teaching online?
A: Teaching the traditional way has for me a history of at least 30 years and this focusses on many different aspects of playing the guitar. I’m not sure if this is possible in online teaching. Firstly, you need to understand the student in what he wants and where his strong points are. Secondly, try to develop and motivate this strong points and correct if necessary mistakes, style incorrect playing and improve the quality of technique. Thirdly motivate the student by selecting the right pieces and that he feels enthusiastic about his practicing, his playing and his future.
Many of these aspects are very delicate and based on subtle awareness and are lost with the low sound quality and unclear camera work. You get a global impression and easily only mistakes are corrected. Being a musician is more than making no mistakes or play the right tempo and play in style, actually the extra unclear things make a musician stand out among the other players.
Q: How do you deal with it?
A: Since there is no other option due to the regulations, we’ll have to live with it. For the best sound and impression, I ask students before the lesson to record the piece(s) with a mobile or other equipment and this already gives a much better quality compared to Zoom, WhatsApp, Skype or Teams. I write down my feedback and this is what we discuss and try out during our online teaching. Later I also mail the feedback. To stimulate practicing, all students perform in a group lesson. The sound is not perfect, but the experience to perform can work very positive.
Q: What is common and different compared with the usual face to face teaching situation?
A: Common is that the student practices the pieces and plays it for me online (and through video). As usual, I give my feedback on what I hear and see. The difference is that I don’t notice details such as physical tension while playing, sound quality, using sound for expression etc. The good thing what I notice is that because of the recordings, students are more critical about their own playing and sometimes surprise me with clean virtuosic playing video. Some students feel more responsibility for their own artistic choices and this makes me more a coach than a teacher which is good.
Q: Do you have any tips and advice that you find helpful for other musicians?
A: I think being in contact as much as possible is good. For students being alone at home, not surrounded by fellow students they might lose inspiration and motivation. A group lesson is therefore helpful.
To conclude, due to the technological equipment of the present, online lessons are possible but are not ideal for a practical subject that requires attention to micro details, such as instrumental lessons. Since people nowadays have to work from home more than ever, I believe that major technology companies are working on the development of applications to enhance user’s experiences. In the past several years we have seen enormous improvement in the technology of both hardware and software. I can imagine in the coming years, hopefully not so far from now, there will be technological equipment able to simulate face to face interactions in the online format, and that day, the physical lesson online will become more satisfying.
It seems like musical instrument education through virtual media only has a negative side. To be honest, from perspective of experiences that you get during the lesson, instrumental lesson through online media is still far behind from what you usually get in face to face situation. But this imperfection also gives a possibility for further improvement in the future. I am quite sure that in ten years’ time or even less, this blog would be considered as very outmoded. I am very glad to share my humble opinion at this point in time with you. The last thing that I want to say before the closure is I am excited and impressed to see fellow musicians getting very active in the virtual world, there are many projects and concerts happened every single day. This crisis somehow brings us even closer than before.
