One interesting aspect of these sessions was the fact that they were streamed live online for fans, friends, and colleagues to experience the recording process and be introduced to this unique music.  Manifold owner Michael Tiemann created an optimal Ustream setup, switching cameras between Frederic at the piano in the studio room, to the control room where we listened to the recorded takes. The streams are archived here -- you can view them on YouTube and see what was broadcast during the sessions.  During breaks, Frederic was even able to respond to some viewer questions and comments during the two days the stream was live. 

The opportunity to perform or to teach live online is growing daily. Whether a glimpse into a world-class recording studio/session, taking music lessons online or hearing a concert, live music is happening within our grasp constantly.   

Have you had experiences performing or teaching live online?  Please share! 

Google docs are a great tool for keeping a running notebook for your students.  The historical record of your notes, assessment of the lesson and outline of practice goals is always available for reference and progress tracking, and the student can add their practice log and notes to the doc, creating a running journal.  

1. Select Drive at the top of your Google menu:

2. Create>Document

This will make an untitled document that you can name by student and time period (e.g. July 2012) or initiative (Solo and Ensemble Preparation) in the document list:

3. You can create a folder (Create>Folder) for each of your students and keep their running document or a series of documents in the folder.

4. Share the document with your student: the blue Share button at the top right of the page allows you to enter a student or student’s parent email address to share the document.  Only you and those with whom you share the document will see it.    

5. The student can keep a simple practice journal by adding notes with with the Comment feature (similar to Microsoft Word).  

• Drag over a section of text and right-click or select Insert>Comment from the menu.  This will create a comment attached to the text in the document--a specific assignment for example.  The student can add to the comment daily with successive “Reply” entries.  

Google Drive contains free tools that facilitate communication and collaboration between lessons.  You may find many creative ways to use the different tools beyond the docs.  

Have some cool things you’ve done with Google Drive?  Please share and add your comments below!

     

They all offer free trials, samples, or consultations.  A session of their time for free (or many sessions in the case of a real estate agent,) a sample of the product, a test drive, an opportunity to experience the therapy...

Music teacher's thoughts on this vary widely. Typically, their reasons for not offering free trial lessons are that the student is "window shopping" or that a free lesson "devalues" their lesson experience. Consider:

Window shopping: The student may very well be looking for the teacher who is the best fit and  sampling multiple teachers.  From our perspective as teachers, we have a strong personal connection to our work and want students who we think are a good fit.  

Devalue Lessons?: If the teacher communicates their fees clearly upfront, the lesson value becomes evident in the free trial lesson, not devalued.  

"But my time is too valuable!"  That's exactly the point.  If you're a music teacher, consider that a twenty or thirty minute free session with a prospective student serves multiple purposes, while obligating neither party:  

So think about it--you're worth it.  If you want more students and a fulfilling teaching experience by teaching students who you want to teach, consider offering free samples.  This is especially true if the delivery medium is unfamiliar and you're working in the still uncharted territory of live online webcam lessons.  

I'll bet the lawyers and chiropractors and finance people wish they had a relationship with their clients that allowed them to navigate a world of beauty and craft with the depth of music.  Ask the next one that you have as a student.  Also, ask them about the efficacy of free.  

What are your thoughts and experiences with trial lessons?  Please share!

I find it interesting to note that when we make music at our instrument, it’s considered “playing.”  As musicians, we get to play. Every day.  [Singers, I know you don't use the same term, but the idea makes sense for you too, no?]

I was pondering this today as I wrestled to play chords on the guitar—an instrument I’ve never learned. I didn't feel very "playful."  But something sparked—I felt like there was something I might like to do with this instrument.  Should I find a teacher and take live online lessons?  Why not learn another kind of play?

I’m a professional classical pianist.  I've had a very playful life so far, you could say. But it occurred to me that it might be fulfilling to find another way to play, a casual “fireside” portable kind of play.  Maybe I’d even be able to share some of the other music I love with family and friends (one of my musical “soft spots” is for indie alternative folk pop…or something like that…I’m listening right now, for example, to the new A Fine Frenzy album that came out today.) 

By definition, play serves no “practical purpose.”  But play pervades nature.  And making music is a distinctly human activity.  So, one could propose, playing music is highly purposeful because in doing so, we engage in being what we are: human.  

Musical instruments are contraptions created to make the sounds we imagine or hear in our heads.  Until we master them, they’re unnatural, they hurt our hands (fingertips on the guitar today!), strain our breath, make us self conscious and frustrated, and produce consternating sounds other than what we really want to hear. 

Thus we practice.  Practicing, come to think of it, is also very human—the effort put forth to hone and perfect our creation of sounds that reveal our human qualities.  

So, the next time you play your instrument, consider what a wonderful opportunity it is to embrace something created to help you express what and who you are.  Play indeed has purpose. If we practice with passion and gratitude, our instrument will become an extension of us.  The more actively we listen, the more deeply we feel, the more we tell a story with every succession of notes, the more music opens the window to our very self, revealing us to ourselves and others. 

Room setup and lighting 

Look in the self-view of your video chat application before starting a lesson.  You can instruct your student along these same lines: 

Start your lesson by looking at and speaking to your student 

Consider the physical lesson--the student and you first meet face to face, discuss the past week's goals, practice sessions, challenges, discoveries.  If you like to focus a webcam on your hands or instrument and you’re only using one webcam, be sure to start a lesson with this face to face communication and then reposition your webcam as needed.  

Advise your student regarding their set up and webcam position and communicate with them as you would at the beginning of any lesson before switching to an instrument-focused view. 

This is one reason some teachers use multiple webcams and switch between them with a physical switcher or an on-screen tool.  A “communication” camera and a “demonstration” camera can be an effective starting point.   

During the Lesson 

Communication via webcam has fundamental differences from a physical environment.  For example, we can’t simply bend over and point to a place on the page and say “start here” or make pencil marks on the student’s page.  Therefore, some things to consider: 

Lesson follow up 

Establish a communication flow with your student for the period between lessons.  This will assure that they don’t  abuse your time by over communicating with you electronically about insignificant items, and also that they understand to what extent your channel is open and what kind of response time they should expect.  

The live online music lesson format also makes it convenient to schedule mid-week “check ins” or short sessions to make sure that student practice habits are on track.  I’ve considered how a highly iterative music learning process might work in previous posts, and I think this is one of the many great benefits that the live online lesson medium offers--the possibility of more frequent feedback and interaction between student and teacher.   

Please discuss and comment.  What are some ways you as an online teacher optimize the experience, setup, and communication?  

The title of this post sounds like it may be about how to price your lessons.  My intention, however, is for it to be a consideration of how you spend your time and what your priorities are.   

Unless you’re simply transferring your physical teaching to online, you need students.  Your online teaching studio lives in the virtual world, so despite the “viral” nature of that world, you’re probably not going to be getting student referrals from fellow teachers, through your friends and family network, your Yellow Pages ad or even, believe it or not, from your website.  It’s a massive space--full of possibility, but also chock full of great ways to waste your money and valuable time!  

You absolutely should have a website, write a blog, frequent the websites rich with music teaching information and resources. But don’t rely on your website to attract significant traffic that will convert into online music students--this doesn’t happen without a large investment of time and money. Professional marketers make a daily habit of studying the ever-changing and latest SEO (Search Engine Optimization), writing and buying effective digital marketing ads, understanding the analytics of search behavior, and optimizing, optimizing optimizing--sometimes many times each day. 

Additionally, you’ll want to have great resources for your online teaching--a robust solution for delivering the video/audio, tools that enhance the online learning experience, resources for best practices and a community of professionals who understand and support what you’re doing.  Skype is a tool best used for weekend cross-country family get togethers, when all the throttling and inconsistency can be tolerated. You’re a professional though, and you can’t tolerate this for the learning that you want your students to achieve. 

My suggestion: focus on what you makes you special and valuable: teaching music!  Trolling the Internet and spending hours posting on listservs for answers, dealing with the trial and error of various software solutions, trying various marketing gimmicks...is this really what you want to spend your time doing?  

So, you may ask, where does this leave me?  How do I find these online students? How do I keep up with the state of the art in delivering online lessons?  I’ve outlined a number of tips here, and will continue this series by sharing specific ideas and solutions about how you can build the best online teaching studio that connects you with the students who are the best fit for you.