My first foray into online piano teaching was March 2018. Living rurally, we had had sufficient snow to warrant me telling that week's pupils to stay home. I taught, iPhone awkwardly propped on the end of the keys and with my pupils’ music hastily printed out, next to a glowing open fire, with a notebook ready to make lesson notes to be emailed to parents later. My main thoughts were: ‘thank God I can teach and not miss work’, and, ‘thank God this is only for a few days’!
Fast-forward two years and all my teaching is in the same room. I've gained a tripod, camera carefully trained on the piano keys, and an iPad for ease of sharing scores. Teaching is punctuated by the sounds of my husband who, furloughed from his job, took charge of homeschooling our three children. Cups of coffee were free flowing and gratefully received along with biscuits. Notes and drawings surreptitiously passed in. With roughly 40 students continuing lessons remotely, I was initially in a state of despair. I worried about losing pupils, not to mention the health of family and friends. My best friend of 35 years (also a piano teacher) and I spoke frequently. We shared technology struggles, camera angles and student triumphs.
The majority of parents were keen to continue lessons over the Easter break. My nearest pupil was a stone's throw away, my furthest, 5,000 miles away in South Korea. By the beginning of the summer term I was well in my stride and proud of how adaptable my pupils and I had been. I even gained a clutch of new pupils whom I only met in person much later, at the start of this term.
Spring and summer are always busy exam seasons and I had a few pupils among the cohort who had their exam cancelled and refunded. These pupils I gave a mock exam to. After discussion with their parents, I asked a colleague to act as examiner, and she heard every aspect they had prepared, even generously taking the time to write up comments. Their initial disappointment turned to delight as they moved on and started new material.
I deliberately steered my focus away from exams where possible, and encouraged pupils to explore, improvise, listen to music, and to relish this freedom within the many restrictions we all faced. Towards the end of term there were some queries from parents as to when exams would next take place. Most were surprised to know that it is not a requirement to follow them in grade order, and relieved to know that their pianist could comfortably take (for example) Grade 3 without any previous exam. All the exam boards now offer online exams, a worthy alternative in these times where so much of public life is being suspended and activities centre around our homes.
I like being right and with over 20 years of teaching experience I think I have accrued a large amount of expertise. I am comfortable teaching and conveying my knowledge to pupils of all ages and abilities. Early on in lockdown, in one of the numerous forlorn rants to my best friend, we agreed that online teaching was truly terrible and would never work out. We were only coasting along and hoped life would return to normal by half term. Looking back to March 2020 I can see how much I've learned and adapted. I have been proved wrong, and am happy to have been so.
While I aim to inspire my pupils and demonstrate techniques to them, they are the ones who put in the hard graft. Knowing how adaptable they are, it's exciting to think about how this less-than-ideal interlude in their lives will shape their future. The past six months have taught us all things that are new. As far as teaching goes, the lessons have been invaluable. Where there's a will, there's a way. I had to be clear and descriptive in getting my point across. Sometimes technology won't cooperate. I taught one lesson on audio after a camera glitch. We survived, the lesson was successful. Only I knew.
In general most students made the same (if not more) progress online as conventional lessons. Necessity dictated they had to be more self sufficient (I've a terrible habit of helping struggling readers find notes); listening with occasional sound distortion meant closer attention was paid; and overall having fewer distractions with other activities meant my students spent more time practising.
If I were giving advice to teachers who have shied away from online lessons, I'd would recommend that you give it a go. Keep an open mind, be organised, be clear in your expectations and what you tell pupils, and find fellow teachers in the same boat so that you can share, offload, learn and laugh with them.
Regardless of pandemics, online living is a reality and what was seen as cold and remote can and has been made personable, caring and successful.
