The #lockdown has certainly changed the way music teachers conduct lessons, but it wasn’t as hard for me as I thought it would be- thanks to the support of the students and their parents.
2017 - My first experience with online teaching:
My cousin called me up from Australia. He had recently got a keyboard for his 5 y.o. son and wanted to start lessons. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t very comfortable teaching online, but we started. It was a challenge communicating via the internet, especially when you have to point out certain things in his book on the other side (I wasn’t aware of the technologies I could use). But my nephew and I both enjoyed the lessons. He still learns with me and is preparing for a grade 1 exam later this year, if the situation permits.
This is my nephew Aryan. He is always excited before the lessons. Sharing a snippet from one of my online lessons with him.
2018 - My first experience with online learning:
In 2017, I started taking lessons in jazz piano. My teacher, Anurag Naidu, is from Mumbai. I took a few lessons with him in Mumbai, but it didn’t work out as it meant travelling toMumbai at 4 am, taking a lesson at his house at 10 am, catching the train back to Pune at 2 pm. It was exhausting. I stopped after 7-8 lessons. I stopped learning as well. That wasn’t going to work! So I tried an online lesson with him in 2018, and it was great. No travelling- that was the best part! I still continue to take lessons with him, to this day.
Since 2018 I have been taking online lessons for some of my students. Students who stayed far away couldn’t attend classes if there were heavy rains, traffic issues etc. So an online lesson was a good alternative to missing the lesson altogether. When the lockdown was announced, I had to upgrade my online teaching skills. I learnt how to use different features like screen sharing, highlighting, making notes etc.
Thanks to the supportive students and parents, shifting teaching online wasn’t a hassle at all! The most common reason why they love online lessons is that they don’t have to travel- so true. All of them are very enthusiastic about lessons. We are planning to have an online recital in August 2020.
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