They were at home and they were more comfortable with their home piano. “I do know students who absolutely flourished. “It was different for every student,” Happel says. However, the noise can build a student’s concentration, and it also allows them to be surrounded by other pianists whom they can ask questions if needed. The piano practice rooms at OU are in the same hallway, and the sound proofing is not ideal between rooms, according to Happel. While the students and teachers could then see each other, they were discouraged from being in proximity of one another. When the university returned to in-person classes, the studios were retrofitted with rollable plexiglass frames stationed between two pianos. Internet connection also posed a challenge and caused sound lags over Zoom, so for studio classes where multiple students joined the professor, they adapted to pre-recording their playing for the class to listen to and comment on together. “Sometimes, if the student chooses to do their lesson in one of our practice rooms, there’s not enough space between the wall and the keyboard to see the entire keyboard - certainly not the entire student, so we couldn’t see what’s happening with their pedal, or if I was trying to figure out if somebody memorized their music, I couldn’t see their face so I couldn’t tell if they were looking at their score or not,” Happel says. In the classroom setting, the teacher can see the student’s whole body to correct posture and movement, but over Zoom, the teacher can usually only see the keyboard, or just part of it. “What happens when you’re playing piano is the instant you play sound, the sound goes away via Zoom, and so there had to be these hacks to tweak and select certain things, different kinds of microphones, to defeat that and to allow the sound to go through.”Ĭamera angles on Zoom were another obstacle for piano lessons. “There were so many hacks going around about how to keep the sound consistent, because I think the default setting on Zoom is to equalize the sound,” Happel says. Happel explains the difficulties of conducting private lessons via Zoom - figuring out how to maintain the consistency of sound was, and continues to be, a challenge. In some cases, such as in the studios at OU, there are two pianos side by side with the keyboards flush to each other so the pair can play together.įollowing COVID-19, OU’s music classes went virtual, and students could no longer use the studios. Lessons look different than prior to the pandemic - and for many, lessons are relieving stress from it.īefore COVID-19 concerns, many piano lessons consisted of a teacher and a student in the same room. With the onset of COVID-19 in March of 2020, piano teachers and students have had to adapt to new safety protocols. She counted while her student played, but the student was constantly a second or two behind her because of the slight lag of the sound. Rebecca Happel, applied instructor of music and piano lecturer of Oakland University, was conducting a piano lesson over Zoom.
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