You may still be going stir crazy recovering from the pandemic, and have moved some or all of your teaching online for the foreseeable future to try and adapt to what we’ve learned.

Virtual lessons are incredibly difficult to teach. Coordination with two people is hard enough without trying to figure out how to work with a pianist over Zoom as well. Can we actually be effective as instructors without being in the same room?

Can we actually be effective as instructors without being in the same room? The answer is yes, but it certainly won’t be what you are used to. 

Regardless of how soon we return to buisness as usual, It’s good to have a plan for your private studio or your university teaching position, especially if that is the primary source of income! 

As I have simultaneously travelled for professional engagements and  taught full-time over the past 10+ years, I’ve tried myriad ways of staying in touch with my students.  Ok maybe not myriad, truth be told, I just wanted an excuse to try and use the word myriad.  

Anyway,  here are a few things I have learned that might be helpful to those of you trying to find your way in our current climate, or to use in the future if you should want to explore teaching in this way. 

Scheduling

If you don’t have to worry about wearing your voice out the same day as a rehearsal or performance, you already have an advantage in that your schedule can be more flexible and you can pack it tighter, or offer more variety in your lesson times.

It’s important to build in time to deal with tech issues and set aside time for unexpected delays.  They tend to happen much more frequently at home in my experience.  It’s easy to get behind in scheduling since you won’t have people simply walking in and out of the studio as you would under normal circumstances.  In addition, it’s not uncommon for something to go wrong 2 minutes before you log on to teach.  Many of us as teachers don’t plan in time to eat, rest the voice, or run to the bathroom and those little breaks can make a big difference in terms of focus, concentration and effectiveness and efficiency when teaching over the internet.  When you get behind in the schedule, it is stressful for everyone and limits your success and flexibility in addressing the most pressing issues in every lesson.  Also, remember that you’re at the mercy of the internet.  If it decides not to work or some part of your equipment fails, you’re on hold for at least a few minutes, maybe longer.

As many of you already do, I schedule my lessons by sending out a google doc with all available times and let the students claim the time or times that work best for them. This way I don’t have to wade through their class (or personal) schedule, guess at what time they want to eat lunch, or try to calculate how long it will take them to walk from the other side of campus on a clear day, or get back from their job etc.  They just pick a time.  

In this format, we have access to the master schedule and changes can be made easily.  It also doesn’t necessitate a paper record of the schedule or the need to email multiple times to find a lesson time.  In addition,  you have the schedule with you wherever you go (even without internet as it can be made available offline), assuming you have your phone or tablet. 

When teaching across different time zones, it’s important to make sure you and your students are on the same page.  It’s not uncommon for one person to plan on the time in his or her area and not yours.  It sounds like a ridiculous thing to talk about but just today, a friend of mine missed a video session because she got the time wrong and it happens at least once a week with this current version of remote teaching that we’re doing. 

Software

This is probably the biggest question we all have.  What program or software do I use? Do some perform better than others? Some promise no latency issues and some have a clunky interface.  Are they all mostly equal when all is said and done? Is there a secret software program that eliminates all latency and sound issues and makes teaching remotely seem like complete bliss?  Not a chance, not even when paying top dollar.  If so, it certainly wouldn’t be a secret. However, you may find that some work better than others for your specific needs.

Before we delve in to this discussion though it’s important to discuss internet connectivity.

Internet

Regardless of how streamlined the interface, how affordable the platform, or how fantastic and high-end your equipment and setup are, if you don’t have sufficient bandwidth, you won’t have a good experience. 

Remember that the bandwidth you think you’re getting is spread out among all your devices connected to your internet router or modem.  So if you have multiple people streaming Netflix throughout the house while you are teaching, it will suck up some of that available internet speed.

In addition, advertised speeds are just estimates, meaning that the listed speed is most likely just the fastest speed you will get, but you won’t be guaranteed those fastest speeds on a regular basis.  Most likely you’ll often have significantly slower speeds and occasionally may have faster than advertised speeds.  It can vary wildly. 

Bandwidth is measured in bytes per second.  Remember that bits are not the same as bytes.  One byte is 8 bits, so be careful that you understand the difference between the listed speed for your service  and what speed you are getting. You’ll typically see something like “speeds up to…” somewhere in the fine print. 

If you don’t know what speeds you’re actually getting, you can google “internet speed test” to clock your internet speed. If you do this on your cell phone, make sure that you turn it on airplane mode, so that it’s giving you that information for your wifi, not your internet data coming through phone reception. 

Here are a few of my favorite internet speed test spots.  These too can vary wildly, so it’s a good idea to try a couple of them to get a good read:

Type “Internet speed test” into the google address bar. The first search result will be an internet speed test sponsored by google,  and all you have to do is hit the blue “run” button. Here are some other options as well:

Speedtest by Ookla

AT&T

LAN

LAN stands for Local Area Network.  You may have heard the term Ethernet as well. Ethernet is actually a type of LAN.  So, an Ethernet port is a LAN port but a LAN port is not necessarily an Ethernet port.

 Now that I’ve confused everyone, what in the world is all that and why does it matter to you? A LAN connection is a hardwired connection to your computer. It translates in to faster connections in almost every scenario.  

Most of us use wireless internet at home and even at work.  It’s fast and convenient, why wouldn’t we use it? However, the internet speeds over wireless are significantly slower in almost every case and often unreliable.  

This is why you should explore using a LAN connection. 

Without getting in to too much detail, you have to physically plug a network cable into a router or modem, then in to your computer.  Network cables as you can see from the picture here, look like a phone cord, but are slightly bigger. Most of us will be connecting from a router since it has more available ports and allows you to connect more devices.  The only issue is that if your router is far away from your computer, that may not be realistic.  You can consider moving the router to another location in the house to be closer to your computer, but again, sometimes that’s just not possible due to signal interference or just the logistics of connecting your cable connection to your modem, then to your router.  

Homes that have been wired for internet connections have a port in the wall that will include phone jack, coaxial cable, and one or two other ports that are either for internet or advanced phone systems which can connect directly to the internet or utilize VOIP and other services.  

The average user will probably only worry about the blue port for internet connection and the coaxial cable for modems, routers, or tv connection.  However, if you have them in your home or apartment, they make connecting via network cable much more convenient.

Bottom line? Whenever you can, connect to LAN.  Yes, I hear it, it wasn’t supposed to rhyme, but I’m going to leave it, because it’s true.  How much faster is a LAN connection?  Well here are some screenshots of the difference between WIFI and LAN at my house.

The screenshot above is the Wifi speed

 This is the LAN connection speed, a lot faster! 

Network Cables

Here’s another important component of the equation. Not all network cables are created equally.  Though they my look the same, there’s a big difference in how efficiently and reliably they are able to transfer signals from the internet source to your computer. Better networking cables can improve your wifi speeds alone, but will again, in almost every case drastically improve your LAN speed as well.  

Homes built within the last 10 or so years will probably be wired with CAT 5 or CAT 6 cables.  Meaning, category 5 or 6.  The most recent development is a CAT 8 cable which, in theory is significantly faster than those now old CAT5 cables, but they are so new, there’s not a great deal of field testing data available on them for the regular consumer.  After testing in my own home with at CAT 8 cable, I found that they were indeed significantly faster. In the speed comparison above, all my connections including from the modem to the router are CAT 8 now.  

To give you a reference point, the WIFI speed maxed out at 50gbps before I changed my cables.  I’m now getting occasionally double that WIFI speed with the new cables without being connected via LAN. They are more expensive of course, but if you don’t need a long cable, they are a small price to pay for significantly faster internet. 

You can find them on Amazon, but beware, there are a lot of versions that aren’t true CAT8, or don’t achieve up to CAT8 speeds even though they claim to do just that.  Remember that CAT6 and CAT7 is still VERY fast, so that’s not a bad choice either.  There are also various versions, shielded and unshielded which I won’t get in to here.  A little reading with help you decide which is the best choice. 

This may all sound like a great deal of effort just to have a good internet connection, but when your income depends on a blazing fast reliable connection, it’s a no-brainer.  In addition, remember that even with excellent internet speeds, you’ll still experience software and hardware glitches that happen independent of excellent internet speeds. 

I will add one other annoying caveat, which is that no matter how fast your internet is, if the internet connection on the other side of your virtual lesson isn’t good, you won’t see the full effect of your fast connection.  Both parties have to have solid connectivity for maximum clarity in picture and sound. 

Now, here is a brief rundown on the different available platforms.  I have not listed all available options here of course, just those with which I have had direct experience, and those I have tried out at the recommendation of others.  

I would welcome your experience with these and other platforms.  Tell me what has worked for you and why you prefer it.

Facetime

For Apple users, this is a familiar app.  It’s very simple to use, streamlined, but video and audio quality really suffer when the internet connection isn’t fast enough.  It only works from apple device to another apple device, be that laptop, iPad or iPhone. It works in a pinch, but is not built for businesses or musicians in my opinion. In addition, if you are chatting in a group, the “shuffling” of the video feeds can get a little nauseating.  The good news is that apple recently released a toggle switch to turn this off, so group work may not feel like you’re on the teacups at Disney World. This is a free app. 

Pros:

• Ease of use
• Perfect for those living in the Apple ecosystem
• Secure (End-to-end encryption)
• Free

Cons:

• Not for Android users
• Limited features, may not work for all types of instruction 
• Can be temperamental and sometimes video or audio is unreliable, sometimes both.
• Cannot record from the app

Google Duo/Hangouts

Our Android users will often prefer this platform to

many others, even Skype.  I’ve lumped both Duo and Hangouts into the same category but they do have slightly different features.  Here they are:

Pros:

• Duo can only make video calls and cannot send texts like Hangouts  
• Hangouts can sync across multiple devices using a single account
• Duo seems to be faster and simpler than it’s counterpart
• Duo is touted as being more secure, with end-to-end encryption
• Ease of use
• Stable connection, many say more stable than FaceTime( I have to say this has been my experience as well in my test calls.)
• Free
• Available on PC or Mac

Cons:

• Duo cannot sync across multiple devices using a single account
• Limited features, may not work for all types of instruction
• At the time of this article, there is no “in app” recording feature

Skype

Skype has been around for a while and has an excellent track record.  As far as stable connections go, Skype is among the best that I tested.  It is also free, and offers some other features for those using Skype for business instead of simply one-on-one instruction.  

Skype has improved quite a bit over the years as well, and is not only reliable, but easy to use. This is one of my favorite platforms. 

Pros:

• Typically stellar sound quality almost every time.  Video quality depends largely on internet connection but also significantly better than other platforms even with less stable internet connections
• Ease of use and familiarity
• You can record sessions from the desktop app
• Works well on PC or MAC

Cons:

• Often takes a long time to load and occasionally glitchy when logging in.
• Often freezes despite video or audio quality
• Getting a hold of customer service (though not often needed) can be a problem.
• Does not have end-to-end encryption. 

Zoom

This is the preferred platform for most schools from Elementary school up to college.  Recently there has been quite a bit of bad publicity about security concerns and “zoombombing,” but Zoom has introduced a few security features to try and correct that. Among them is a waiting room where users have to sit until the host admits them. 

There is a free version that times out at 40 minutes, but you can get a plan for about 15 dollars a month that gives you a meeting duration of 24 hours (imagine the joy of being in a meeting lasting that long) and can host up to 100 participants.  It also lets you record your sessions, which can be tremendously helpful for a music lesson. 

Pros: 

• Ease of use
• Familiarity to many people, so there’s not a lot of  time spent getting set up and acquainted with a new system
• You can chance the sound settings to better assist those giving music lessons to hear the “natural sound” of the person on the other end 
• Affordable monthly plans if you opt to upgrade
• Available on PC and Mac

Cons: 

• Sound quality isn’t always great despite good connections.
• It can be quirky sometimes and doesn’t connect or won’t allow people to join the meeting
• “Zoombombing” has become an issue, and random people can guess at meeting passwords and ID numbers until they find a meeting to “bomb.” Zoom has tried to address this with added security features which seem to fix the issue.

What’sApp

This is a familiar app to those that frequently travel internationally. It allows you to use wifi or data to text anyone no matter where they are, without having to use a specific phone plan.  

It has been a life-saver for me when traveling internationally, though T-mobile is excellent for world travelers (you don’t have to buy an international pass when you travel). 

However, recently, Whats App has expanded its services and scope and has become another popular platform for education and video conferencing.  

I have not tested it personally for lessons, but I mention it here as it came up so frequently during my research and I have enjoyed using it for texting internationally.  

Pros:

• Free
• Works internationally without extra fees from the carrier on either end
• Easy to use
• Available on PC and Mac
• End-to-end encryption
• Little or no lag, even on 2G connections
• You can multi-task (use other apps) when using this app

Cons:  

• You can talk in groups but only up to 4 people
• Video calls not supported in Desktop or Web version
• Often video quality is prioritized, so sound may suffer, depending on your connection

Facebook Messenger

We all know what Facebook is but likely, few of us have used the video chat feature.  To me, FaceTime is a close neighbor of the Messenger service in terms of flow, ease of use and appearance. You can add as many as 50 to a chat, there’s no limit on how long you can talk and so many people are already on the platform, it’s easy to find and connect with individuals without them having to subscribe, download anything, or learn a new service. 

I’ve also had great success with this service while overseas when FaceTime and Skype weren’t working well.  There is also a more Buisness oriented version called Workplace, which I have not tested.  It may be worth a look if you need something a little more professional. Upon first glance, it seems to be a close neighbor of Skype for Buisness and Zoom for Buisness

Pros: 

• Intuitive and easy to use
• Free
• No limits on talk time or individuals that can be in the video chat
• You can add up to 50 people at a time (up to 6 visible on screen)
• Available on both PC and Mac

Cons: 

• Desktop version only allows 8 people at a time
• Encryption is not automatic, you have to flip the “secret conversation” switch
• No standout performance clarity in terms of clear audio or video. May be to fussy for some users

Signal

This is the most secure app you’ve never heard of.  It’s similar in scope to What’sApp but in terms of security, this is the top of the line.  It’s made by a nonprofit group with security as the priority and used by such notable figures as Edward Snowden and a slew of Cryptogrophers and Secutity experts. The app is fast and streamlined to download and setup. Unfortunately I ran in to trouble with the desktop version and because I was unable to link my phone with the QR code (no usable data was the error message) so I wasn’t able to set that part up. The security aspect is appealing, but it seems they may have a few more bugs to work out before it becomes mainstream. 

Pros:

• One of if not the most secure service out there
• Free
• Works on PC and Mac
• Supports both Desktop and Mobile use
• Incredibly secure
• Setup is quick and easy

Cons:

• Only allows one-to-one video chat currently
• The website says that it’s available for desktop and mobile device, but so far no luck with the desktop version
• It’s a new app, so few people have it and will have to download and set it up before first
• Cannot record calls with Signal itself
• Updates can be a pain
• Individuals with whom you connect must also have Signal, they can’t just connect with a link that you send like Zoom and other programs.

Voicelessons.com

This is a relatively new app designed with voice instruction in mind.  It has a power-packed list of features and claims to eliminate latency issues with accompanying your student via a midi digital keyboard connection.  The idea is pretty cool, and the bevy of features make it an appealing platform.  However, the complicated and temperamental software often doesn’t work as desired and it’s not very intuitive.  The concept is a solid one through and the team that put it together is incredibly helpful and eager to provide training and technical support.  If you’ve got the patience to deal with the bugs, it’s worth a look.  It is nice to be able to play your warm ups and not deal with the lag, when things work as intended. 

Pros:

• The ability to play warm-ups or pieces for your student with no latency or lag
• The massive pre-recorded library of exercises and accompaniment available to you and your students
• The ability to customize your content for each student, upload your own recordings and facilitate payment and scheduling all from the same app
• Great technical support and training
• Works on PC and Mac

Cons:

• It’s not free.  It’s hard to justify paying for a service that doesn’t work flawlessly with so many other good options out there
• Complicated setup and software navigation, not very intuitive
• May be too complicated and feature-packed for someone looking for a simple video chat app
• Video often froze for me, but audio worked well most of the time.

So, there’s the list. I have not gone in to any detail concerning chat features, file sharing or screen sharing etc.  This is a basic review on performance and ease of use.  As you can see, with a few exceptions, all of these programs perform equally well for the kind of work you’ll be doing as a vocal instructor.  

However, that’s just the beginning. In my next post about teaching during a pandemic, we’ll discuss best practices, helpful methods, and ideal equipment setup (even while on a budget) to have the smoothest experience possible. 

Are there other options out there?  Absolutely. Webex, Go to meeting, and others are favored by many businesses, but the list above contains those apps that are most popular among musicians.

Please share your experiences about teaching remotely.  

What has worked?

What has not?

Biggest frustrations…

Advice for those teaching in this way? 

In part two of this post, we’ll discuss things like: Settings for Zoom to improve security and the teaching experience in this platform, connecting with network cables to Macs and PCs via adapters, using an interface, microphones and lighting.  Stay tuned!