Thursday, December 1, 2011

Teaching Piano Over the Internet

   We have heard that it is possible and thought how it might work in our studio and now I want to report I have had my first lesson over the internet. My student is my granddaughter who lives a half hour away. I see her often during the month but not every week. She is my guinea pig, and a cute one, if I can say so myself.

   Here are some thoughts on my first experience. There must be some learning curve time. My son and I both had to investigate the best service to use and practice calling each other. I had some issues with Skype on my PC so I was looking for another option. We settled on Google Video Chat because many people have a Gmail account which is what this service requires. Google has a plug-in to download and I had to solve an issue with my Apple Laptop working with Google but I prevailed and we found it very easy to call once the set-up was in place. The easiest service would be for Apple users as their FaceTime feature is already installed. This must happen from Apple to Apple devices.
   My laptop was the best solution to placing the camera at a good angle so that my student could see me and my piano keyboard. I slowed my teaching pace down so that I could show her more on the camera. and her mother was essential in the process as she could correct what did not seem to make sense to my granddaughter.
    Way back in olden times, we dreamed of this but who "wouldda thunk" it would happen.

3 comments:

  1. That is a fabulous idea! I never thought of that before.

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  2. Isn't it wonderful what technology enables us to do today? I haven't experiment with this myself but I'm sure it would be interesting to explore, thanks for sharing your experience :)

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  3. I need to find myself a little guinea pig to practice with! It's on my mind for those pesky snow days.

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