Ithaca Talent Education has been hosting recitals since May. We’ve put on a recital a month. Sometimes the recitals are so full that we split the recital into two–hosting them at the same time, but in different zoom rooms.

Here is the play by play for making a recital like this possible.

PREP

1) The recital dates were planned in advance and shared with the whole school on our school wide calendar.

2) Every teacher has access to our recital sign up sheet. The sheet includes the performer’s name, their piece, the composer, the length of the piece, and if the student will be playing with accompaniment.

3) The week of the recital our school administrator sends out an abbreviated concert order, the zoom link, and instructions to performers. It has already been pre-determined which teachers are hosting the recital. The zoom link is set up and provided by the host of the meeting.

4) A few days before the recital a school-wide email goes out announcing the recital. This message includes the official recital program in PDF form. Guests are invited, but it is requested thy change their name to ‘ITE Guest’ so as to be recognized and granted entry to the meeting.

5) The day of the recital the host and performers meet 30 minutes before the performance for tuning and sound checks. The hosts and other teachers available to help have students play a few seconds of their piece to check that original sound is turned on, coach camera placement, and check tuning if needed. We utilize breakout rooms to speed up this process.

THE RECITAL

At the time of the recital all guests are let into the meeting. The host welcomes everyone and gives some instructions about the meeting. We ask the audience to stay muted while the performer is playing, but then to unmute to applaud after each child is finished playing. If someone accidentally stays unmuted (which invariably happens) then the co-host mutes them. Congratulatory comments are sent via the chat feature. A recording of the recital is made by the host or co-host and sent to those who request it.

One fun aspect of the recital is that the audience really goes nuts during the applause. We clap, we cheer, we whistle, we shout, we laugh. Some people even bring cow bells and cymbals and other boisterous instruments to celebrate.

Each performer raises their hand while the performer before them plays. When it is their turn the co-host spotlights them for everyone. After they bow the co-host removes the spotlight and spotlights the next performer.

Occasionally a video collaboration is featured rather than a live performance. In this case the host or co-host would remove the spotlight, share their own screen, and broadcast the video from their computer or stream from online.

At the end the host comes back on to thank accompanists, parents, and any other contributors.

A copy of the chat is saved and sent to all performers.

VALUE OF THESE RECITALS

I’ve been surprised to see how important of a role these recitals have played as we switched to zoom teaching. I think they offer community, celebration, and a platform to share just as it is needed most. Of course some students volunteer to play every month and some students have never participated, but the point is that the opportunity is there. I’ve used the recitals as ways to motivate students to add an extra layer of polish that they might not have otherwise done. It’s also been a great way to have brand new students learning over zoom to have their first tastes of performance.

Because we’ve done the recitals every month the performance is becoming an effortless extension of their learning process. It is exciting to see something made possible via the pandemic circumstances having a positive impact. I hope this inspires you to organize a recital of your own.

The emphasis put on visual and asynchronous music making over Zoom means that my students are losing their ability to play along with other musicians.

I can see this ability deteriorating in every lesson, especially when I have them attempt to play along to a piano recording or play with me.

In order to supplement I’ve started relying heavily on Kerstin Wartburg’s Step-by-step recordings. I now use both the downloaded CD’s in my music library and the online IMTEX library to give the students something to play along with through all review material and performance pieces. The varied recorded speeds and quality of recordings makes the Step-by-step library invaluable during this era of distanced-learning.

For students who are meeting with me in person I have a small Anker bluetooth speaker that I control from my phone.

I make sure the parents of students in online lessons have the recordings and play them in the background. This is essential because if I stream the music from my computer I am unable to tell if the student is playing with the recording (due to lag).

Interestingly, some parents have opted to stick with the old school CD and CD player model. They like that the sound is not coming from a screen, that the child could easily control (play, stop, skip, pause) the music on their own, and that the overall setup isn’t a distraction.

For group class I stream straight from my computer using this method.

To guard against my own glitches in streaming I use ethernet connection, share my screen and optimize for music output.

Not only is playing with music in the lesson/home practice more exciting, it trains the essential skill of ensemble-ship which we don’t want to lose even in, or especially in, this unprecedented, isolating time.

I spend a lot of music lessons on mute or un-hearable. Early on in the pandemic many teachers suggested developing cue cards or signals to communicate visually rather than with sound. I’ve found developing a few basic hand signals INVALUABLE. Hours of wasted time have been diverted by having the ability to pause students or have them re-do something right away.

Here is my list of essentials.

STOP.

Simply make the stop sign. If students aren’t pointing their scrolls at the camera parents usually see and tell their child to stop. If they still don’t catch it I’ll start waving my hand to catch their attention.

AGAIN.

I make a pointer finger and circle it in the air. This is a re-do button.

KEEP GOING.

I make a pointer finger and move it from one side of the screen to the other.

YES.

Simple thumbs up.

FLASHERS.

A versatile tool I use to symbolize a reminder of some kind. I’ll ball my hands up and them alternate opening and closing them like flashing lights. This has a big effect through the screen on zoom. Sometimes I’ll tie this to intonation or upcoming bow pattern to remember or a particular ending to take.

THINK.

Another versatile tool. I’ll make a pointer finger and touch it to my temple. This is supposed to remind the student to take a thinking space or remember something pre-determined as they navigate a passage.

BINOCULARS.

Since we can’t use the proximity of our bodies in physical space for importance, I now hold imaginary binoculars up to my eyes to look for something important. Say, “I’m going to hold up my binoculars to see if your wrist is straight while you play Lightly Row.” Pick up and lower the binoculars at different points to cue the student’s self awareness. I suppose having an actual pair of binoculars or a magnifying glass would be fun, too.

I’ve been teaching four group classes on Zoom this academic year. Three beginner’s classes and one music appreciation class. I’d like to share a few activities I’ve been leaning on in pre twinkle classes as we continue to make music and educate through online mediums.

The theme here, of course, is that these games are primarily visual and use asynchronous sound. I can monitor and give feedback just by watching the student rather than hearing them.

Focus: bell game.

Adapted from this game. I have a Tibetan singing bowl I use to demonstrate beautiful ringing tone. Everyone is muted, they close their eyes, I ring the bell, when I stop the bell from ringing they open their eyes. I transfer the game to my instrument plucked, then bowed. Occasionally I will ask another student to share their ringing sound on their instrument– turning on their sound and muting myself.

Focus: sing the strings.

I play the first tuning recording from Step-by-step 1A. Students are instructed to sing along with the recording. We also pair this with visual gestures. E string the hands reach up, A string hands on shoulders, D string hands on knees, and G string hands on the ground. For an extension I’ll play the strings out of order and they try to figure out where their hands go.

Musical flashcards.

I write out musical symbols on flashcards. With pre-twinkle students I’m flashing things like up bow, down bow, dynamic markings, fermatas, and string names written in letter form (not notation). We’ll discuss the names of these symbols. Sometimes we’ll act them out with our bows (up and down) or with rhythms (loud and soft dynamics).

Developing dances to Suzuki pieces.

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