There are many kinds of music lessons in the world but there is nothing like online music lessons. When you opt for online music lessons, you can directly reach out to your teacher who will help you improve your skills by providing the best source of knowledge. While opting for this option, it is highly recommended that you go with an accredited school which delivers quality education in this field.
Here, you will find some of the best things related to online music tuition when you register at their website.
Tech Tools for Online Teaching:
Here’s a round-up of tech tools (most are free!) that are useful for online teaching at a variety of levels:
Video
- FaceTime: Free video chat tool available on any iOS device with a forward-facing camera and any Mac computer with a FaceTime Camera.
- Facebook Live, YouTube Live: Live-streaming through social media platforms.
- Zoom: Free video chat software (40-minute limit for groups of three or more on the free Basic plan, waived right now for K-12 educators).
- QuickTime: A free tool for making video, audio, or screenshare recordings.
- Loom: A free tool for making video or screenshare recordings (with or without “talking head” – a cropped video of you talking down in the corner). Unlimited recording, a 50% discount on paid plans, and a 30-day free trial through 7/1/20. Also, if you’re an educator using Loom in a classroom setting, you can use Loom Pro for free, forever.
- FlipGrid: Social media meets education. A short video exchange platform that’s free for educators.
- Acapella: A multitrack tool for creating multi-frame music videos. Free in the App Store.
- Google Hangouts: Free video chat for anyone in the U.S. or Canada with a Google account.
How to improve sound in Zoom
Login to your Zoom account on a computer or laptop. Look for these settings:
to “Enable Original Sound” from microphone” is checked.Under Audio Processing, set the first
two options to Disable. For Echo Cancellation, select Auto.
Audio
- Discord: Free voice chat tool (try this for audio with Zoom for video for a virtual music-making experience).
- QuickTime: A free tool for making video, audio, or screenshare recordings.
- Blue Yeti Microphone: My all-time favorite microphone for recording directly into my MacBook. I use it for recording spoken directions as well as playing demonstrations.
- Looking for more? Here are my best microphone recommendations for online teaching and music recording.
File Sharing
- Google Drive: Free digital file-storage system (documents, spreadsheets, video files, images, audio files, forms, slides) for anyone with a Google account.
- Your iPhone: Did you know you can scan documents in the Notes app? Open a new note, click the camera icon, and scan. Then, share the document via email or text.
- Dropbox: Free digital file-storage system (documents, spreadsheets, video files, images, audio files, forms, slides).
- Google Classroom: A free platform for organizing learning content, giving assignments, and tracking student work.
- Seesaw: A free, interactive, cloud-based learning portfolio. Teachers create content and activities and students can take pictures, draw, and record videos of their work.
Music Notation
- NoteFlight: An online, browser-based music-writing application. Free access to Noteflight Learn and all of the Noteflight Learn Content Libraries through June 30, 2020 for any schools or districts with closures.
- Flat.io: A free cloud-based music notation software (look for the add-on in Google Slides and add snippets of music notation into your presentations). Flat for Education is free through the end of the school year.
Music-Learning
- Virtual Boomwackers: a free web-based tool for playing (and hearing!) Boomwhacker sounds. Available in a diatonic or chromatic scale.
- Musictheory.net: A free resource for creating note-naming drills, interval quizzes, and more.
- Google Chrome Music Lab: A free web-based application for experimenting with rhythm and melody, pairing visual art with sound (Kandinsky), discovering arpeggios (a great exploration of harmony and the Circle of 5ths), and creating your own songs. In Song-Maker, students can save their work and share it using a unique link.
- Musicfirst.com: A learning management system for K-12 music education. Free for any school with closure.
- QuaverMusic: Music education curriculum resources for PreK-8th grade. Free access to general music activities (including free student access at home) for all impacted schools.
Elementary Music
- Use Seesaw to create and share online resources, games, songs, and activities. Victoria Boler just put together a great resource: a complete 1st-grade virtual music lesson using Seesaw and Google Classroom.
- Use a tool like these virtual Boomwackers to help children experiment with tonal patterns, ostinati, and composition. Have them record their work using a program like QuickTime or Loom (screenshare recordings) or Zoom (share my screen).
- Create a virtual music classroom using Google Classroom. Organize content, upload assignments, and resources, and grade student work.
- Host a virtual at-home music class (include a hello song, songs with simple motions, a movement activity, a simple rhythm activity, call-and-response songs or patterns, etc.). Share via Facebook, YouTube, or Google Classroom.
- Create Google slides with song visuals, rhythm patterns, and ear-training activities for students to do on their own (upload to Seesaw or Google Classroom).
- Send home a challenge for your students to make and share music with others during this time. Encourage them to record their own videos at home (by themselves or with family members) and share with friends and family via text, the Marco Polo app, social media, or email.
Choir, Band & Orchestra
- For instrumentalists, assign students duets, trios, and quartets using a book like Accent on Ensembles, Book 1. Have them work on their parts individually, then submit recordings (playing along with a recording through headphones to ensure consistent tuning and tempo). Assemble individual recordings into one video using a video-editing tool like Logic Pro X or the free app, Acapella.
- Send home music to practice at home with rehearsal tracks (or have them input their part into Flat.io and export an audio file that they can practice with). Have them submit recording assessments each week. Consider hosting live virtual sectionals and having students take turns playing for each other.
- Use Google Chrome Music Lab to teach about harmony and the Circle of 5ths and have students create their own chord progressions and submit.
- Give scale, sight-reading, and rhythmic-reading assignments in Google Classroom or through Sight-Reading Factory (free student accounts through the end of the school year for any school with closure).
Early Childhood
- Share links to free online music education classes. Here are two to consider:
- Musik at Home is offering free unlimited access to their Family Music for Mixed Ages classes (intended for ages 1-5) through April 3, 2020.
- Jam with Jamie offers free daily virtual jam sessions for children ages 0-8.
- Create a music exploration activity (like a scavenger hunt) for your students. Have them sing their favorite song for their mom or dad (or relative via FaceTime), find something around the house they can use as an instrument, dance to a song on the radio, listen to a bird sing, etc.
Related post: How to Teach a Preschool Choir
Private Lessons
- Teach live video sessions using Zoom, Skype, or FaceTime.
- Give asynchronous assignments for students to complete on their own during the week. Record feedback and demonstrations in place of a written assignment sheet.
- Offer pre-recorded lesson kits with a warm-up exercise, a rhythm game, a playback/clapback activity, an introduction to a new piece, a recording to practice with, etc. For young piano students, I recommend the Wunderkeys Primer series. Each chapter includes a story, a new musical concept, practice exercises, a few short pieces, and a game or two that students can play at home.
- Give rhythm and sight-reading assignments through Sight-Reading Factory (free student accounts through the end of the school year for any school with closure).
- Share your screen using Zoom and make annotations on a PDF copy of the music. Use different colors to mark intervals, dynamics, form, repeated patterns, etc. For more on using color, see this post: How to Use Color to Teach Music Literacy.
- Send home a challenge for your students to make and share music with others during this time. Encourage them to record their own videos at home (by themselves or with family members) and share with friends and family via text, the Marco Polo app, social media, or email.
Related post: How to Transition to Teaching Lessons Online (Due to COVID-19)
Here are a few resources that might help:
Free Major & Minor Scale Fingering Charts: a streamlined, 2-page printable with scale fingerings for both hands in all major and minor keys.
Rhythm Pattern Card Set: six rhythm pattern card sets featuring 192 different patterns made up of quarter notes, half notes, eighth notes, sixteenth notes, and quarter rests in 4/4 and 3/4 time.
Group Classes
- Email games or worksheets in advance and play them live. Here’s a list of resources from Teach Piano Today that I’m using with my students.
- Give asynchronous assignments for students to complete on their own. For instance, have each student record a performance for the group, then review and give comments to a few of their peers.
- Send a link to these paper keyboards and have students practice scales or simple pieces together via Zoom. Encourage them to sing along or sing the finger numbers or solfege.
- Create Google slides with interval flashcards, note-naming flashcards, rhythm patterns, and ear-training activities for students to do together (share your screen using Zoom).
Conclusion
I am one of those professional musicians who turned to online teaching as a way to make ends meet during my music degree. I know how hard it can be to find a good course for those who wish to teach music from home. A few simple searches, and you‘ll be bombarded with programs claiming to be the best option. I’ve done a lot of research into this topic, and now use my experience to present a list that I think will help you find the course that is right for you.