Snow Day(s)!?!
What are these "Snow Days" of which you speak?
If there had been such a thing as a "snow day" in Edmonton, no child would have attended school between November (or sometimes October) and early April (or sometimes May). So the whole concept of a city more or less shutting down after a snowfall was pretty foreign to me, until I moved to Portland.
Now, listen, I get it. We're in really hilly territory here, and unlike Edmonton, where the temperature goes below freezing and can be counted on to stay there for months at a time, here in Portland we'll get snow, and freezing rain, and then more snow and it hovers around the freezing point for days, melting and re-freezing and causing undriveable ice rinks over most of the city. I also understand that this year has produced record-setting levels of snowfall.
That said, however, as a teacher of private music lessons, this year's snowfall and the comparative absence of effective methods of snow and ice removal in the city has created a situation where I'm unable to work (even though I'm an experienced and confident winter driver, my business is dependent on other people's confidence to brave the roads and come to my studio), and where our students are missing multiple lessons, which makes it much more difficult for them to make satisfactory progress, and which may discourage them from using their unexpected time off for practicing.
New Snow Day Protocol for Between the Lines!
Over the rest of 2017, Between the Lines Music School will be launching a Snow Day protocol that favors online lessons on snow days. Students will be encouraged to maintain their regular lesson schedule, but the lesson will be conducted via Skype/FaceTime/Google Hangouts instead of in person. That way, no one has to risk their health or safety by trying to drive through the snow and ice, but will still get to have a lesson at their regular day and time.
We hope that this will incentivize students to continue to practice (maybe even spend a little more time on their practice) on snow days, as well as maintaining their progress. It will also eliminate the need for parents to decide whether or not to try to get to their lesson in questionable weather, as they will always have the option to substitute an online lesson instead of in-person. We may eventually even be able to expand this program to offering online lessons instead of cancelling lessons due to a minor illness.
Online lessons for instrumentalists are comparatively simple to manage, especially using a smartphone, tablet or laptop. Position the camera such that you can adjust it so the teacher can see either the student's face (to give instruction) or their hands (to watch fingerings). Give your teacher your contact info (Skype name, etc) and the teacher will call you at your set lesson time, give or take 5 minutes. Other than not physically being in the same room, the lesson will progress pretty much the same way it would in a standard lesson.
Online voice lessons are a little more tricky, in that there are usually some latency problems which mean that the teacher will not be able to accompany the student the way they would in a normal lesson. In preparing to teach an online voice lesson, Between the Lines' teachers will create mp3 versions of the accompaniments for most of our usual warmup exercises, and, wherever possible, the accompaniment to the song(s) the student is working on as well. These mp3s will be made available to students to download before their lesson time (and downloading them beforehand will make the online connection better during the lesson), so that the student will be able to simply play the accompaniments back and sing along. Of course, a voice student won't need to be able to adjust the camera - the teacher will be able to look at the student's face during the entire lesson.
We believe that this new protocol will support consistent learning and progress for all our students, as well as giving them something to do on those long days trapped in their house!
For now, stay warm and enjoy the snow, and we'll see you next week!
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