Music Teachers | Teaching in a Time of Covid

I contemplated writing a blog about the Blizzard of '07 but honestly there wasn't a lot to tell.  It was a huge blizzard which shut down the city.  We canceled our music students for the day (it might have been two days) and we did make up lessons later on.  It's an event a lot of people recall.  I think it was a Wednesday.  That's really all there is to that story.

Tuesday March 17th will always be a date I remember. Not because it was St Patrick’s Day, but because it was the first time ever that I had to teach piano lessons virtually and boy, was it a steep learning curve. 

The previous week the first case of Covid19 was announced within the city.  That evening I stopped at the Shoppers Drug Mart on the way home to pick up some milk.  There was a sign on the door that said they were already sold out of hand sanitizer, masks and toilet paper.  It was surreal inside the store.  There was a man with a shopping cart looking for the sold out items and kept badgering staff because it seemed like he didn't believe they were actually sold out.  I got my milk and continued on home.

The next day at work, parents were already concerned and students were cancelling lessons.  Rumours were circulating that the schools were going to be shut down the following week.  It was a very odd time.  Us teachers stood distanced from each other in the showroom talking about what was going on.  Over the weekend, there was a discussion about the Academy closing its doors or how this was all going to be handled.  At the time we believed it might only be a couple of weeks but minute to minute and hour to hour things changed.  I suggested we attempt to teach via Skype as I'd heard others were doing it.  Sunday night it was decided that Monday the 16th would be the last day we'd teach in person and we'd begin notifying our students that Tuesday lessons would be moved online.

Over the course of 3 days over 600 students were notified by phone call and set up with skype accounts.

I had gotten an iPad for Christmas and had subsequently purchased a tripod which would hold it.  My digital Technics piano was in our home office, also known as the Star Wars room.  What complicated everything was that Hubby was also sent home to work for the first time on the same day.  We couldn't work in the same space as our hours overlapped.  We moved his computer to the basement and purchased all the necessary equipment he required.

It took me a week to bring home all the materials I needed from my classroom.  That first week, I took a ton of notes and transcribed them all onto my laptop.  What became very apparent was that I had taken for granted the ease of phrases like "play that part again" "look for bar 10" or just being able to count along with students playing.  I couldn't just point at something.  Students had to become so much more self sufficient and be ready with pencils and markers and highlighters to make corrections for themselves.  They also had to take the homework notes.  Some students did very very well but it was also really hard for others.  Sometimes calls would drop or they wouldn't be online on time.  It was crazy but then wasn't everything.

School had been cancelled so I saw students suddenly practicing who hadn't worked very hard before.  I heard from parents how grateful they were that we had online lessons to look forward to because as wild as the times were the piano lessons gave a sense of normalcy.  The feeling was mutual.

We taught virtually from March 2020 through the summer until the end of August 2020.  In the summer because my schedule was reduced we moved my piano to the basement and Hubby moved his office to the Star Wars room, where he still works to this day.  At the end of my work days, I'd come upstairs and holler "I'm home!" and we'd laugh.

Miraculously, I myself only lost a handful of students.  In September, donned in mandatory masks and with cleaning protocol in place, we returned to in person teaching while some students and teachers chose to remain online.  I was so thankful to not have to deal with technology anymore.  

On one particular day my mask was snug and I complained to my student how it was flattening my nose.  I said "what will you say when we don't have to wear masks anymore?"

He replied, "my, you have a flat nose".

Spoiler.  He didn't.

We adapted so quickly and now working virtually is a way of life.  We jump online through Skype or Zoom with ease.  We held festivals and concerts online and while that's fading away working virtually will always be an option now.  Those few months changed everything.