Back in March, like many a music teacher, I was woefully unprepared for the challenge of switching to teaching music online. I teach a variety of string instruments (bass, piano, ukulele and guitar) and have found that each has different challenges requiring slightly different setups has different challenges that benefits from slightly different setups of microphones and computers, tablets and phones. Although Zoom is not the only program I use for teaching, it has become so widely accepted by the general public that I've focused my energy on making Zoom work well for music lessons. After seven months of experimentation I’d like to share some of the tips I’ve learned so far.
Zoom Audio Settings:
When it comes to a student’s internet connection or audio/video setup, we don’t have a lot of control. But at least we can adjust the audio settings to make Zoom hospitable for music. Here’s a checklist you can run for yourself and the student to get the best music listening environment.
1.) Update to the most recent version of Zoom (click on your profile icon and click “search for updates”)
2.) Go to “Settings” and then “audio settings” and test your microphone and make sure the level isn’t peaking.
3.) Turn off “automatically adjust microphone volume”
4.) Change Suppress background noise to low
5.) Go to “Advanced Settings” within the “Audio” section,
6.) Show in-meeting option to “Enable Original Sound”
7.) Click on Disable Echo Cancellation (very important)
8.) During your next Zoom meeting be sure to click the “Enable Original Sound” button which shows up on the top left corner (I’ve heard this may not work on Chromebooks).
P.S. “You’ll see a selection for High Fidelity Music mode, but Zoom states that it takes more CPU. If you’ve got a high speed connection then you could go for it, but I haven’t seen a big difference here and would not worry too much about this. Same goes for the “Stereo Mode.”
For Tablets and Smartphones: Go to settings and find “use original sound”. That’s all you got!
Audio:
Headphones:
I cannot emphasize enough the importance of having both student and teacher using headphones. Most importantly this kills the echo of your own voice over a student’s speakers. Second, before my students had headphones, I found myself going hoarse after a day of teaching while trying to enunciate loudly. For a student, an old beat up earbud pair is better than nothing, but I will send student’s headphone recommendations to improve the experience. I especially encourage bass students to find a pair that can reproduce the low end (which most earbuds, phones and internal computer speakers can’t do). As the teacher I’ve invested in something both comfortable and of studio quality, because I believe that listening to tinny audio makes the Zoom fatigue kick in sooner.
Mic Options.
There are a lot of options ranging from the internal mic (fine for students and for the teacher in a pinch) to a bluetooth headset or an external usb mic or even recording interfaces paired with studio microphones.
Let's go over some of the pluses and minuses.
Wireless Bluetooth Headsets:
A Wireless headset can be handy because it can act as both the microphone and headphones in one cordless package. I’ve had some close calls tripping up on headphone cables and accidentally pulling laptops off of music stands. It’s also nice to be free to stand up and stretch or make some tea while continuing to listen and talk. Further it will pick up a conversational speaking voice because the mic is so close. A drawback is that the microphones on wireless headsets aren’t always the best quality for a music connection; for example, I don’t think it picks up my upright or electric bass well. I will however use it for some ukulele students because I find the instrument really easy to hear and I can also pair it with an iPad. This allows me to take a break from my usual teaching chair and even head outside on a sunny day to get a nice change of pace.. A bonus for bluetooth is they can usually connect to any phone or tablet, where USB microphones and interfaces requires a computer connection.
USB Microphones:
One of my favorite teaching mics is the Audio Technica AT2020USB (which is very popular with podcasters). It simply plugs in by a USB connection and then works instantly without needing to download any program or drivers. It picks up well even from a good distance, travels easily and also has its own settings for monitoring your own signal (something I’ll talk more about later). Does it sound as good as studio microphones, interfaces and preamps? No, but I think it sounds good enough for my ukulele, guitar and piano students. Plus it takes no time to setup, has less cabling to trip up on and doesn’t require someone to know much about computers or audio. Also with a USB to lightning adapter I was able to plug this into my iPad and it works wonderfully (I’d imagine this would work for phones, too).
Using an Audio Interface:
A home recording setup using a USB or Firewire recording interface will get you the best quality audio setup by far, but will require a lot of gear and computer CPU because it adds so many variables to the equation. I already had a home studio setup so I had a leg up in this department when the pandemic hit, but I still don’t use it for every student. I have an old Apogee Duet (2 inputs), which I primarily use for my electric bass students because I can sit and tweak the interface at my desk while playing (not so easy with the upright bass) and most importantly plug the electric bass directly in (which sounds much more crisp than an amp in a room). To talk with the students I then use a dynamic mic like the Sennheiser e835 or Shure SM58 (not an SM57 which is for instruments). This does however require a lot of cabling: a 1/4 guitar cable, a mic, a mic stand and mic XLR cable which all goes into the interface, which then connects to the computer. I skip this setup for my guitar/ukulele and piano students because I find it time consuming and the USB mic does the trick for way less work. I only encourage my students to get into interfaces if they feel pretty comfortable with computers, have the budget to splurge and are especially interested in recording their own music (which is super fun to help with). One of the most popular beginner and reasonably affordable interfaces is the Scarlett line from Focusrite.
P.S. Once you start your meeting, remember to check your audio settings (in the bottom left on the computer) to make sure your input and output are the ones you mean them to be. (My Sony USB mic has its own 1/8” output so sometimes output is set to that instead of my computer system audio).
Monitoring Yourself In Lessons:
One of my biggest complaints with Zoom is that you don’t have the option to monitor what your audio sounds like in real time. When we’re speaking or playing an acoustic instrument you may not care that much, but if you’re using an interface and plugging in an instrument like electric bass or guitar, you need to hear yourself. One workaround is to use a program like Garageband, Logic, Pro Tools, Reason, etc. and set yourself up like you were about to record, then go to the settings of the program and send the audio directly to Zoom (instead of say your interface or system audio). This may not work depending on what program you have and you may have CPU problems when trying this. Another option is to run something like JamKazam which does allow you to monitor yourself while still running Zoom in mute and just for the video options.
Video:
As prepared on the audio side of things to switch over to doing remote lessons, I was scrambling to find a good webcam back in March when they were one of the first things to go out of stock online. I had my desktop Mac and my recording interface as I mentioned above, but had no video capabilities. Luckily, I figured out a nice trick with Zoom where you can join an existing meeting again as yourself (as long as you send yourself the link) on a different device. So I could suddenly use my iPad or my Samsung Galaxy phone (with an amazing camera) as the video component, and let my computer handle the audio. However, there are some quirks to this to be able to pull it off correctly. First, you need to mute the “video” device right away so that you don’t get a nasty feedback loop going. You can change the meeting settings so that you are always joining a meeting while muted to take care of this problem, I also recommend putting some earbuds in the “video” device to prevent it from playing any audio that would add to the loop. Some other problems that come up with the two device solution is that there can be lag between the devices (depending on internet speed) and if you don’t have a paid account, the limit for two devices is 40 minutes. There is alternatively an app called Epoccam which can turn your phone into a webcam so you don’t need to join twice (this has worked for friends of mine but whatever reason hasn’t for me yet).
P.S. When you add a third device the window changes so that, if the student is on "Speaker Mode, they can't see you. The solution is to change to "Gallery View," then pin the video device and double-click it to focus.
Video Accessories:
In a pinch you can lay a laptop on a music stand, but even typing this I’m reliving a time when my laptop flew off a stand while taping a video and cracked the screen. I suggest finding a very secure location for laptops, and for phones and tablets using clips and stands that can hold them in place.
P.S. if you run out of USB inputs on your computer try getting a USB hub. A webcam might work better with a powered hub. Newer computers use what they call USB connections (same for my Galaxy phone), but older computers use the standard USB A.
Lighting:
There are many resources out there for lighting and I'm no expert. However, one rule of thumb is: Don't have any light sources in view, rather light behind the camera. If your lamps and bulbs aren’t cutting it try out the ring light, which is described as “a strip of LEDs built into a halo apparatus that provides flattering light without creating shadows or harsh lines”. It came with a little clip to hold phones too.
Zoom Features:
Recurring Meetings, Links and Zoom Contacts:
One of the first things I learned that would save me a lot of time was to make my meetings recurring so I didn’t need to send a student a new link every week. I usually send them a link in a new email (instead of a long confusing thread) and also put it right into google calendar and google drive (where I write my homework for students). I’ve also found it helpful to add students as contacts in Zoom, so I can just directly add them back to the meeting if they get dropped. (Note: This only works if they’ve setup their own Zoom account vs watching from a public browser link.)
Screen Sharing:
A great way for someone to hear music in high fidelity is to share your screen (just remember to switch the audio on in the bottom left of the panel where you choose what to share). Keep in mind the audio sounds really loud to the student so on YouTube or whatever I’m using I will turn the volume super low. I sometimes play along with the track and, since the song is coming from my end, the track and I are synced up in what the student hears (You can allow participants to share their own screen by clicking over their names and allowing them to share screen or make them co-hosts).
Dealing with Sync Issues:
I was hoping with the most recent update of Zoom we’d see less sync delay, but is still bad enough that you can’t play together in time. You can hold long notes together (good for woodwinds, brass and vocals) or (one of my favorite things) do a call and response activity. I make sure the student and I always have access to a metronome (you can easily pull one up on Google). It’s better to do this on a separate device, so you don’t have to share your screen back and forth. In fact, I encourage students to buy real metronomes (remember those?) so they have one less device and app to be working simultaneously with Zoom.
Recording Lessons:
A handy tool I find for students is to record during lessons so they can see and hear what you did later. Since I have a paid account I record to the cloud and then Zoom emails me when the lesson is over and I forward that to the student to watch. To access the videos and play with settings (like turning off password protection) you have to go the actual Zoom website. Since you can run out of Cloud storage quickly I don’t record entire lessons, just short clips. Students can also record lessons but you have to give them permission to do so. Hover over their name in the participant's window and allow them to record (Note: This doesn’t work for everyone which is why I usually record the portions of the lessons myself.)
Using the Annotate Function and White Board:
Right before the classes of the day I use my phone to snap some pics of the sheet music that the students will be using. I then send them to the device where I’m running Zoom (NOTE: In "share screen - advanced features" you can also connect directly from a computer to a 2nd device or use Dropbox/Google Drive. If a student is struggling with a section i can share my screen, grab the pic and then use the annotate function to circle passages and make notes. You can also draw from scratch in the white board. Sometimes when I’m talking music theory I might draw a circle of 5ths, or type out the names of the C scale, etc. It’s not a very advanced program but you can get the point across quickly and save the file so it doesn’t disappear when the meeting ends.
P.S. Remember you can zoom in (Command + on a Mac) so the student can see your screen better.
Internet Connection:
I’m writing this section last because I have found dealing with my internet service provider to be incredibly frustrating. The primary issue is to make sure that both your download and upload speeds are fast enough for Zoom to run smoothly (You can use an internet test to check).. They say you can run the program with as little as 1.5 mbps/1.5 mbps (up/down) but that will be rough. I’d recommend at least 25mps (down,) 3mps (up) and ideally (especially if you we’re going to say get into livestreaming) you’d have over 100mps (down) and 5-7(up). My current Comcast plan has up to 5mbps, but that means that averages during peak hours only 3. I am considering an upgrage to an 1 GB internet plan (which would require me to buy a new modem) or even switching to Fiber Optic providers whom I hear deliver the best upload speeds.
P.S. Ethernet direct connections are always better than wifi. If you’re near a router get a cable and if you don’t have a plug for your computer, buy a converter or get a nice USB hub.
Final Thoughts:
I hope you enjoyed reading this and that some of my observations have been helpful. If you find yourself hitting a wall with Zoom’s capabilities remember that with screen sharing you can bring in all kinds of outside programs and websites with interactive features. I was recently turned onto the program Midiculous which, through a midi keyboard to USB connection, allows you to play notes which are then highlighted on the screen for the student. You can use a site like MusicTheory.Net to quiz student’s reading skills, the RhythmTrainer for rhythm tests or play around with a drum machine online. Also if you’ve got some ideas I haven’t considered yet I hope you’ll share them with me! Thanks for reading and let me know if you would like lessons yourself (see the little video below from 2015). If you found any of this helpful do me a favor and download or stream my record.