Nobody wants to spend precious lesson time hunting for a pencil or fiddling with settings when you could be playing beautiful pieces or impressing me with how fast you can play your scales. There are a few things you can do to make sure that you are well-prepared and will be able to get the most out of your virtual lesson.
Materials to have at the ready:
* All your books: even if we didn’t get to you your theory book last week, make sure you have it ready! We might start with it this week…
* The previous week’s practice plan—either printed out, or on a separate device than the one being used for the lesson
* A sharpened pencil with an eraser
* A back-up pencil with an eraser
* A colored pencil
* Sticker packs
* A charger for the device
* Headphones—preferably corded (blue tooth headphones introduce lag between the sound and picture or have noise suppression settings you can’t turn off)
To Help Your Signal
* Turn off other programs on the device you’re using for the lesson
* Make sure your space is well-lit
* If possible, ask others in your home to limit their internet use during the lesson
* Turn off HD Video (if on Zoom or Skype)
* Turn off “Touch Up My Appearance” (If on Zoom)
* If possible, move the router closer to the piano or use an ethernet cord
To Get the Best Sound Out of Zoom
Under Settings > Audio
* Disable ‘Automatically Adjust Mic Volume’
* Disable Stereo Sound
* Click ‘Advanced’ button
* Check the box for ‘Show in meeting option for Enable Original Sound’ from microphone and if possible, High fidelity music mode.
* Disable both noise suppression options
* At the top of the screen, next to the green shield, click on the text ‘Turn on Original Sound’
* When it’s on the box will light up in blue and the text will read ‘Turn Off Original Sound’
