Volume 26 Issue 6 - March and April 2021

LESLIE KENNEDY
show a student why one posture might work better
than another, or where to position one’s thumb on
the back of the guitar neck. Over Zoom, however,
this task becomes a bit more complicated; visual
demonstration is helpful, but there is only so much
one can see in two dimensions.
For better and for worse
The convenience of online teaching will likely
mean that the format will become normalized, at
least outside of post-secondary music programs.
This normalization will likely affect community
music schools; no longer bound to the band room,
teachers have a greater financial incentive to establish
an independent teaching practice. For students,
online learning also means greater access to their
preferred teacher, regardless of geographical location;
over the past year, I’ve gained students from
Vancouver, Brooklyn and towns across Ontario,
none of whom I would be able to teach regularly
under normal circumstances.
It seems impossible that online lessons will ever
fully replace in-person lessons; there is too much to
be gained from being in the same room as another
musician. But the value of virtual lessons is such
that it seems impossible that in-person lessons will
ever look the same as they once did.
my professional life that has grown during quarantine – to create basic
play-along tracks, as well as recordings of assigned material. Some of
these tracks became opportunities for further collaboration, as some
students used them to undertake at-home recording projects (in lieu
of the conventional recitals and live-performance opportunities).
Listening recommendations – a YouTube video of a live performance,
or an album that illustrates a particular artistic concept – could
be sent as links to students in real time, instead of simply being
mentioned in passing.
Virtual guitar lessons required some quick pedagogical realignment,
but teaching production skills – something that only really started for
me during the pandemic – is, luckily, well-suited to online learning.
Modern music production happens on software called, in the singular,
a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). In educational settings, this
already typically means students working on individual computers
in a computer lab, with an instructor’s screen coming through a
projector and speakers. Zoom’s audio-and-video-sharing capabilities
obviate the need for the lab; students are able to work on their own
computers, from the comfort of their own home studio setups, which
allows for easy demonstration and effective guided work. It also allows
an instructor to help students develop their own practice, within their
own space. Software and hardware issues, physical setup conundrums
and other questions can be addressed right away in concrete terms,
rather than theoretically, as in a class setting. Again, a new kind of
educational intimacy.
Something lost
Amidst the positive developments, there remain limitations. The
immediate and obvious one that’s lost in an online lesson is the
capability to play with a student in real time. Time – rhythm – is
communal, a shared temporal experience of sound. To be able to
communicate it efficiently, one must give a student the opportunity to
feel the pulse. Students have access to recordings, and can listen and
imitate, but there is something about playing in time with another
musician that can’t quite be replicated in other circumstances.
Through a screen, it is also harder to make corrections to a student’s
physical technique. It is relatively easy, in a face-to-face scenario, to
Colin Story is a jazz guitarist, writer and teacher
based in Toronto. He can be reached at www.
colinstory.com on Instagram and on Twitter.
ST. MICHAEL’S CHOIR SCHOOL
Sing. Study.
Succeed.
Formation through
the service of music.
AUDITIONS IN PROGRESS!
Contact us at 647.613.6367
Visit smcs.on.ca/auditions
thewholenote.com March and April 2021 | 21