Towards a Studio Policy in the Era of COVID-19 Part 1

This week I’ll be revising my studio policy for the coming year. Every year, the process consists of iterating the document for the previous teaching year, making changes that involve rates, teachers, cancellation policies, and other small details (like parking on the correct side of the driveway and keeping your water bottle away from the piano).

But this year, it’s a completely different reality. Most of us have already made the transition to full online teaching, and we now have to navigate how to communicate to parents the policies and procedures for dealing with a tremendous amount of uncertainty regarding the progress and transmission of the disease in our local areas.

Below are a few issues I’m working on for the coming year’s Foley Music and Arts Studio policy (for reference, here is my current 2019-20 studio policy):

1. The rate issue. Don’t cut your rates unless you absolutely have to. Your value as a music teacher is more important than ever and you need to come across as a professional. The range of extra-curricular activities might be much smaller than before, especially without team sports or large ensembles. On the other hand, avoid raising your rate beyond a small amount lest people accuse you of price-gouging in a pandemic. We intend to keep our rates the same.

2. Equivalency of online and in-person lessons. In order to maintain stability of income and scheduling with your studio in the face of future risk, there needs to be a one-to-one correspondence between in-person and online lessons. They should be interchangeable.

3. Sickness policies. If students are sick, they should not get an in-person lesson. On the other hand, if they’re already comfortable with online lessons, they can continue in their regular lesson times online if they’re well enough and until they’re back to full health.

4. How to describe management of the transition back to in-person lessons. Each of us is hoping to be able to teach in-person by the fall. However, we must also account for the eventuality that there might be a second wave of the virus precipitating further lockdowns in your area.

5. Things you can and cannot bring into the studio space. One of my professional students has already laid out a policy that students need to bring their own soap and towel to wash their hands in the studio. On the other hand, I no longer feel comfortable with people bringing in stuff to the studio beyond their books and music.

6. Adherence to new health and safety procedures in the studio. Rebekah Maxner’s article on health-proofing your studio is the best article I’ve seen in this area. Distancing, use of masks, hand-washing, and limitations of in-studio touching all need to be considered.

7. What to mention in the studio policy and what to mention via email updates. One possibility is to mention health and safety procedures in a general sense, then elaborate on them via email as you get closer to the beginning of the teaching year. Then further update them through the year as the situation warrants.

Above all, communicate how to facilitate structured learning through a time of uncertainty. Stating clear policies with relevant updates can put you ahead of many other extra-curricular activities (and school districts).

I’ve already taken some heat for “perpetuating fear and anxiety” and “throwing tradition out the window” when talking about current realities of the piano studio (members of Facebook’s Piano Teacher Central can find the comments here). But it is vitally important that we communicate to our customer base how we intend to engage with health and safety issues in the coming year. Far from being disrespectful to the tradition of musical instruction, dealing with health issues in the middle of a global pandemic goes to the heart of our mission and professionalism.

10 Ways That Music Education is Changing in 2020

Not your studio glamour shot: the scene after a day of teaching.

It has been 8 weeks and I’ve given nearly 400 lessons delivered via Zoom, FaceTime, and WeChat, as well as numerous webinar appearances with teachers from Canada, the United States, and around the world. Our studio hasn’t had an in-person lesson since early March and I’ve discovered that it is much more difficult to clean up on the fly during a teaching day when I need to constantly remain on-camera.

Many of us are feeling considerable fatigue from weeks of all-online teaching, as well as grief brought on by the fact that public performances might need to be shelved for quite a while.

Although we’re probably still in the early stages of the massive change brought on by the COVID-19 virus, planning for the future and how to adapt has become a hallmark of the last two months. In order to survive, we all need to come up with new ideas, work through and develop them, as well as learn career skills like never before, realizing that bootstrapped solutions are often the cheapest and wisest.

Here is a list of some of the things that I’ve been noticing about the changes in music education that have happened in a very short time. Some of these changes will be temporary, and some will be permanent. Knowing which is which is beyond our ability to forecast in late May 2020, but is an important thing to ponder, given the consequences of fat tail events with far-reaching consequences.

1. Music education is now online learning. To put it bluntly, if you want to teach music at present, you must teach online. A few months ago, online learning was a fun sub-project for many of us. I started teaching online just over a year ago, and although I realized that it would have a major impact on the pedagogical world, it was impossible to know that it would become a daily reality so quickly. Until a vaccine or effective local safe-distancing guidelines are enacted, to do otherwise will put yourself and your students at risk of contracting a formidable disease to which you have no immunity, and risk personal ruin or death in its aftermath.

2. More than ever, music teachers must have an online presence. To put it in a less positive manner, teachers unable to effectively make the transition to online learning during the crisis might very quickly lose access to their students. You need a website with online registration and you need a way to reach people online, whether through search, referrals, ads, or social media.

3. Traditional neighbourhood music teachers will need to rebrand in order to reach a wider market for their services. This is a golden opportunity to serve the community on both a local and international level. Students can now choose from a much wider array of potential teachers. Teachers can also cast their net much wider when recruiting students.

4. The most experienced and respected teachers are now the most vulnerable. Many of the very best teachers in our profession who represent the grand traditions of our art are people who have been doing this for a long time, and have learned from those even greater than themselves in previous years. However, older people are more vulnerable to the serious risks of COVID-19, and it is also our responsibility to help them make the transition to online teaching.

5. This is the golden age of professional development. Teachers who are motivated will be able to learn a wider variety of technological and pedagogical skills in a very short period of time. Learning online skills has never been so accessible as it is now, thanks to the efforts of organizations such as The Royal Conservatory and The Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy.

6. During the COVID-19 crisis, music instruction is one of the few safe extracurricular activities that people are able to access. Team sports are off-limits for the foreseeable future, as are orchestras and choirs. Unlike most online learning from public/private schools, summer music lessons are specifically tailored to each student and their individual goals. The individual instruction of music lessons and the structured learning that comes with it can be some of the only face-to-face non-family educational time that a child has, and be of inestimable benefit to their mental health. 

7. Self-isolation is a golden opportunity for students to experience deep learning. Just a few months ago, most kids were massively overbooked, with far too many activities on their hands. Now the opposite is true. Once the framework for learning is in place, this can be a time where students can finally discover and learn with much greater time and depth. We just have to provide the structure and impetus.

8. The techniques learned from online teaching will inform future pedagogical thought. Online teaching won't be going away once COVID-19 is over. Teachers are starting to understand what kinds of students are suited to online or in-person lessons, and will be able utilize these ways of teaching in new and inventive ways.

9. Once music teachers start becoming genuinely effective at online teaching, there will be very little difference between an online and in-person lesson. I’ve already had students ask me if they could continue with online lessons even after we return to in-person teaching. They found it that valuable, and what was lost with in-person instruction was more than made up by what they gained from online instruction.

10. The techniques learned from online teaching will inform future business plans and studio policies. We need to plan for uncertainty and risk. Enterprising teachers can alternate between in-person and live online lessons in order to cut down on travel time and teach students from much farther away. Sick students won’t necessarily be absent, as they can easily have a lesson online if they feel well enough. Teachers who can specialize can cast their net far and wide in order to find those in need of their particular brand of expertise.

I’ve never seen the level of innovation and rapid change that I’ve observed with music teachers in the last two months. Many challenges await, particularly how to navigate the transition back to in-person lessons in conjunction with local health directives and how much risk individual teachers are willing to assume with their studios.

How do you feel about these changes? What have you noticed about the last few months? Feel free to leave a comment below.

The Culture of Practicing in Music Schools

Finding the Perfect Practice Room is Liz Parker’s homage to the practice culture that is the daily life of a music student. For those of you who have never studied at a university-level school of music, this includes seeking out a practice room amidst the school’s facilities on a daily basis and working tirelessly on our repertoire, all the while worrying about how others will perceive you on the other side of the door. I remember this routine well:

The prep for these student recitals became more crucial as I grappled with learning to sing. It was imperative I find a room as far away from people as possible. Most practise rooms were located by everybody’s lockers where we all sat on the floor hanging out. I couldn’t do lip trills or other experimental siren noises there. As a frustrated alto trying to become a not-awful mezzo, I had to work on expanding my upper ranges, and it wasn’t pretty. I discovered practise rooms on the ground level behind the administrative offices, which lead nowhere – meaning nobody was walking up and down that small hallway. There were no lockers either, so people weren’t lingering. PERFECT! That’s where I’d make my strangled cat noises.

At Eastman, my favorite practice room block was at the basement of the Annex. It took a few minutes of walking among winding corridors and stairwells, but these secluded rooms were some of the most private for getting work done.

I think Liz might be referring to me here:

Sometimes at night, you’d see two pianists approaching the same room and they’d burst into a sprint to be the first to nab one of the rare grand pianos (like the Chickering!) available.

My recollection of the Chickering in the UBC third-floor practice rooms was a piano well past its prime but still able to help you discover sonorities. The rack was stained with coffee marks and the aging instrument smelled of cigarette smoke from the years prior to 1986 when inside smoking was banned in British Columbia. Far better was the Yamaha grand on the other side of the floor which had been rebuilt with Steinway parts. It had a large and unforgiving sound which had a strong tendency to carry through on the other side of the door. Good for running through your rep, but not for learning notes, as everyone in a 30-foot radius could hear exactly what you were playing.

The hours of practice were endless, by turns both gratifying and frustrating, and included the terror/thrill of never knowing exactly which piano you would be practicing on for that day. Pianists who practice regularly in music schools are forced to become extremely agile, as their practice routine might require playing on several dozen instruments through the course of an entire week. On the thrill of walking through a music school on any given day:

it’s a beautiful thing to walk through the hallways of a music school, hearing snippets of music emerge from various rooms. You’ll hear some students practising out of obligation, usually parts required in some ensemble piece. Others play with stars in their eyes, practising solo parts for the whole hallway to hear. It was such a shock when I once cut through a science building on campus. It was ghostly silent, and if anyone was battling neurosis, I couldn’t tell. I’m glad I got to work out my neuroses via music.

I also recall that until the early 90s, the third-floor practice rooms at UBC were covered from floor to ceiling in music-related graffiti dating back to the 1970s.

(Photo courtesy of Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash)

Maboroshi (Unknown Artist)

Today’s electronic selection is once again from the collections of Aimee Clifford - a November 2018 Chikyu-u Records track from an unknown artist. Aimee writes:

Maboroshi means dream or spectre, and is often used to describe troubling things that are hard to grasp. As for the track... deep house? It has an underlying, dark and chill vibe, but that four on the floor beat is so compelling.

Falling Down the Rabbit Hole of the Musical World with pianoTV

I’m always on the lookout for interesting resources that can help my students learn challenging musical concepts in a fun and engaging way. One resource that’s flown under my radar until now is PianoTV, a project of Saskatchewan-based pianist and teacher Allysia van Betuw. I first chanced upon Allysia’s channel when looking for fun and interesting biographical information about the major composers the could inspire young pianists who haven’t yet had any exposure to their music.

Here’s a brief history of Bach:

You can also find brief histories of Beethoven, Grieg, and Mozart. That’s not all - there are also dozens of videos on musical styles, practice tips, as well as easy explanations of musical concepts.

These are exactly the kind of videos that young pianists need in order to find an addictive way into a daily practice routine.

At Home in Space - Fila Brazillia

Some 1995 chillout/downtempo from Fila Brazillia, via the playlists of Aimee Clifford. See if you can figure out the classical sample that’s cleverly woven into the texture:

Owen Underhill's Hinge for Piano and Chamber Ensemble

This recording dates from nearly 20 years ago, and was one of my most memorable performing/recording projects from the time I was a member of the Vancouver New Music Ensemble. Owen Underhill’s Hinge, with its intricacy and interaction of piano writing against the chamber ensemble, was a challenge and required a ton of preparation. We really nailed the recording, and our work here is a fine example of the cohesion that the ensemble played with in the late 90’s.

Here’s the full lineup from the recording:

Owen Underhill, conductor
Chris Foley, piano solo
Kathryn Cernauskas, flute and piccolo
David Owen, english horn and oboe
François Houle, bass clarinet
Salvador Ferreras, percussion
Victor Costanzi, violin
Sue Round, cello
David Brown, double bass

Keith Jarrett Plays Over the Rainbow

Pianists trained in the classical tradition might find Keith Jarrett’s physical mannerisms a little off-putting. But in this arrangement of Over the Rainbow you’ll find a stillness, beauty, and perfect choice of notes in the improvised sections that makes Jarrett’s style so moving.

From Music School to the Opera World

Embarking on a professional opera career after the sheltered world of university can be eye-opening, writes baritone Lucas Meachem in What School Doesn’t Teach You About Opera. Lucas’ advice looks at how to deal with uncertainty and the importance of developing your own program where none is laid out for you in life. How he motivated himself to create a course of study during a two-month hiatus:

The first time I had time off as a young professional was when I was singing in Stuttgart and the stagehands went on strike. I had two entire (paid) months off and I had to be intelligent with my time. I took the opportunity to learn German and hired a tutor. I became proficient by the time I left the country.

It was up to me how I spent those two months and I had to continue being productive or else I would have gone stir-crazy as well as gotten behind on my potential development as a singer. I had to motivate myself to develop without a program telling me how.

The only place where I disagree with Lucas is regarding the responsibility of music programs to teach students about real life skills and situations - I feel strongly that they should, and that many music programs are failing their students in this regard.

A deep dive into Lucas’ blog is well worth the time - you’ll find a lot of practical advice and wisdom there.

(Photo by Max van den Oetelaar on Unsplash)

My Next Read

Look what arrived in the mail yesterday! It’s not every day that you get to read a novel about music that’s written by someone with a deep and meaningful knowledge of what the musical life actually entails. A huge thanks goes out to Rhonda Rizzo for sending me a copy - stay tuned for some thoughts on The Waco Variations.