I was thinking of looking into lessons via skype as I don't have the time to leave home for lessons after work (small children and all at home).

I am a fairly advanced player and would be looking to improve my ability to play classical music (I've mostly played pop and modern works up until now but I've got the classical bug now).

What are peoples experiences with this, good and bad?

Are there any teachers that someone could recommend for skype lessons?

Thanks.

One of my friends is taking jazz lessons via scype, & she's pretty happy with it. However, she's already an accomplished classical pianist, with a Bachelor of Music, who has done a lot of piano teaching herself, so her technique, etc, was formed long ago.

I'm teaching over Skype at the moment. As long as the connections are fast it's pretty workable. After that the most important thing is a movable webcam. I point mine at me, my hands or the music depending on what I want to show.

Yup, I agree that the most important factor is for the teacher and the student to be residing in countries with fast connections.

Just curious, does it have to be a formal relationship with a teacher? I've been asked to skype with people who were much better players than I am, and who had more advanced skills and experience, just because they liked an arrangement I did. I'm sure they had a lot they could have taught me, but unfortunately I wasn't in a position to skype at the time. But I've heard of other piano buddies doing this and getting a lot out of it, so I'm wondering (since I now can skype) if anyone has any experience with this kind of musical cyber-collaboration.

Pedies,

Has worked for me for several years now.
Try it. The most important is the teacher. One of them advertises on this site, I forgot his name, but he sounds like a great classical teacher.

I've just recently started teaching using Skype. So far it's working great. During a couple of initial test runs with some of my local students there were some issues with dropped calls, but I updated my webcam drivers and it has been fine since. I haven't had any trouble with picture quality (I have two Logitech webcams... one moveable and one mounted over the keyboard, plus my laptop webcam). Also the sound is very clear 95% of the time, with occasional hiccups. Using headphones helps with hearing the other person alot. Also, it's a good idea to get your system up and running an hour or so before your lesson, just in case it starts doing updates or virus scans, which will of course slow it down. Some people question whether or not you can effectively deal with tone and dynamics. I don't see why not, unless you are trying to play at Carnegie Hall . Also, I've heard skepticism about being able to play together. I have had no trouble with that either. There can be a delay, but as long as I start off and play steadily, the student can follow along as they hear it and only I will hear the delay. But the delay isn't bad enough that I can't tell whether or not they are in time or not. Also, my students have wondered about the placement of their webcam for my ability to see what they are doing. In this case, it really depends on the student. If the student is someone who needs alot of direction with technique and fingering then the webcam needs to be close enough to see the hands clearly. But for more advanced students with the ability to self-direct and critique, it really doesn't matter much. Even if I can't see clearly what is being done, I can usually tell what notes are being played or if there is a technique issue just by listening. All said and done, I'm really enjoying using Skype, and so far my students are too!

Been teaching piano and guitar, via Skype for a while now, and it just gets better and better.
Good quality cameras and microphones, are a must, as is a speedy connection.

The student can record the call (video and audio) for later review.
I use two cameras, (mostly for guitar) so I can instantly switch between right and left hand views, or between piano and music.
I recently passed a student on to another member here, as they teach ABRSM (which I don't).
If you would like to contact that teacher, (who is well qualified), PM me for details.
Be sure that both parties are using the latest version, as automatic updates of Skype don't always work, so a manual check is always worthwhile.

From the teaching point of view, it is fascinating to be able to give lessons to people in different countries, from the comfort of my home studio.

So glad this thread was started! It sounds like it works out pretty well for most people, so that's good to hear.

I've been thinking about looking into lessons via skype for a little while as well. I've never taken lessons before and I get really nervous playing in front of people (other than my wife!), so maybe this would be a good way to ease into playing for others.

Yes, thanks for all of the replies and information. I am feeling pretty positive about this as well and think I'm going to give it a try. I was pretty sure it wouldn't work before this thread but to me, now it sounds like a good way to pursue lessons.

I am teaching fully half of my students via skype at present. It works fantastic, nobody from Brooklyn or New Jersey even wants to come in to Manhattan any more!

Dave Frank

I am wondering....
My piano runs on my computer. Ivory II.
I would need a separate computer to run the skype lessons?
Or a really high end computer which would cost me mucho bucks to do both at once?

How good of cameras? I have a macally camera. Didn't work too good in the past. I think that is mostly I was running an old power mac. This mac is just about obsolete now. Barely making it. Have a year old laptop that works ok but it's on a ms system which I consider disposable.

If I were to do skype lessons this year. A mini mac running my piano. Use the year old laptop with it's built in camera and a second camera? Darn laptop (ms) doesn't like anything else connected to it.

How high of a mac will I need to do both at same time? Will an iMac do both?

I am very interested in this possibility.

You should look into a Standalone camera. The ones that come built into Laptops arent that amazing unless you paid a lot for it. Go to the store and get yourself an HD camera with a good mic. I'd expect to spend a decent amount of money on it for quality's sake.

I teach English to Japanese people over Skype and a good camera and microphone (+ Internet connection) really makes a difference.

I run piano software while taking lessons via Skype and have not had a problem. I do have a very fast computer with a very fast disk system but you must also have a reasonably fast system in order to be running Ivory II.





I use a Logitech Quickcam Pro 9000 Webcam and it works fine.

Are the Ivory samples on a separate hard drive? I load all my samples onto an external Firewire drive. This frees up the internal hard drive to just access program information and helps everything run faster.

The mac processors are plenty fast enough to run a webcam on Skype and a music program at the same time. I think you're main issue would be how fast your internet is.

Thank you all for the input.
I just have everything on my internal HD. 7200 rpm.
Looks like I'm closer to doing it than I thought.