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Hi Morodiene, good questions.



I convert everything to pdfs and post them to their page so they can print them out and work with them (if we're not working from the same book). Then part of the lesson is spent reviewing the exercises. I give students the option to scan or take a decent snapshot of their work and email it to me ahead of time if they want to maximize their lesson time. Working on technique is just a matter of getting them to position their camera in the right spot. I always recommend an external usb camera so they have some positioning options, but you can get away with a laptop camera and a music stand or a table/stool beside the piano.



Yes, I've got a button within the site that runs a series of tests on their computer and internet connection and will determine how well it will work for them and make recommendations for a better experience. I've also built in an 'audio only' button which can hide the students video and/or the teachers video. This works well if the there is a bottleneck in the connection and the video starts to lag. It also helps encourage students to use their ears. Afterall, that's what it's all about!

Hey Bluoh,



I've (with the help of a couple of top-notch developers) built video conferencing into the web application (which is built with Ruby on Rails). It works just as well as Skype or Facetime and it all happens in the browser without any downloads. This is great because it enables everything to be in one place and I can optimize it for learning piano. For example, I've built a 'piano view' which makes the viewing screen longer and narrower so students can get a closer look at what the fingers are doing. The typical 4:3 or 16:9 ratio is not ideal for pianos because you have to have the camera so far away in order to get all the keys in. The platform isn't 100% perfect (yet!), but I love teaching with it so far. My goal is to make it easy and convenient enough to get some of the best teachers and players in the world using it (baby steps, baby steps. ).

Chad, I'd love to try it out! Is it live yet? I'd love to be a beta tester if you need one

Hey Morodiene, yep it's live now. I'll Direct Message you.

Hey Chad, sounds interesting-- I'd love to try it out too. And I just noticed that you're from Vancouver.

If you find the right teacher, and the lessons are planned and well organized, it can be very effective. There are advantages and disadvantages. The 2 biggest advantages are: 1 - You can record the lesson via your laptop with recording software, so if you didn't understand something or forgot something you can go back and review the lesson. 2 - Convenience. The biggest disadvantage I find is when the teacher is demonstrating something it, may take a little longer because of the visual limitation. I found and incredible online teacher, that emails me a lesson plan right after the lesson, which details everything he wants me to work on during the week. He also goes way over the alotted time as long as he doesn't have another lesson immediately after mine. He feels the extra time spent makes up for any technologoical limitations. I doubt every teacher would do all the extras, but if you are fortunate enought to find someone that is passionate about teaching and music as I did, I think you will succeed.

Hello all,

I'm interested in taking lessons over skype and was wondering how effective teachers are finding it.

I'm a professional musician (guitarist) and have always wanted to become a proficient pianist. Skype would save travel time and potentially connect me with a great teacher.

Your comments and opinions would be greatly appreciated as well as any recommendations for skype teachers.

thanks!

As a professional musician, you are half way there because you can read music. Skype is aweome because some of the best piano teachers are in Russian and Skype can be anywhere on the planet. While skype can save you traveling time, guitars are carried in one hand and keyboards with 88 weighted keys keyboards are 30 pounds and are awkward to carry. I am not sure how Skype students pay for their lessons over the internet, especially in foreign currency but perhaps you have some experience. Good luck and best wishes. A piano is also an awesome instrument to learn and play like the guitar.

You must be much more fortunate with Skype than I am! When there's serious work to be done, I usually end up giving up and making a 'phone call.

Hi Michael. I've noticed that in your posts it's hard to know what's the quote from someone else and what's your contribution, so I thought it might help to just explain that if you want to quote someone else you can hit the "quote" button at the bottom of the post you wish to quote. You then get a reply box with the other post already quoted. You then just add your bit. You can also delete bits of the quote to target exactly what you're replying to. Hope this helps, because sometimes it looks like you're saying what you're actually not!
cheers, currawong

Thanks currawong, I didn't know how people quoted. Thanks for taking the time to show me how to quote.

I've taught three different students using Skype, and mostly, I would say it was a very positive experience. In one case, I went several months without seeing this student in person, and instead doing the Skype lessons, and when I finally did, I noticed some flaws in his playing that I had completely missed over Skype.
Nonetheless, Skype is definitely great for discussion, such as discussion of theory, or composition-related lessons. I'd say overall that for me, if the focus of the lesson is primarily the student's playing, it is nice to be there in person with the student. Yet I see great potential in Skype lessons and don't rule it out.

Yes, I agree..sometimes you have to ask more questions from the student because you are unable to really observe things normally - things like "how does that passage feel?" or "how are you fingering measure 25?". So a bit less efficient in that respect, but again, a great substitute if nothing else is available. I do recommend that anyone doing Skype lessons get to see their teacher at least once in a while (every 6 months or so) in order to catch these things in person.

I finally had the opportunity do teach some online lessons last week due to the snow. Three used skype and one used facetime, and they were all really productive lessons! It's hard if you don't have the exact piece of music in front of you, and it's not perfect, but it sure beats missing a lesson (I have a no-makeup policy.)

Hey Morodiene:

Yes, personally, I agree that in-person lessons are ideal. Yet Skype lessons are obviously quite practical in some cases (one of my students lives in Southampton, England... so me being in California, Skype was the only way we were going to have lessons!) Currently, I'm actually teaching my dad mostly via Skype. He lives 80 miles away, I'm in Sacramento, he's in San Francisco. What has usually happened is that about once a month he comes over here for a studio workshop or visit, and afterward we have an in person lesson. It really helps with the learning process. Maybe it's a matter of knowing how to best teach a student over skype. I think it's good experience to have, yet it also makes me value the in person lessons.

Hey Stanny:

You're right about that! I also have a no make-up policy, and in a couple of instances, a student couldn't make the lesson, so instead we did it from Skype. It was nice to still be able to give her value that week.

Hi all,

I'm planning on taking some combined piano/alexander technique skype lessons from a teacher who has already given me one face to face lesson. But continuance of face to face is prohibitive since she lives too far away from me. A problem, however, is finding a way to get up to speed with skype well enough so that it does not hinder the actual lesson since I am just now learning about skype. No one I know uses skype and I would like to have someone I can do a video call with to be sure I've mastered skype well enough to get the most out of the lessons. For one thing I've seen that getting to full screen could be a problem though that may not be the case if I do a video call with someone. If there's anyone on this site that is in the same predicament and would like to partner up with me in helping to get over this learning hump, I'd appreciate hearing from you. Alternately, if any of you have any suggestions for me I'd appreciate hearing those as well. Given the nature of the lessons, which would be combining piano with alexander, I realize there will be limitations with skype. But I still feel I can get great benefit from this arrangement.

Lessons on Skype is a good idea and its really useful for those who's learning from books or tutorials so this will be also useful for me to learn on Skype so can anyone guide me where i can found the Skype lessons.

I've learned a lot by going to skype.com. You can go from there thru many categories. You probably will need to register - choose a name and password. At the top you can click on Learn or Support to get more info. I'm close to a point where I need to find a partner to try to do a video call to be sure I know how to use skype. If you want to partner with me or if I can help you in any other way, please don't hesitate to contact me on this site.

Have you had piano lessons before?

I've taught over Skype and it works nicely for the most part, but I would recommend a live teacher if you're totally new and you're just starting out, because there are things, like posture, that are way better with a live teacher.

Hi Attaboy,

Just a couple of tips for getting the best out of Skype..

Be sure the room is well lit.
Keep any background noise to a minimum
Full screen is simply a mouse click away.
In the Skype 'Tools/Options/Audio settings, un-check the 'automatic' settings. (to avoid sudden changes in volume)
Make sure you are both using the same/latest version of the program.

If you have a second computer, you could set up a separate Skype account, and 'Skype yourself' to get some idea of how it will look and sound, to the teacher, and tweak settings accordingly.