The size and dynamic range of percussion instruments provide challenges to online teaching and music making but the good news is with a little thought and some additional resources, these challenges can be overcome.
The simplest approach to teaching online only requires an instrument, a device which can both access the internet and has a microphone and camera built in. It is important to spend some time experimenting with device placement to ensure the best view for the student. For drum kit lessons, the most common view is on side on, in an elevated position (above the hi-hat) looking downwards, across the drum kit. This allows you to see all the drums and cymbals, the student’s hand and part of their legs/feet for the bass drum and hi-hat pedal. This angle seems to give a good balance between relatively straightforward speech direct to camera for the teacher, whilst also enabling the student to clearly see hands and feet when you are wanting to model things. Whilst it may be desirable to add multiple cameras to your setup, a really important message is to start with a simple approach first and then build as required. It’s far better to enhance your setup as your confidence and skill level grows than to overstretch in your first forays into the online world.
Some drum teachers have found the use of an electronic drum kit is helpful when teaching online. Not only can the sound be managed more easily within the room, it is also easier to connect the output of the kit to an audio interface and manage the level of sound being sent out to students. The reduction in bleed from room to room and dwelling to dwelling is significant. This might be an issue if other family or neighbours who take exception to your teaching from home! On the student side of things where this may not be possible, noise reducing sticks such as hot rods, coupled with some time spent on a practice pad may provide more practical solutions.
If you haven’t seen or heard the advances in both the accessibility and playability of such instruments in recent years, now might be the time to take a look at the digital solutions available to both percussionists and drum kit players, particularly if the switch to online is causing issues in your physical environment.
If you are using an acoustic instrument, the challenge is to find an audio setup which can cope with the dynamic range of percussive instruments. Some additional audio equipment is of great benefit. Using a pair of condenser microphones, such as the PreSonus PM2, together with an audio interface will improve the quality of sound being broadcast significantly. This sort of setup is much less likely to be present on the student side and a common issue is trying to analyse and offer feedback on a disrupted audio feed coming from a student. Both headphones and a willingness to accept that the sound generated from a student setup may not be ideal are both useful additions to your approach as an online percussion teacher.
Finally, the issue of latency (a slight delay in the transmission of sound and/or picture) means that sharing a beat or pulse with your student whilst teaching online is very difficult / impossible to achieve. If you are new to online teaching, a key message of reassurance that I have heard time and time again in recent months is that it is very possible to adapt your teaching style, language, questioning and direction techniques to facilitate successful learning experiences online. Trust your instincts and you will be able to overcome the challenges the issues of latency present. In practical terms, arranging any backing tracks to be played from the student side will help resolve the issue of playing to music.
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