If I've learned anything from the covid-19 pandemic, it's that us musicians have had to adapt quickly to our new methods of work. With the cancellation of all live performances for the foreseeable future, several of my friends have taken to livestream, in-house concerts as a means of reaching their fans, generating content, and staying productive. The resilience of my friends in the music community has truly been heart-warming and reaffirming.
I've taken these past five weeks to research best practices in online music education.
Last month, I had never used Zoom, nor did I have the slightest idea what a virtual camera was. I had never needed to carefully tailor a video shoot in my living room. In my normal in-house lessons, I was able to quickly take a seat next to a student to demonstrate a technique on the piano. Communication was instantaneous, and call-and-response activities were par for the course.
While I'm still tweaking little things here and there, I've now reached a setup that I'm quite happy with. Let's take a look:
My four video sources are circled in green below:
At the top, I have an AKASO Brave 4 4k action camera mounted onto a microphone stand. This provides an overhead view of my keyboard. Going clockwise, I have the internal camera from my 2018 MacBook Pro, an IPEVO V4K document camera, and a Logitech C920 webcam mounted on a microphone stand.
Two flanked Neewer bi-color LED lights illuminate the shot.
For the audio, I'm using a Rode Lapel microphone. This is attached to my shirt.
My keyboard is a Roland FP-7. I run the keyboard and lapel mic directly into my interface (seen below in red), a Focusrite Clarett 4Pre. I use my Sony MDR7506 headphones to hear your beautiful playing. 😊
That's cool, Chris... but do I need all of this equipment?
Goodness no! I've invested in this equipment to provide you with high-quality lesson content. On your end, a simple internal camera/microphone device, like an iPad, an iMac or a webcam (or even an iPhone) will do the trick.
Of course, if you'd like to invest in more advanced equipment, check out one of my upcoming blog posts for more suggestions!
-Chris
p.s. Thanks to the members of the facebook group "Higher Ed Music Lessons in the Time of COVID-19" and Hugh Sung for their sage advice!
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