#zoom lessons

[choosekindnesstoday]

I can not wait to go back to a classroom. I’m grateful I have the chance to continue my education online, but it’s not for me. I need to be there to be able to learn. 

Five hours hooked up to zoom is way too much.

Worst part is that I have a feeling that we won’t be going back this year or the next :/ 

[musicalyikes]

zoom lessons going well... starting 15 minutes late because the kid i’m teaching couldn’t connect to audio but that’s ok :/

[unfug-bilder]

[yhmusicteacher]

Zoom Piano Lessons

My Private Piano Studio transitioned to Zoom as the C-19 situation evolved in Square State the last few weeks.  When ConEd started up the last Monday in March so did my Private Zoom Studio!

Like everything else, Zoom Piano Lessons are a learning curve for all involved.  I am lucky to have a few things going good for my in the Studio!

1. Supportive Parents!  They want their kids to continue on!  Probably to keep them busy and keep things as “normal” as possible! About 75% of my studio stayed on during this....thing...and I don’t fault my high schoolers trying to keep up with credits right now. 

2. I have known one of the mom’s so long that I texted her with ONE plea and she was at my door 2 hours later!  Her twin sons are in intermediate levels in the Faber Piano Series so they have the books for Primer, Level 1, 2A, and 2B. I texted her asking to borrow all their old books! She texted right back from the local fishing hole where they were social distancing for the afternoon that I would have the books THAT DAY! I about cried!

3. Because the PSDistrict 1:1 device ability and the CathSch’s almost ability (they’re close) I didn’t have to figure out how to communicate lessons!  Using District equipment for personal profit may be in a kind-of gray area of ethical, but I don’t think anyone cares at this point...

4. Also: shout out to VENMO!  I don’t know why I resisted it for so long! It is so convenient! 

Alright Funny Story Time! Only this could 1. happen with kids and 2. happen because everyone was in their own homes!

I have brothers who take lessons with me. They're 5th and 6th graders!  Mom’s a nurse so she is working ALOT and stepdad is in HVAC so as the seasons are transitioning he is BUSY too!  So, it is me and the boys Zooming. Me from my piano in the living room, them from their basement where there is also a wrestling mat set-up!  Piano and wrestling...pretty good combo!

Anyway the older boy (Jay--names changed obviously) does his lesson first while Day holds the iPad in his own 5th grade shake-y way.  Lord, gives me a headache after awhile.  Jay’s lesson goes fine, his attitude is fine, works hard, has practiced, goes well.  After a bit of brotherly (throw down) love, Day starts his lesson.  Jay is holding the iPad just fine, better in fact than Day, and we were progressing just fine with Day’s lesson when Jay says:

“Ummm...Miss. B, I’m gonna have to put the iPad down, I just lost a tooth!”

I just started laughing! It was such a normal thing for a teacher to have happen during any sort of instruction. I cannot tell y’all how many times during that has happened during instruction! It actually felt....right...

Little Brother Day PICKS UP THE IPAD and carries to the bathroom because I apparently needed to see Jay rinsing out his mouth in their basement bathroom...

Anyway, Day takes the iPad back to the piano and kind of works it so it can be propped up so we can continue lesson without Jay.

All of a sudden I hear Jay in the background with something in his mouth! He’s brushing his teeth. Day stops playing and turns around:

“What are you doing?”

Jay: “Brushing my teeth”

Day: “Oh...Wait....is that toothbrush purple?!?”

Jay: “Yeah...so?”

Day: “Dude, that’s my toothbrush!”

I just lost it! I was belly laughing, in a rather shrill register, so hard I about fell off my piano bench! Scared my cat out of the living room too...

NurseMom is so C-19 careful and then we have toothbrush sharing...accidental I'm sure...but still..

It was the funniest thing I have experienced in about a month! 

I love those boys! I miss them so much!

[violinpodcast]

How to turn on Music Mode in Zoom - Video

How to turn on Music Mode in Zoom – Video

In this tutorial, we take you step by step on how to get the best audio on both sides of the Zoom meeting.

Zoom has been a good platform for scheduling online meetings on a recurring basis.

But how about music lessons?

If you’re like me, a lot of musicians and educators in the world are are now teaching online.…

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[manamaddymusic]

#musictime with maddy 

I ♡ connecting people to their innate musicality as human beans in hour-long 1-on-1 sessions and customized couple & group sessions.  

GET IN TOUCH

1-ON-1 /// voice coaching • performance anxiety coaching • ukulele • piano • guitar • songcraft • music theory is fun 101  COUPLES & GROUPS /// learn an instrument together • duet/trio/group/choir harmonizing sessions • group song visionquest playshops

myPhilosophy // waxing poetic on the topic of music...

I wasn’t always addicted to the never-ending multidimensional rabbithole that is our universal language. But I am now. It’s a golden spiral from the perfectly simple to the divinely chaotic. It’s a single note in a cathedral. It’s a noisy street market. It’s a symphony of sunrise birds. A dripping faucet. We live and move in sound.

And we’re each born with a superbly versatile and beautifully-designed instrument: Our Human Voice. Our voices aren’t just instruments for expression and communication, they’re a powerful instrument of guidance, just like the Heart and the Gut. Our voices tells us so much, if we learn to notice and listen to them. When you’re nervous, or excited, or angry, or scared... what happens to your voice?

The power source of the voice is our breath. We knew how to breath and sing effortlessly when we were really young... back when we could sing and shout for hours and never get tired. By re-training our bodies to “breath themselves” (as I like to say, in broken record fashion) singing can become more and more effortless. We have this beautifully-designed system of muscles, cartilage, membranes, bones... all working to help us speak or sing. And if we give ourselves a little compassion & stay in curiosity mode of beginner mind, we can get out of the way of learning how to use this contraption with more and more ease.

I’ve been playing piano since I could reach the keys (circa 1984), ukulele since 2010, and guitar since 2013 or 1993 depending on how we’re counting, but I never did a music degree. I used to resent and regret this and the fact that I spent the better part of 6 years on an architecture degree, but manymanymany moons later I realized that learning music this way led me to hold onto my beginner’s mind, which has helped me to stay humble and keep asking questions.  I’ve been a full-time musician since 2010 and fell in love with sharing this through music coaching after I burned out half way through the umpteenth tour of about 12 years since moving to the SF Bay Area and joining the band Antioquia, the catalyst of my transition into musiclandia. Since then I’ve been blessed to travel all over the USofA, Western Europe, the Maldives, Canada, and work with artists like Fantastic Negrito and Bernard Adamus as a vocalist in the recording studio and on stage. And now I’m absolutely loving each and every 1-hr session seeing people get more and more connected to their music practice & themselves. It’s so effing fun.