Online Lessons

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Online Lessons - Getting Started

To be carried out at least one day before your first lesson

Receive a Zoom invitation email. This will include the date and time of your lesson. Please save this email for future reference as you can use the enclosed link to join future lessons.
In the email, click on the ‘Join Zoom Meeting’ link.
If it’s not already installed, you will be prompted to download and run the Zoom application. Please make sure Zoom is also installed on the device that you will be using for lessons. (the free version of Zoom is fine for our purposes)
Enter your name and details as requested.

Once you have completed the above, you will be ready to ‘zoom’ on your lesson day.

Zoom can also be downloaded on the following link: https://zoom.us/

Scroll down for examples of good/bad camera setups and online lesson accessories!

On the day of your lesson

Please be set up and ready to ‘zoom’ 5 minutes prior to your lesson.
One minute before your lesson time, please click on the ‘Join Zoom Meeting’ link. The password is ‘piano’. If I am still in another lesson, a box will appear with the following text: ‘Waiting for the host to start the meeting’.
When prompted to join the meeting, please do so, clicking both 'join with video' and 'join with computer audio'.
Begin piano lesson!

To use Zoom you will need:

A laptop, computer, tablet or smartphone with a webcam. (most modern devices have these built in)
If the video camera on your device is not great, you may benefit from purchasing a separate webcam. (please see recommendations below)
A microphone, either built in to your device or in the webcam (most modern computers, smartphones and tablets have this built in)
A sturdy broadband internet connection. An ethernet cable is recommended if you are far from the router, espeically in a house with many rooms and thick walls (please see accessories below)
The Zoom client installed on your machine. (Zoom has clients for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android.)

Here are some examples of good and bad camera setups. It doesn't really matter which side of the piano your camera is set up on, as long as the face and fingers can be seen. As my students know, I am very fussy about the use of logical fingering - I must have a good view to watch out for mistakes!

Useful accessories for online lessons can be found below - pease click on images to purchase.

The Logitech C270 HD Webcam is ideal for those on a budget

Features include Widescreen, HD video-calling and a built-in noise reducing mic.

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Logitech C920 HD Pro Webcam

FULL hd, 1080p

Crisp video quality with automatic HD autofocus and other useful features.

To improve the quality of your wi-fi connection:

An ethernet cable such as this will improve the quality and consitency of your wi-fi connection. If your piano is far away from the router, this may be a good solution. Cables come in varying lengths - this one is 30m and it's also available in other lengths.

Blue Snowball Mic

This is a very capable, cost effective mic with a stylish design.

Blue Yeti Microphone

Great sound quality and many useful features make this microphone an excellent choice.

This phone holder is very useful if you have a shelf, table or chair to attach to near the piano. Even larger phones can be attached as this particular holder is pretty robust. It can also be tilted to any angle and is great for recording too!

This holder serves the same purpose, only it's more suitable for tablets.