Teaching Music Online with Zoom

[@elovesmika]

Great stuff Simon. Thanks so much!

[@rebekahd.sheerah216]

Thank you for this incredibly helpful video, Simon. You explained things so clearly and so well. And thank you to Evan Gregor for sharing this link!

[@Heather-fs7so]

This video content is amazing! Thank you for sharing this for us.

[@stephyleighgriffinmusic]

This is the most useful zoom tutorial out there for teaching guitar. (It also helps that you are completely adorable and hilarious.) I can tell you are a fabulous educator. Thanks Simon.

[@dancerscot3143]

Thanks, Sir Simon for sharing this very helpful info :) You are a blessing to all music teachers!

[@lindapott9779]

Excellent information delivered so sharply, so clearly!

[@kdfan]

Thank you, Simon! I’m going to start using Zoom with a faculty meeting tomorrow before teaching 3 classes in a week. I appreciate you taking the time!

[@amynadel9639]

This piano teacher is grateful for this video, thanks!

[@BenLougheed]

Thank you so much for putting this together Simon! It's really helpful

[@thebun]

Very helpful video! Update: Zoom has added a 'high fidelity music mode' option in the advanced audio settings.

[@donccarlos9794]

Well done, .. With regard to the quality of the audio from students and your audio to them, have you informed them about the audio settings within zoom (when operating from a desktop) : Go to settings > Audio and untick the box 'Automatically adjust microphone volume' then at bottom click 'Advanced' button> tick 'Show in-meeting option to "Enable Original Sound" from microphone. Then just below in Audio Processing Disable both the buttons for 'Suppress Persistent Background Noise and Disable 'Suppress Intermittent Background Noise. Leave Echo Cancellation on 'Auto' Doing these steps will cure the weak sounding audio of musical instruments as these settings when on are for the speaking voice, designed to as it states suppress background 'noise. During class make sure that on the top left of the class screen to keep 'Original Sound' button so that Original Sound is 'On'. Oh btw are you left handed or was part of your video in mirror mode. I am Left handed. Many thanks, Don. oh yes when operating zoom app on a phone there is a 'turn on/off original sound option in the settings but I don't think any of the other audio settings are possible to change on the zoom phone app.

[@umbachk1]

Thank you, Simon! Very informative and helpful video

[@rachelpodgeryoutube]

Thank you for all the instructions! Online teaching, here we come in the Covid-19 social-distancing months! All the best!

[@paulsp1ano]

This was an excellent video! It was well-paced and thorough. Your years of experience teaching online are evident, and thank you so much for sharing your wealth of knowledge!

[@eliteharpist]

Very helpful video Simon, thank you so much! 😽

[@galenreed3540]

Well done, and very informative and balanced. Thanks!

[@beverlywilcox4349]

The guitar demo was weird because the video image is mirror-image reversed (because you were still showing what was on your Zoom screen). At 14:30, you appear to be doing a Paul McCartney! Thanks for a great video, I learned a lot and my music history class will appreciate the improved audio quality.

[@ricksteves07]

Thank you so much, Simon! I echo the rest of the comments. This is so extremely helpful, well thought out, and every question I had was covered. 😄 Thanks again!

[@danielacinelofee]

Very nice. I find that Zoom lessons give great views and close face to face communication that will now be lacking in person with masks and distancing. I am struggling with external speakers and in general, how the speakers interface with Zoom audio settings. I would really like to find the best possible speakers to use with my laptop. Any suggestions?

[@donbaileynyc]

This is SO well done, Simon..... and so especially helpful during this time of Covid-19. Thank you.

[@granttunbridge5177]

Well done Simon.

[@leelassetter1910]

Thanks for such a friendly and concise explanation!

[@ollegrane4654]

Thanks Simon, this is really encouraging and helpful!

[@JohnMacphersonAllan]

Thank you Simon very informative I have just started teaching online because of COVID-19 I am in Sydney, Australia cheers

[@karinplato4552]

Thank you Simon for your wonderful presentation! I appreciate your articulate, thoughtful and very helpful description of how a teacher might approach online music lessons. It seems daunting but you've helped me take a few steps forward. All the best to you. Cheers!

[@barbaranelsen4143]

thank you so much! this was very informative! i have already played with lighting, and i'm anxious to get into external mics (but without breaking the bank). Thank you for the detailed examples of everything! very thorough! 5 stars!

[@lewissamm]

Thank you useful video. It could be useful to note that some devices have different screen ratios. Ipads are often 4:3 and the device zooms in so they see full screen . The sides and maybe top and bottom could be cut out. 16:9 ratio is the current standard for screens and cameras. If you have an older camera shooting in 4:3 this wouldn't be ideal.

[@charleshayes2378]

Thanks Simon, very much appreciated.

[@ดารัตน์บุญรักษา-ผ5ห]

Thanks Simon!

[@JNilsen42]

Very informative.

[@cliffguitarstudio]

Very helpful thanks so much

[@moondancemusicsydney4062]

Thanks Simon, very useful

[@yannahgustafson3792]

Awesome, especially abt lighting! Thanks.

[@BruceBaruchMorris]

Simon, you said that students won't have access to the "Original Sound" button. That isn't true. If the student downloads the Zoom desktop client (Windows or Mac), they can also enable the Original Sound button exactly as you described. To use the desktop client, I believe they will have to sign up for a free Zoom account, but that is no big deal. Otherwise this video was spot-on. Thanks.

[@karenhitchens3563]

Thank you! Very helpful suggestions. I’m curious, where is your accent from? I’m picking up a hint of Irish, French and Australia? Very pretty sounding though. 😁

[@janinemaunder3958]

Excellent. Thank you so much

[@PasqualeBianculli]

This is wonderful. Thanks so much for this video.

[@hamishmac100]

Thanks for the thoughtful and generous insights - really appreciate it. One quick question re:- virtual backgrounds - I'm finding that my guitar neck and /or parts of my arm literally drop out when trying to use a virtual background ! Not a good look. My lighting is fine and I've experimented with different lighting levels and angles. Do you know of this happening to others ?

[@BruceBaruchMorris]

To make that work reliably, you will need a green screen background.

[@hamishmac100]

@@BruceBaruchMorris Cheers Bruce - good to know

[@3DMVis]

Thanks Simon, I noticed the mirroring of the image in different sections of the video. Are you doig this with the camera function or a Zoom feature?

[@theonlinemusicteacher]

I think this was an unusual effect created by recording my screen while recording with another program!

[@BruceBaruchMorris]

This occurs because Zoom gives you a mirror image of yourself by default (and is easily changed). When Simon is doing a screen capture of just his camera, right-left orientation is "normal." When Simon is illustrating the Zoom interface and capturing the Zoom window, then the mirror image is what we see also, and is "backwards."

[@piggies.254]

Thank you SO much Simon for such a great video, so helpful at this time when I am setting up my pupils with online lessons :-)

Excellent !! usefull and you go direct into the subject !! In zoom tutorials, nobody is speaking about the light and the micros sounds ! you're right !! I'm clarinet teacher and started using zoom since two weeks with my students at home ! super ! ;-) JUST one question ? is thre no shortcuts to switch beetween two or more webcam? Ciaoooo , best regards from Colmar, FR..JF

[@JulianLambert]

Yes, Shift + Cmd + N on a Mac.

[@victoriavonarx4632]

Thank you. Excellent and very helpful.

[@sritej2156]

Great video 👍👍. I have a question, can I connect the audio interface with mic and guitar to my android mobile phone to take live skype classes? (I don't have a laptop) plz help.

[@PatrickDieterKlavier]

Great. Wonderful instruction.

[@syc3297]

Thank you so much. 😊

[@ThomasVammenJensen]

I hope you can help my with an sound issue I got. I got two Full HD webcams so I can change angel back an forth but for some reason the sound is completely ruined. I hear my students fine but all they hear is robotic noise and my voice is really low. When I disconnect the cameras and only use the one in my computer the sound is fine. How can I fix this?

[@Ivan.Nikolic]

I have been doing online music teaching during the COVID -19 pandemy, in music school and now it's summer break, and I am looking for some music teacher sites where I can share my music knowledge. Anyone knows any good sites for it?

[@kingbritt5544]

Fantastic. Appreciate you.

[@kenhiebert]

Thanks for sharing this, Simon. I've been doing this for a couple weeks and I'm starting to find my "groove" a little bit now. I'm already doing some of what you mentioned. Still, I've found this to be very helpful. I've also realized how wonderful it is to be using my own materials that come straight off Guitar Pro since they're super easy to use with the Share Screen function. Normally I tend to do four or five lessons back to back, but I've found that in this format I need to have a maximum of two and then a half hour in between. Do you do that as well?

[@katethemate1]

What mic are you using ?

[@ThePhotomusicguy]

Very useful, thanks so much!

[@davidsanderson5918]

I'm confused also about using headphones to prevent the echo effect. Neither myself or my pupils are using external microphones, just the one on the device. If I put headphones into my device am I not simply hearing the same output as the device speaker so I'll still just hear my voice coming back anyway from their end?

[@mackenziereed2271]

Thank you! This is incredibly helpful.

[@alikang9453]

So helpful. Thank you so much!

[@NelsonRiverosMusic]

Hello Simon, that is the microphone you are using that I see there?...thank you

[@laurawinzen7386]

I'd like to know too, please!

[@NelsonRiverosMusic]

Laura Winzen Yes whats it called?

[@davidsanderson5918]

I appreciate the advice but straight away I have an issue. A piano lesson since time began has always been a meeting where the two participants ie. teacher and pupil, play their instrument and talk interchangeably for the duration. That is the joy of teaching and learning. If a pupil films a clip for KZbin then I provide feedback on it during the lesson that doesn't ultimately help us with the joyous and regular core activity of a music lesson where the interweaving of playing/talking/playing/talking is the natural fabric of a pupil's weekly lesson. This is not a complaint. Just sharing a point. I've stopped the clip in mid-flow to type this. Now I'm going to continue because my real concern is about the audio settings and the frustratinh dilemma over "enabling original sound" or "disabling original sound". I'm only having rehearsals with pupils at the moment for this having been a piano teacher for twenty-six years and not used conferencing apps to teach. It seems to me that, we enable original sound for a smoother reproduction of sound quality for the instrument BUT we then have thr awkward echo/cutout/feedback issues with speech which Zoom initially had a default setting applied to help us avoid. Meanwhile if we disable original sound, speech is better but of course the music ain't! It's driving me NUTS. I'm also getting confused about whether or not if the person playing should have original sound ON while the person listening and likely to be talking should have theirs OFF.......OR we both change our settings. At the moment, before embarking upon teaching properly with this and having had a dress rehearsal with one pupil, I'm considering keeping the original sound disabled so we can TALK and just accept that the sound of the piano is going to be awful. My brain "corrects" it somehow if there's a sonic issue. After all, communication is surely more important in a lesson than the sound of the piano? I could do with some help.

[@arunprakash5130]

how to manage students in a group class for piano with zoom? please help me

[@allanspencer8291]

Wonderful video Simon. Thank you! I've just signed up for the free version of Zoom. Do you know if this free version has the "Turn on original sound" option, or is this feature only available in the paid versions of Zoom?

[@ksarkey]

Yes, it is also in the free version, as are most all other features except there is a limitation of 40 minutes meeting duration if more than between two people.

[@mchellemchelle9120]

Can you do online singing lessons I am from Boston ma area looking around Michelle wood

[@ksarkey]

Yes; just can't sing duets, etc. together because of latency (delay). Send an accompaniment recording (warm-ups, pieces) ahead of time, for them to sing with while you listen and then comment after they pause. Give it a trial run with someone you know.

[@krishnakaushal11]

How can i contact u sir

[@laurabernay]

Simón i have my students all using Original Sound from their end as well. They just change to that in their settings. So are you saying that it doesn’t actually work? Because they all tell me their screen tells them it is on.

[@SimonPowis]

Hi Laura, since making this video several things have changed and one of them is to do with the original sound. So yes, everyone can turn it on now.

[@juliantardo1898]

Thanks so much for this, extremely helpful

[@pinio95]

zoom sound quality is not as good as youtube live streaming

[@davidatai8690]

I'm trying to get audio from my DAW application, to play through zoom. I've followed every tutorial I could find but I'm running into issues with the output levels (in audio settings). Zoom is not letting me adjust the fader. It keeps reseting itself to zero. Do you have any ideas around this? Edit: I should also mention that I'm using an audio interface.

[@ksarkey]

Mine does that too; I'm using a Midas M32 and it worked fine during a recording session with an out-of-state-song writer/producer connected in via Zoom. Live sax player was here in my studio. I also am using a Behringer UMC 1820 audio interface in my wife's music teaching studio. What problems are you having David?

[@davidatai8690]

@@ksarkey I managed to get it sorted. If you're using the app, you'll need to change the audio settings in Zoom (Speaker & Microphone) to your interface. In your DAW app, you need to just your core audio driver, over to ZoomAudioDevice. Then, when you're in a meeting, click on share (at the bottom of the video screen), then click on advanced (middle option at the top of the share menu screen) then click on "Music or Computer Sound Only". In the "Basic" settings (Share Menu), you can click on "Share computer sound" (Bottom left) There may be a more simple way to do all of that, but I'm fairly new to Zoom, so I wouldn't know. The other alternative (if your game lol) is to use 2 interfaces. Mic and anything else goes into interface 1 (this will be "Speaker" in Zoom) 2nd interface will be Mic. Wiring the outputs from Interface 1, into number 2. This, anything that goes into it (including mic, daw, instruments etc) will go out to stream.

[@Alastair6]

Thanks! Subbed.