Online Musical Instrument and Vocal Lessons

Marcus Daniel

University of Maryland
 Online Musical Instrument and Vocal Lessons 2

Introduction

The increasingly technological driven world has caused enormous changes in the

methods and possibilities of distance education. Over the decades, there have been changes in

medium of delivery: from the post office, to radio, television, VHS tape, DVD, and now through

the internet. (Dammers, 2009) They are many discussions regarding technology use among

education and government authorities. Computer technology and videoconferencing software,

the transition from the industrial age to the information age and now the digital age, and social

shifts in multimedia collaboration are factors that are influencing change. This inevitable

ongoing change is affecting all education, including music education. (Crawford, 2017)

Music subjects such as music history, music appreciation and music theory are relatively

simple to learn through online distance learning. (Steels, 2015) Instrument or vocal lessons have

to be individually catered and they can be in synchronous or asynchronous video forms. Through

videoconferencing, synchronous lessons can occur. Videoconferencing has been utilized by

many private and institutional instructors over the years. Websites have designed their own

proprietary software with cameras and audio microphones that instructors and students who sign

up with them can use. Generic standardized software such as skype, google duo (formerly google

hangouts) and facetime are also extensively used often with just the inbuilt mic and camera of a

laptop or tablet. (Dumlavwalla, 2017) (Riley et al., 2016)

Formal, Synchronous Online Lessons

While innovative instructors have been trying to use video conferencing ever since the

possibility. The literature indicates that academia has been more reluctant to embrace this.

(Brändström et al., 2012) (Crawford, 2017) The biggest reason is the impersonal nature of the

lessons. When email began to be begrudgingly used within corporates, some protested their
 Online Musical Instrument and Vocal Lessons 3

impersonal nature. Today communication without email cannot be imagined; (Damon &

Rockinson-Szapkiw, 2018) So also, the transition could occur for private music lessons.

Issues that impact formal, synchronous online lessons are low internet speed, limited

view and angles via a monitor, poor audio quality and latency. Latency refers to the time lapse,

particular in audio transmission, and is usually less than a second. Internet speed mainly depends

on two factors, geographic location of both student and teacher, and how far back in time the

lessons are given. This is turn affect video resolution, audio quality and latency. The literature

indicates that internet speeds have been adequate in about the last five years, since circa 2014, in

which both teacher and student were in the developed world. Even the latest articles report that

latency has never been altogether eliminated. (Crawford, 2017)

MIDI

For piano or keyboard online lessons, using MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface)

technology, latency could be reduced, and the audio quality greatly improved. This could be the

reason that until 2014, there appears to be more literature on online piano and keyboard lessons,

than in all other instruments combined. (Parkes & Comeau 2015) (Pike & Shoemaker 2015). In a

nutshell, this is how MIDI works: From digital pianos, through their USB port, they transmit

digital binary data such as what notes are played, their starting and ending points and their

velocity. There is no actual audio being transmitted so there is hardly any bandwidth

consumption. The sound is triggered at the receiving end through another digital piano,

electronic keyboard, or computer. (Pike, 2017)

In fact, if both student and teacher have a Yamaha Disklavier, which is an acoustic piano

which has MIDI capabilities, one piano triggers the sound in the other piano. Every nuance is

identically replicated.
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While the Disklavier is an acoustic piano, it is hybrid in the sense that when two

pianos are connected over the internet, MIDI sensors capture details of pedal

depression, key stroke, and velocity when one instrument is played and sends

these to the remote piano so that its keys and pedals are depressed with the same

weight and speed. Thus, when the instrument is played the sound emanates from

the piano at each location, rather than through the web-conferencing system.

(Pike, 2017)

At both ends is the natural acoustic piano's vibrating strings. Latency is eliminated in the piano

sound but not in the talking; The instructor still cannot talk while the student is playing and will

need to wait for a pause. Moreover, Disklaviers are not affordable to most students and teachers.

Faster internet still is a better solution.

Articles Selection Criteria

Researchers have been documenting their formal online synchronous instrument and

vocal lessons. Four articles are selected for a closer examination. Technical issues pertaining to

slow internet occupy a larger percentage of the content of earlier articles. Newer articles are

preferred. The main basis for selection is in whether or not the lessons are deemed viable and

effective in terms of student progress. There is a deliberate limit of piano teaching articles to two,

or half of the total, as it is the overwhelming majority in available literature. Also, due to the

subtleties of the voice, at least one article on vocal lessons had to be included. All the online

lessons were formal, synchronous and mostly followed a regular weekly schedule.
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The Articles

1. Online Piano Lessons: A Teacher's Journey into An Emerging 21st-Century Virtual

Teaching Environment (Pike & Shoemaker, 2015).

In this narrative single-case study, co-authored by the student herself, there are some

finer details that studies with a large number of participants may not be able to include. Hence,

the preference for this particular article.

One additional difference between case studies and other types of research is that

your case study can itself be a significant communication device. For many

nonspecialists, exposure to a cogent and compelling single-case study can raise

awareness, provide insight, or even suggest solutions to a given situation. Such a

case study may be enhanced by simple but appealing nontextual materials, such as

vignettes, pictures, and graphics. all this information can help others to understand

a phenomenon when a dense or abstract array of statistics - no matter how

compelling to a research audience - cannot do the trick. (Yin, 2017)

In this study, the student, Isabelle Shoemaker, started as a complete beginner in piano,

although she had a background in violin and singing in chorus. The lessons were for a period of

three years. In less than a year, having made rapid progress, she upgraded to a Disklavier as

recommended by her teacher.

The lessons were conducted between Louisiana and Minnesota and the internet

connection was good. There were only a handful of times that internet slow down caused a

disruption in the lessons. The student had no trouble using the technology. They never met in

person though Pike knew Isabelle's mother and they would meet at Music Educator conferences.
 Online Musical Instrument and Vocal Lessons 6

Isabelle's mother, Kristin Shoemaker, had taught students in rural Zambia from her home in

Minnesota (Shoemaker & Stam, 2010); Therefore, there was good parental support for the online

method of learning. Isabelle even played at the Pike's students' recitals, held in Louisiana, by

being projected on the screen in real time.

Through sections written by both instructor and student, excitement and joy emanate.

There is a poignant photograph included where the student is seated at her piano and the

instructor is looking at her through a laptop positioned on a stand to the left of the piano. The

teacher is also seated by a piano and is looking at the student as she is playing. From their

descriptions, and the section titled "Forging ahead ... together", it appears to have been a

successful venture.

2. Transitioning from Traditional To Online Piano Lessons: Perceptions Of Students, Parents

And Teacher (Dumlavwalla, 2017)

This is an exploratory study, where a piano teacher chose five of her existing in-person

young piano students to continue the lessons online from their homes. They all had been her

students for at least three years. In this project, each student was given 15 online lessons over a

course of about five months. Before and after the five-month period, there were interviews with

the parents and the children. During the course of the lessons, surveys were given out. The

lessons were also video recorded by the instructor. This study is selected for review as it is the

same students and teacher for the both the situations; in-person and online. This makes for

helpful comparison.

Although students felt that the lack of physical presence made the lessons impersonal,

having personally known her for a few years seems to have reduced this social barrier somewhat;

They still felt the difference. The lack of touch was frequently mentioned and was noted by both
 Online Musical Instrument and Vocal Lessons 7

teacher and students. Positioning of arms and elbows were formerly manipulated by the teacher.

Now she had to rely more on verbal explanation. There was a little bit of latency in speech, she

could not count, play or sing along while the students is playing. When, at the end of the fifteen

lessons, they physically gather in the teaching studio for a masterclass, the teacher could pick out

and correct issues of tone that she had not been able to distinguish online.

The final conclusion is "Throughout the 15 weeks of lessons, all five students made

significant. progress". The lessons were successful for all students.

3. Student and Instructor Behaviors in Online Music Lessons: An Exploratory Study

(Dye, 2016)

In an age of frequent upgradation of computer hardware and software, as well as

increasing internet speeds, a more recent article bears examining. In this study three music

education university undergrads teach their particular wind instrument online to two students

each; therefore, there are six students in total. The instruments were trumpet, clarinet and

saxophone. The saxophone teacher had taught the students in-person previously, but for the other

teachers, they were new students.

30-minute lessons were given over an eight-week period. While the brief time span may

be too brief in determining student progress, there was extensive data collection on instructor and

student behavior, listed in three different tables, through which effectiveness of the lessons could

be measured. All the lessons were video and audio recorded and the audio was transcribed and

coding was done similar to the criteria of a preexisting model. (Siebenaler, 1997) For the teacher,

the categories were clap/sing, play, general directive, specific directive, questions, music talk,

off-task technical difficulty (in communication). For the student the categories were clap/sing,

play, questions, music talk, off-task, technical difficulty (in communication). The study was
 Online Musical Instrument and Vocal Lessons 8

designed to place the responsibility on the instructor for successful learning. Overall, higher

"demonstration" by the instructors such as clapping, singing and playing brought about better

results than talking. It is deemed that "participants' behavior fulfilled expectations of learning".

The data represented various correlations between teacher methods and student engagement,

with each student having a different level of success.

One puzzling condition, for which no explanation was given, is the deliberate lowering of

internet speed, of which the number of bytes per second are not specified. The comment is made

that "any consistent enhancement in the available bandwidth and transmission of data speeds

would have served to enhance the lesson experiences of all participants". It is unclear as to what

is being simulated by slower internet, or the intention. Due to the impersonal nature of the

lessons and to technical issues, the author concludes with a pessimistic view on online lessons.

4. Online and Face-To-Face Voice Instruction: Effects on Pitch Accuracy Improvement In

Female Voice Majors. (Damon & Rockinson-Szapkiw, 2018).

It is important to consider vocal lessons online as there are unique aspects compared with

instrument lessons. Nuances and finer details and shades of tone are important for instruments

and it is likewise for singing. However, for singers, the vocal apparatus is the singers own

physical organs, muscles and tissues. How each part of the apparatus is used determines the tone,

and it is important for an instructor to hear very clearly. Instruments as they are made of

manufactured parts that do not have life of their own. The tonal and timbral variation

possibilities in the human voice is far greater, even in speech, and so much more in singing.

(Titze, 2018)
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Secondly, for the same reason regarding the singing apparatus, there is a greater

discomfort level in private voice lessons. While all articles agree that online lessons are

impersonal, this impersonal aspect could affect singing lessons to a greater extent.

The singer is exposed and vulnerable, as the vocal instrument is a part of the

internal self; and therefore, extremely personal to the singer. For example, if a

trumpet player is out of tune, the player may be instructed to adjust the

mouthpiece, have the tuning slide shortened, or check the valve for leaks. This

instruction pertains to changes that need to be made to an instrument held in the

hands of the student. However, instruction for the singer, focuses on the changes

that need to be made inside of the student personally via laryngeal position, soft

palate height, or rounded lips. Thus, when a singer is singing out of tune,

correction is usually stated as “You are out of tune”, not “Your voice is out of

tune”. Therefore, the relationship necessary for the singer to be vulnerable

must be one of deep trust that facilitates a level of comfort to try new things, to

fail, and to try again. Success in the vocal studio, then, requires a relationship with

perhaps a higher level of trust than with other music courses. It is thus

understandable as to why there is some concern about the potential

absence of the personal relationship between teacher and student.

With the intricacies that come with singing lessons online, if they can be successful, there is no

reason why instrument lessons cannot be successful.

Of the four featured studies, this has the highest validity for being the most recent, most

objective, most empirical, having the highest number of participants, and having a concurrent

comparison scenario. There are 78 female voice majors at a university, 37 are given online
 Online Musical Instrument and Vocal Lessons 10

lessons and 41 are given face-to-face lessons. Each student is individually given the same

content and training methods by their voice professors, whether online or directly, across the

span of a 16-week semester.

Pitch accuracy is decided as the sole measure of improvement and success in each voice

student. This is based on several voice experts and studies that consider pitch precision as

paramount to any other attribute necessary to determine a voice as pleasing. During one of the

last lessons of the semester, Sing and See software is used in the room for face-to-face students,

and the same software through the internet for online students. The students were to listen to a

particular pitch and sing it back. The results are the same for students of both delivery methods

and the authors conclude that online voice training is just as effective as traditional face-to-face

voice training. The strongly believe that there is future in online lessons even at university level

and also lament the fact that universities are wary of transitioning to online. There is future scope

for more research in this area, measuring more facet's than only pitch accuracy.

Students in Undeveloped Regions

One advantage of online lessons is that the instructor and student can be anywhere in the

world. Places where there is a lack of trained instructors should be able to benefit from places

where there is high teacher knowledge and skill. While this is ideal, the literature seems to

indicate that at least in the present, it is otherwise.

In the lessons from Minnesota to the remote village of Macha in Zambia, the

author/instructor bemoans the slowness of the internet, an eighth, of the speed at her end. There

had to be compensation using asynchronous video submissions by the instructor. She does not

consider the project to be successful. (Shoemaker & Stam, 2010)

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Jazz guitar lessons from the Swedish University's department of music in Piteå were

taught to three students in Gällivare, a little Swedish hamlet North of the Arctic Circle where

there is not a single music teacher. There are interruptions in the lessons due to inconsistent

internet. There is compensation by asynchronous video submissions by the instructor and the use

of cell phones sometimes, for better verbal clarity. There was a moderate amount of success and

some learning could take place in spite of some periods of confusion and miscommunication.

(Brändström et al., 2012).

In the Canadian four-year Innuit keyboard project, the lessons were taught from Ottawa,

Ontario to Kangiqsualujjuaq in Northern Quebec where there are less than 1000 people. Internet

was only through satellite and was slow; at one point it failed for six months. MIDI was used.

Music learning was slightly successful, owing more to the large time span of four years than any

other reason. (Parkes & Comeau, 2015).

From the three mentioned items of literature, the conditions that create a dearth of music

educators are: isolation, underdevelopment, lack of resources and/or poor infrastructure. It is in

these same conditions that internet speed is not fast enough for synchronous online instrument or

vocal lessons. Three cases may be too few to make a general statement; they indicate a likely

scenario, that in undeveloped regions students may not be able to benefit as much from online

lessons as in developed regions.

Conclusion

The main factor for successful teaching and learning in private studio and voice lessons is

good internet speeds at both ends. This ensures good audio and video quality. Disklavier’s and

MIDI are great for audio quality, but it does not help instruments other than piano or keyboard.

So, the common solution of fast internet is what is needed. Even the fastest internet speeds today
 Online Musical Instrument and Vocal Lessons 12

do not overcome latency. Clapping and singing along, and simultaneous talking while the student

is playing cannot occur. Adaptation will need to be innovated, perhaps through technology itself.

The impersonal nature of online lessons is not ideal, but this does not affect progress.

While piano teachers and some students missed the ability to touch, again, extra verbal

explanation will be required. In the United Kingdom the touching of pupils can be an offence,

and this "no touch policy" may be gaining support in some regions of the British Commonwealth

and Europe. (Piper & Smith, 2003) Therefore, online instructors in some areas can be safe from

allegations, or even accidently touching, and not being able to touch would not be a drawback.

In the future, as long as internet speeds worldwide keep increasing, and costs keep decreasing,

(Crawford, 2017) online instrument and vocal instruction is likely to replace in-person lessons

more and more. Online lessons are certainly viable; learning can take place and progress can be

made.
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