by Malcolm Moore
I’m an elementary school music teacher (TK-4 th Grade) at a charter school in Hollywood, CA. Like everyone else on the planet during the COVID-19 crisis, I’ve had to adapt to everything from social distancing to working from home. My wife, Christine (test engineer), has set up her office in the living room, and I have set up a virtual classroom in what used to be our kids’ bedroom. We are both tremendously thankful to still have our jobs and our health.
One of the most significant challenges for me regarding this unpredictable time has been learning so many online teaching platforms. As of right now, here are just some of the ways I have continued to teach on the internet:
SeeSaw This is where I post my lesson plans for class.
Padlet This is where I post my resources for students.
Zoom This is where our school teaches online classes live, in person.
Google Spreadsheets and Calendar This is where our school organizes schedules and classes.
This seems pretty simple and straightforward, but there has been a steep learning curve, much trial and error, and many unexpected hurdles to overcome. Over the past month, all educators have been scrambling to get their curriculum up online as soon as possible. Most of my friends who are teachers are doing a very similar approach, whether they are in public, charter, or private schools; each with their own unique obstacles along the way.
One of my biggest frustrations with teaching online is latency due to varied internet speeds and physical distance between participants. There is a serious time delay issue when communicating with others online via video. Teaching a class or a private lesson is already quite complex, but playing music or singing with other people is nearly impossible. If everyone has their laptop/tablet/phone speakers on simultaneously, it causes distortion, feedback, and echoes. When I teach one on one private drum lessons on FaceTime with my iPhone, I can compensate with a call and response approach. When I teach a class of 22-66 students at one time, I can have them all on mute when we sing and play as they join together and sing along at home.
I work with a lot of small groups and ensembles, and so far, figuring out how we can jam together in real time has been a complete disaster. For the time being, most of us use an app called Acapella that allows multi-track recording with video, but even that comes with its own limitations. First of all, Acapella is only for iPhones and iPads. This leaves out a significant portion of the population as well as preventing students with different cell phones, such as Android, from collaborating. In addition to that, Acapella songs are pre- recorded one track at a time, so it’s definitely not live.
Many parents, staff members, and school admin tell me on a constant basis that they see people playing live on TV and internet often, like the recent COVID-19 fundraiser with Billie Eilish, Mariah Carey, and Elton John. What they do not understand is that these special events are accomplished by multifarious efforts including; multiple click tracks that are synced-up, expensive mixers, and engineers that correct the latency in real time.
A recent article at Sweetwater.com summed it up best: “The biggest technological struggle to overcome during a real-time internet jam session is latency, which is the time delay it takes to move data from one place (or musician) to another. It doesn’t matter how fast your connection is, latency is still going to be an issue — it’s a matter of physics. Any time you send data from one location to another location and then back again, there’s going to be a delay. The best way to decrease the latency impact is to maximize your internet connection.” https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/online-band-practices-possible/
There are a couple of websites and apps that claim to provide a correction to latency issues, such as Jamkazam, but these often require specific additional equipment that many young students don’t have or understand how they work. Due to the complexity of their infrastructure and lack of users, they have become inactive and/or have alienated who needs it most; young students. My hope is that, especially due to this current world crisis, engineers who develop this sort of software and app will be inspired to invent something simple, practical, and user friendly that anyone can purchase affordably and comprehend easily. There are a lot of hopeful steps forward already in motion, including Ableton Link, where people who create electronic music can collaborate in real time- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99wZ9C0Dacs
Two of my favorite artists recently commented on the importance of human contact within the context of music. It’s wonderful to make music by yourself, but creating with others invites a whole other dimension.
“Music resonates in so many parts of the brain that we can’t conceive of it being an isolated thing. It’s whom you were with, how old you were, and what was happening that day.” -David Byrne, How Music Works (2012)
“I believe in singing. I believe in singing together. I believe that singing is the key to long life, a good figure, a stable temperament, increased intelligence, new friends, super self-confidence, and a better sense of humor. A recent long-term study conducted in Scandinavia sought to discover which activities related to a healthy and happy later life. Three stood out: camping, dancing and singing.” -Brian Eno, NPR (2008) https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97320958
As an elementary music school teacher, the main focus of my job is the physicality of singing, playing, and dancing with my students. It’s all about personal interaction. If this COVID-19 state of emergency keeps us all from congregating much longer (which it just might very well do), it is imperative that we develop technology that allows us to connect in real time as soon as possible.
If you have ideas to share regarding this, please feel free to contact me at- mmrhythmfactory@gmail.com
