Welcome, Parents and Students to the first news letter of my much ignored website.I couldn't think of a better way or time to communicate with you what with all the new and exciting software dedicated to online lessons. Texting is too limited so I hope you will enjoy this and feel free to respond.
It looks like online teaching will be with us for the unforeseeable future so I thought I'd say something on how I feel about it. First off I'll say that there are pros and cons however I think the pros far out weigh the cons. Online has increased the individual lesson time significantly by eliminating travel and setup time. We can always get in a full lesson. Also, being at home I have access to all my sound equipment and reference material. No drive time and reschedules are much easier.
On the con side I'll say that playing duets is difficult if not impossible with some computer and speaker setups. With my students who are playing duets I've been recording my part and Skyping it to them which has been okay but not like real time which brings me to the main reason I'm writing this letter.
Recently I've been working on a music app called Jamkazam which does allow you to play in real time with one or more people. So far it looks good and I'm pretty excited. Please feel free to check this out for yourself. It's free but may require buying some equipment.
Let me know what you think. I think this can be a great way to communicate that can also be a lot of fun. Creating audios and videos and our own recitals are possible.
That's all for now. See you soon.
Mike