The pandemic has certainly changed a lot about teaching, and especially teaching music. As a teacher who has had to switch back and forth between in-person and online teaching, I’ve had to be creative and find ways to adapt. One of the most difficult challenges for music teachers has been trying to find ways to teach a performing ensemble virtually. How can you possibly rehearse an ensemble over a Zoom call? The short answer is that you can’t – at least not in the same way that you would in person. Once you accept the fact that it isn’t going to be the same, however, there is a whole world of opportunities that opens up. The basic elements of an effective rehearsal can apply to any rehearsal, whether in person or virtually. We just have to be a little creative to make it work.
Elements of an Effective Rehearsal
Communication: Communication is key for any sort of collaborative effort. In an effective rehearsal, the conductor communicates to the players what they need to do to improve. Ensemble members get bowings, fingerings, style markings, and other performance tips from the conductor and other players in the ensemble.
In a virtual ensemble, clear, concise communication is vital for success. The conductor needs to have a vision of what should happen in the music and communicate that to the ensemble as clearly as possible. In addition, students need to be able to communicate with each other and with the conductor when something isn’t clear or when they have questions or concerns. In my own ensembles, I’ve accomplished this with breakout rooms in our Zoom calls where sections can discuss the music together. I’ve also used written check-in assignments, where the students tell me what they are struggling with so I can address those issues.
Clearly communicating expectations for behavior is important for any effective rehearsal, but even more so in a virtual rehearsal. Online learning is new for most of us and most of us don’t intuitively know how to interact on a video chat, especially in a rehearsal setting. If you tell the students what you expect them to do and how to do it, they will be much more likely to engage in the rehearsal. Simple things like telling them how they should participate in a discussion or how and when to ask a question can make a huge difference in how effective your rehearsals are.
Practice: Much of the time in our in-person rehearsals is dedicated to simply practicing the music. We start at a certain measure and practice some aspect of the music and then move on to the next section to practice more. This is the part of the rehearsal that at first may seem the hardest to replicate virtually. After all, we can’t play together online.
While it is true that we can’t practice a lot of ensemble skills in an online setting, most practice should be done individually anyway. No matter how big the ensemble, music ultimately comes down to individual performance. Students just need guidance on what to practice. In my own virtual rehearsals, I give my students time to practice individually while on the Zoom call. We talk about the part of the piece I want them to work on and I give them specific guidance on what to practice, then I immediately give them time to practice it. That way I can then listen to individual students play it and give them more feedback or they can ask questions if they run into trouble with it.
Feedback: In an in-person rehearsal, the conductor can listen to the ensemble play and give feedback in real time. That cycle of direction, practice, and feedback is what makes a rehearsal effective. The better the feedback cycle, the better the rehearsal. In a virtual rehearsal, the feedback cycle necessarily takes longer. You can’t listen to everyone together in real time and deliver immediate feedback, but that doesn’t mean you can’t give good feedback in a timely manner.
Whether in person or online, feedback is most effective when it is specific and individualized. Students need and want feedback that is specific to them. Generalizations are not usually effective. In an online rehearsal, you can’t have everyone play together, but you can have students play individually. In that sense, virtual rehearsals might even be better than in-person ensemble rehearsals because there is a greater sense of individual accountability. Players can’t hide in the ensemble.
With my ensembles, I’ve had my students record themselves playing sections of the music in between rehearsals. Then during our rehearsal, I have them discuss the recordings in their sections and together as a class. That way I’m not the only one giving the students feedback. They are able to critique their own performance and give themselves feedback. While the feedback cycle takes longer, the students are more engaged and involved in the process and ultimately take more ownership.
In a virtual ensemble, the responsibilities of the teacher and the students have to be a little different than they would in an in-person ensemble. The teacher has to do more preparation in advance to make the best use of the time together with the ensemble. The students have to take more individual responsibility and be more proactive in communicating their needs to the teacher. While it takes time to develop those skills and learn how to best balance those responsibilities, the results are well-worth the effort.
This pandemic has taught me to treat every in-person rehearsal I have with my students as a gift. There is no substitute for the magic that happens when a group of individual players are able to come together in the same room and create music. I’ve also found, however, that virtual rehearsals are not wasted time. In fact, there are skills that we can learn from virtual rehearsals that can make our in-person rehearsals even more effective. It just takes a little creativity and thoughtful innovation.