Music Monday - COVID 19

Well what a fortnight it has been. As the Covid-19 pandemic escalates, schools have closed across Australia and higher levels of social distancing brought into force across the country. Stores have lines and markers on the floor to indicate where the customers can move and stand.  All of society is impacted. When I visited a music store last week the entrance was secured until the staff member had asked me the reason for my visit. 

And in the midst of this, music teachers at primary, secondary and tertiary levels are on a very steep learning curve as they try to figure out ways of teaching their classes, individual instrumental and vocal lessons, vocational courses and everything else in between.

One of my primary music specialist friends shared that she had taken all day to figure out a plan for online pre-primary music learning – in a school where a number of families do not have access to internet at home.

My singing teaching colleagues are finding that the lag on platforms such as Zoom, Webex, Facetime etc means that the standard practice of playing warmups and song accompaniments live while the student sings simply doesn’t work anymore. (It seems that instrumental teachers have more success where they are less reliant on an accompanying instrument.)

My teacher friends who are also parents of school-aged children now find themselves juggling music lessons online with their own kids’ schoolwork.

There is also a real risk of a further social divide during these times – students of more affluent parents being more likely to have greater access to online resources while at the other end there will be students who slip through the net.

Here at StagePage we are committed to bringing you a weekly update on what we have learned and sharing any resources we think might help during the pandemic.

We welcome your contributions too- either through the comments section below or by email or private message. We will always acknowledge you.

Many musicians and music teachers have lost all or part of their income. Let’s look out for their presence online and support it where appropriate.

We look forward to hearing from you. 

Stay safe and well – and keep making music.