At the cue of a SKYPE musical trademark ring, I tapped the green-colored phone icon and brought an eight-year old, her dad, and a grand piano into view.
A second virtual lesson beamed between California and Oregon officially began!
Featured composition: Chopin’s Waltz in A minor, no. 17, Op. Posthumous.
This time I aimed my camcorder at the iMac screen and kept it there throughout the lesson.
In a pleasant state of satisfaction with this mode of transmission, I continued to believe that improvements in a student’s playing could be made over SKYPE. As proof, right before my eyes I watched an 8-year old phrase more beautifully with a desired singing tone as compared to her first playing that was transmitted by private video.
In the pre-Skype phase of our teacher-student relationship, dad set up a two-way video sharing channel and this provided an opportunity to have the raw playing sample before any teaching occurred and to zero in on what needed improvement.
This preliminary video exchange process was a vital supplement to the real-time Skyped lessons when they were scheduled because it allowed the student to revisit my remedial videos as many times as needed, and likewise, I could follow her progress between Skypes as she incorporated my suggestions into her playing. Dad uploaded additional practice sessions that I could comment on.
Each Skyped piano lesson that followed video sharing provided reinforcement of points already made.
Here is a sample of today’s virtual lesson in progress:
RELATED:
Chopin Waltz in A minor No. 17, Op. Posthumous, with Aiden Cat sitting beside me on the piano bench:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5MLPxKFl2c
https://arioso7.wordpress.com/2011/07/13/my-first-skyped-piano-lesson-from-california-to-oregon/
https://arioso7.wordpress.com/2011/07/11/long-distance-piano-teaching-a-novel-experience/
Arioso7's Blog (Shirley Kirsten) 
Distance lesson can be effective probably because your teaching is very effective.
Private youtube and skype combined seem to be the best tool for piano distance learning.
Thanks for sharing..
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Thanks for sharing. I agree. Combined Skyping and video exchanges make distance learning feasible.
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Hey excellent ideas about learning music online. I really appreciate the candid though. It seems like a great way to augment your lessons by having video lessons as well.
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Thanks for your comments. I’m glad I can reach people who can’t always locate teachers in their area.
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