Finding the Rhythm Online
Life is filled with rhythm. We find the rhythm in
not just music, but in our work, play, and family
routines. Teachers find the rhythm in teaching
to the different learning styles of each of our students.
Students find the rhythm of what their teachers and
parents expect of them. Parents find the rhythm that makes
it all work. We have
learned these rhythms
i n c l a s s r o o m s ,
t e a c h i n g s t u d i o s ,
and in the homes of
our students. Most
importantly, we have
learned them with our
students. That is, until
everything changed!
Just a few months
ago, the entire world’s
rhythm was rocked
by COVID-19. Shortly
thereafter, the United
States was rocked yet
again by the social un-
rest of the Black Lives
Matter movement,
which resonated around the world. We were all forced to
change our rhythm. We had to change the carefully crafted
routines that we had perfected over years of trials and
tribulations in every aspect of our lives.
For parents, this meant finding a way to keep their
children and families safe and unharmed. For teachers,
this meant finding a way to keep a connection with our
students. For stringed instrument teachers, in particular,
this meant finding a way to keep our student’s instru-
ments in tune! Looking back, this may have been my
biggest worry.
I have been teaching the violin for 33 years. I am a Suzuki
kid. I started playing the violin at the age of five and became
a trained Suzuki Violin instructor at the age of 16. I am often
asked if the violin is the hardest instrument to play. I respond
by saying that I have no idea what it feels like to not play the
violin, so I really don’t know. Over the years, I have had the
honor of guiding young (and not so young) learners in the
art of playing the violin. Playing a musical instrument is
often a physical experience. Playing the violin requires a
connection with your body and how it moves: Knowing how
much pressure you need to apply to play loud versus soft.
Knowing where that pressure comes from. Knowing how
it feels to make a smooth and rich tone versus a tone that is
itchy and scratchy. Violinists have to be particularly aware
of any tension in our bodies that could affect the tone of our
notes. We have to breathe with our instruments. Most of
this teaching and learning is done thru demonstrations and
physically adjusting
our students’ postures,
finger placements, and
bow holds. Parents
are often involved so
that they know how to
support the practice
sessions at home. It’s
challenging enough in
person—now try doing
all of that without be-
ing in the same room
w ith your student!
Wait. What?
T h is is just what
teachers all across the
world have had to do.
We had to change our
teaching rhythm, and
fast! We had to figure out a way to teach our students
without actually being with them. The solution was to offer
lessons online. Simple, right? I had never in my 33 years
of teaching taught a lesson online until March 14, 2020.
Of course, I had heard of teachers doing this successfully
for years, but I had never really considered doing it. I had
thought about what it must be like. I wondered what I
would actually do. Well, now I know.
In my lessons, I encourage exploration and even impro-
visation. It’s fun and my students are incredibly creative.
I find that allowing students to try different things with
their instruments gives them more control over their own
learning experience. Improvisation is the skill I have relied
on the most in these last few months. Teaching violin
online can seem like an impossible task. You may wonder
how you can hear the tone of the instrument, or how
you can correct any intonation issues. And how on earth
do you teach a beginner how to tune their instrument?
I’m going to share my recipe with all of the necessary
ingredients to have a successful experience teaching the
violin online. Feel free to improvise and add rhythm and spices of your own.
Ingredients • Rockstar students with a will-
ing and flexible can-do attitude
- Rockstar parents with a willing
and flexible can-do attitude - Rockstar teacher with a willing
and flexible can-do attitude - Violins that will keep themselves
in tune (just kidding!) - If you use social media, I strongly
suggest joining a teacher support
group for ideas and reference
material. Many teachers have
great ideas to share. But don’t
just be a taker—be a contributing
member of the community and
share your ideas, too. - You do not need to have a de-
gree in computer science and/
or networking to navigate the
world of online teaching. You
will need to familiarize your-
self with video conferencing
software such as Zoom. Zoom is
device friendly and seems to be
the widely accepted format for
teaching online
- You will need to set up a Zoom
video conferencing account. If
you are unfamiliar with Zoom
and setting up an account, there
are tons of YouTube tutorials on
this very subject. - Each of your students will also
need a Zoom account. Some of
you may prefer FaceTime. Keep
in mind that FaceTime is spe-
cific to Apple devices and not
everyone has an Apple device.
If you and your students pre-
fer to use another video confer-
encing solution such as Skype or
Google Classroom, just be sure
everyone has the same software
and knows how to use it.
- If you choose to use Zoom, I rec-
ommend creating a separate re-
curring meeting invitation for
each student with a password
and ID.
- You do not need state of the art
equipment (unless you love new
toys and gadgets like I do), but
you will need the following: - A computer, laptop, tablet,
iPad, or phone with a mic and
camera. Quality will vary be-
tween devices
- For the best experience, I rec-
ommend using a laptop (or
computer), an external cam-
era, and an external headset
with microphone.
My setup includes a MacBook Pro
with an external Logitech Webcam.
I connect my Bose earbuds to the
Bluetooth of the MacBook Pro to speak
and listen. I connect my iPad to my
MacBook Pro with the charging cable.
You can also connect your iPad via
Bluetooth, but I find that the Bluetooth
connection has a little latency that I
don’t prefer. I connect the iPad so that I
can share my iPad screen with my stu-
dents when we are working on a piece
of music and I need them to look at a
particular part of the song. It is easier
to share the music than take the time
to count the measures in the music
that they have at their house. This way
I can highlight the measure(s) we are
working on for them to see. This can
also be a good way to analyze music
with your students. You will have con-
trol of editing the music and pointing
out different dynamic markings, etc.
You can also allow your students to
use the whiteboard features to mark
the screen as well. Ideally, you and
your student will each have versions
of any music you are working on—I
don’t want to encourage anyone to
violate any copyright laws. I also use
the iPad to share music game apps
such as Flashnote Derby and Rhythm
Swing. These apps are available in the
App Store for a fee.
Tips for Online Sound
I have found that it is best if you
turn on “Original Sound.” The default
setting will cancel out any back-
ground noise. Zoom may try to cancel
out the sound of the violin thinking
that it is background noise (how dare
they!). We want to hear as much of the
violin as possible, so turning off this
default feature will give you the best
chance to hear the tone your students
are making.
Tips for Online Tuning
You will find that your students and
parents will rise to the occasion of
tuning with flying colors. It is help-
ful to have a tuner that can play a
sustained reference note. This is the
note we will match the open violin
string to. There are several free apps
available with this feature. For the
younger learners, you will want to
work with the parents for any tuning
peg adjustments. All of my students
have done well with the fine tuners.
When working with the tuning pegs,
I give the parent (or older student) the
visual of a small ant. That’s how much
I want them to turn the peg in either
direction at one time. I have them
turn the peg towards the bridge for
the sound of the note to get lower or
towards the scroll for the sound of the
note to get higher. I have them go up
and/or down in increments of a small
ant. I have the parent/student pluck
or play the open string between each
adjustment to compare the sound of
the note with our reference note. We
always turn pegs toward the bridge
first to get a feel for how easy or hard
the tuning peg will be to turn. We also
gently push the peg into the peg box
while turning it, to park the peg in
place. I may need them to go six ants
towards the scroll if the note is flat or
three ants towards the bridge for a
note that is sharp. Adjust the number
of ants accordingly. Having the visual
of the ant works well. Once we get the
note close to where we want it, the stu-
dent can take over on the fine tuners.
The students will need to turn the fine
tuner clockwise for a note that needs
to be higher or counterclockwise for
a note that needs to be lower. We can
still use the ant as a reference for how
much to turn the fine tuner. This may
take some time in the beginning, but
the process will get easier and faster as
the students and parents get comfort-
able with tuning on their own.
The Plan
Throw all doubt and negativity out
the door. You don’t need it. It will
ruin your new rhythm. Don’t expect
perfection. It is best to relax and make
the best music you can. Stay positive—
being positive is contagious. Positivity
is the one thing we do want to contract
from one another.
Here are several online lesson
ideas that have worked well for me
and my students:
- Take a photocopy of a piece of music
on your iPad. - Share your iPad screen with the student.
- Edit the photocopy and select the
“Markup” feature (now you can
mark the music and the student can
copy the same notes to their music). - This can be a fun way for beginners
to learn what measures are and how
to count the measures in a song. - Mark the measures and take turns
playing random measure numbers. - Play a game where you see a measure
that starts on a particular note. The
student will have to find all of the
measures that begin with that note. - Play a game where there are two
eighth notes in three measures.
The student will have to identify
the three measures with the eighth
notes and then play them. You may
have “missed” a measure on purpose
to see if they can find your “mistake.” - Play a measure of the song, but don’t
tell the student what measure it is.
They will have to listen and guess
what measure you are playing. - Let the student pick a measure for you
to guess which one they’re playing. - Circle the measures in different
colors. The students will play all of
the measures of one color while you
play the measures of the other col-
or. This takes the place of playing in
unison since there will be too much
latency to play simultaneously. Try
this same exercise while playing the
song from memory.
- Pick a number between one and
ten. The student will try to guess
the number. If they are correct, that
is the measure number they will
play. They will always be “right.” - Have the student choose a number
between one and ten. That will be
the number of the song in the book
they will play for review. - Launch your music game app. I
have the most fun with Flashnote
Derby for note reading. You can
pick the specific notes you want
to work on sight reading. Two or
three notes at a time are best for
the younger ones just learning to
read notes—we want them to win.
The faster the student says the
correct note, the faster their little
horse will run to win the game. - Use flashcards with notes and dy-
namic markings. Hold one of each
up to the camera for five seconds.
The students will have to play the
note and the dynamic marking.
The older students have fun play-
ing this with more than one note
and dynamic marking
- Improvise a song with a starting note
of your (or the students) choice. De-
cide how many measures the song
will be. Come up with a title that will
describe what the song will be about.
Fill each measure with four beats. The
student will have to structure the cor-
rect combination of notes to equal
four beats for each measure. Encour-
age a different combination of notes
(and note lengths) for each measure
to keep it interesting.
- Re-write a song they already know by
changing the rhythm or adding some
grace notes to measures. Rearrange
the notes to create a new melody.
I hope these ideas have gotten your
creative juices flowing and coming
up with other fun (and fail-proof) ac-
tivities for your online lessons. These
ideas can be adapted for older students
with more advanced challenges. Now
go out there and find your rhythm!
LaTonya Peoples is a
violinist and vocalist, music
producer, Kronos analyst,
and Suzuki violin instructor.
She was born and raised
in Topeka, Kansas, and
began violin lessons at age five. She took Suzuki
training and started teaching private Suzuki violin
lessons at age 16. Ms. Peoples holds a bachelor’s
degree in music therapy from Howard University
(1994) and a degree in project management (2016).
She appears in work by Co-Resonance (a Pop/
Classical Fusion String Quartet), India Arie, Ken
Ford, Doria Roberts, JJ’s Swimming, and Left Eye
Productions/TLC, and her work has been licensed
by Love and Hip Hop. Her vocal rendition of “Wade
in the Water” was featured on ABC’s hit Television
Series Scandal. Ms. Peoples has performed in
ensembles opening for Gladys Knight, Meshell
Ndegeocello, Angelique Kidjo, and Alice Walker,
as well as on National Public Radio’s Wade in the
Water series featuring Sweet Honey in the Rock,
produced by author Sonja Williams.