photo by: Dave Gnojek

Annie Gnojek teaches flute virtually to a student on April 14.

Two local music teachers are finding that the benefits of hosting virtual lessons for their students outweigh difficulties such as sound quality and video delays.

“The biggest challenge … well, there’s a couple,” said Annie Gnojek, who has been giving weekly flute lessons to 28 students.

The difficulty of using a virtual platform means that students can no longer play duets with Gnojek during lessons, an activity that helps them practice blending, tuning and playing one part at the same time as a different musical line.

photo by: Tai Edwards

Third grader Rockwell Edwards does a flute lesson virtually with his teacher, Annie Gnojek.

And though Gnojek uses Zoom because she heard it works the best with high-pitched instruments, it’s still difficult for her to hear everything.

“If you have a student struggling with sound production … it’s hard to hear exactly what they’re doing wrong over the internet,” she said.

For piano teacher Holly Page, the biggest issue has been sound and action delay.

“What I see visually can be up to two seconds after what I hear,” she said.

photo by: Contributed Photo

Local piano teacher Holly Page sits at her piano on April 13, where she has been hosting virtual lessons for 17 of her students.

During her virtual lessons, Page sits at her piano with a camera, and has her students place their cameras so that she can see their hands on the keys. In addition to struggling to see the action of their fingers line up with the sound, Page also said dynamics don’t come across with as much variation as they would in person.

Lessons run more smoothly with older students, Page said. These students can jump from measure to measure per Page’s prompting and practice specific sections of pieces. With her younger students, Page relies on parents to help.

Despite these challenges, both teachers said the virtual lessons are better than none at all.

For Page, one of the unexpected benefits of virtual teaching has been the ability to use two pianos. She can demonstrate something to a student at her piano, and they can practice it back to her from their own.

“This is almost like I’ve got two pianos in my living room. One for them and one for me,” she said.

Gnojek said the stay-at-home orders and online schooling have enabled her to schedule her lessons during the day as opposed to her typical times at night, and that she’s enjoyed being able to eat dinner with her family.

photo by: Dave Gnojek

Annie Gnojek teaches flute virtually to a student on April 14.

Continuing to teach, albeit virtually, has also been a financial relief for Page and Gnojek. All of Gnojek’s students have continued on with virtual lessons; only two of Page’s students requested to cancel lessons until the pandemic subsides.

Page said she’s happy the virtual lessons are keeping her students in good practice and giving them an activity to do while staying home, and Gnojek said she can tell it’s a bright spot in her students’ days.

“What I’m feeling from my students is just the joy of seeing each other. It’s like we don’t take it for granted anymore,” she said. “These lessons are way better than no lesson at all.”