Music Teaching During The Pandemic

This year has been horrible when it comes to being a music teacher. There are so many restrictions and things that we take for granted that have been stripped away with little to no notice which has made all of our work lives pretty difficult. The one thing all music teachers have had to do this year is adapt to a situation that is ever changing. Despite so many hurdles I think many of us have adapted really well to the ever changing situation that has been 2020/21. There have been a wide range of things that everyone has had to implement and we have to continue to do so until this is all behind us. 

The first thing that everyone had to do was to find an alternative to teaching face to face and most teachers including myself have moved over to teaching online via video chat which is a far safer option where we don’t have to be sharing the same space and can teach or learn from the comfort of our own homes. Lewis Reilly of Drum lessons Manchester is an example of another teacher who has had to made the jump online to be able to cope with the pandemic. I’ve spoken to a wide range of teachers from different backgrounds and whilst we would all rather be teaching face to face, we are all so thankful for the advances in video conferencing software over the last few years. Teaching online has meant that we have to change the way we teach but it has enabled us to still teach and still have a job. 

For touring musicians and performers, the pandemic has really hit us where it hurts. Where we would have taught to supplement our musical careers we now have to rely on teaching and other avenues. As far as I know, most music venues are and will continue to be closed for the foreseeable future. 

For some of us, we have tried to teach face to face which has been problematic but doable at times although this has been difficult with the rules in the UK and all over the world always changing. Keeping socially distanced works for guitar teachers and even wearing masks is fine for piano teachers but for singing teachers, wearing masks just isn’t an option. At the best of times, it’s been really difficult to find any government guidance on whether we can or can’t conduct one to one lessons. Using plastic sheets and keeping at least 30 mins between students have also been things we can implement to keep the lessons going. For those of us who are mobile teachers which means that we travel to our student’s homes for lessons, it’s become almost impossible to manage & generally visiting many peoples houses isn’t the best of ideas during these times. 

Most music teachers and performers are self employed and unless you have been teaching for over a few years then there is no chance of being able to get any financial help from the government which has also put so many musicians in a lot of bother financially. The only option really is to try and move our lessons online and continue teaching our students who still want to learn to play and are enthusiastic about learning online. 

Overall, this year has been one of the hardest I’ve ever experienced as a musician and music teacher. I really hope that 2021 will be better in terms of both teaching and being able to perform live. As it stands just now, the music industry is really suffering and I hope that it will soon be revived back to its former glory.