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Set a recurring calendar event or alarm on your phone

Make sure you don’t miss your lesson: get an alert earlier in the day.

If any rescheduling has taken place, be sure to update your calendar immediately!

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Set up a weekly standing order to pay for your lesson in advance

Time is money! Online lessons must be paid in advance. Failure to do so will result in loss of lesson time — your lesson will not commence until payment is received. If you have a weekly online lesson, the best way to pay is to set up an automatic standing order in your banking app for every Monday before your lesson so you have time to check that your payment has worked. For a one-off online lesson, a bank transfer is preferable, still in advance of the commencement of the lesson.

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Practise regularly through the week

Practising isn’t optional — it’s the only way to get good at music and is an ongoing requirement for lessons with Richard.

For pupils in lower primary: aim to do at least 10 minutes every day.

For upper primary and beyond: aim to begin with at least 20-30 minutes every day and increase as necessary.

These are just the bare minimum requirements to not get worse at your instrument! If you truly want to improve, you should always be practising old pieces to maintain them and new pieces until they’re 100% accurate every time and as musically expressive as you can get them to be.

Practice time can (and really should) be chunked into multiple sessions per day.
The more occasions you practise through the week, the more new material you can learn during your lesson.

Use all of the resources you’ve been given (e.g. written music, audio files, videos, reference sheets, prior knowledge, etc.)

Start early! If you practise immediately after your lesson, you’ve got a better chance of remembering what to do.

You should designate a specific time to practise. Put this into your daily calendar and see it through! Even years of lessons will achieve very little if practice is insufficient, or worse, non-existent!

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Have access to a printer or second screen

You will need this to see any new music sent to you during your lesson. Make sure you are ready!

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Get the most our of your time

• An hour before your lesson:

  • check that your device is fully charged, and leave it on charge as much as possible during this period

  • confirm that your payment for this week’s lesson has gone through

  • check your printer or second screen is working

  • have an extra practice

• 15 minutes before your lesson:

  • get your music ready and in place

  • get your instrument ready to play (on, in tune, etc.)

  • wait in the Zoom waiting room.
    The lesson may be up to 15 minutes later than scheduled. Don’t panic!
    Why not fit in some bonus practice time whilst you wait?

• During your lesson:

  • listen carefully to every instruction and follow it to the best of your ability

  • be patient: video conferencing software can affect how the music sounds and we may sometimes need to repeat a piece or a phrase several times for it to be heard correctly at the other end.

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Get the most out of your device

• Make sure your device is fully charged before your lesson. If possible, keep it plugged in during your lesson, too.
  Most modern devices reduce performance as the battery gets low. While this helps to keep your device running for a little longer, it is not good for video calls.

• If possible, have your device on a table or a stand, positioned to give a clear view of both your hands on your instrument

• Make sure your device’s speaker and microphone aren’t too close to a surface which may reflect its own sound back into it: it is almost impossible to do online lessons with this kind of feedback. This usually only happens if you set your phone down mic-first on a hard surface.

• If you are on a laptop, you will get the best performance by connecting directly to an ethernet port on the back of your home router

• If you are using wi-fi, get your device as close as possible to your wi-fi hotspot

• Reduce the number of devices at home using wi-fi or the internet at the same time as your lesson (e.g. sibling on a games console, parents watching Netflix)

• If you have experienced a poor connection, try putting non-essential devices in flight mode and ensuring wi-fi is disabled (not just disconnected). This can be achieved in your device’s settings.

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Test your setup

Phone a friend test your setup with them! Make sure:

• you can see and hear each other clearly

• both your hands can be seen clearly on your instrument

• you can switch between front and rear cameras

• your instrument sound clear to them

• everyone’s speech is loud and clear

• your friend can’t hear their own voice coming back to them

💡 Tip: Try putting on a Spotify/YouTube song on another device and making sure it comes through clearly, not changing in tempo or pitch, not going silent and not sounding garbled.

➠ If you have issues at this stage, please get in touch with me well in advance of your lesson to discuss solutions.

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Get in touch if you need help!

Email: rs@rsmts.com
Facebook messenger: facebook.com/richardsmithmusic