Community MusicWorks
Title
Community MusicWorks
Description
Jake Pietroniro, Viola Fellow at Community MusicWorks, shares his experience in virtual learning.
Creator
Jake Pietroniro
Language
English
Text
Written by Jake Pietroniro
As a Viola Fellow at Community MusicWorks , what has your experience been like teaching virtually?
This has been a crazy year to move to a new city and start a new position with many students and colleagues that I have yet to meet in person. Despite this, it’s been really interesting to meet all of the new students, and explore how to make lessons fun together despite the physical distance we have at the moment. My colleagues and I have all had to learn the ins and outs of zoom, from the whiteboard, to sharing audio, to figuring out how to annotate! There are aspects of virtual teaching that I think will transfer well to in-person lessons when we return to normalcy; The screen sharing, the use of media like recordings and youtube videos, and the instant ability to annotate a score are all small things that will be very useful to apply when we’re back to in-person lessons. There are more conversations being had about how to share music during this time when many of the students can't play with their friends, which is a really important part of playing any instrument. It's been awesome to see sibling duos being formed in addition to zoom concerts, and other innovative ways to make music.
What are some challengings do you encounter when mentoring over Zoom?
I’m new to Providence this year, so teaching virtually has presented a few challenges that I’ve had to come up with new solutions for. First, I have not met my students from CMW in person yet, so we’ve had to build relationships over zoom during the last 4 months or so, which is not impossible, but definitely makes building technical skills on the violin/viola more difficult when you’re missing that connection. To adjust to this, I’m trying to be very receptive to the myriad ways in which music is serving my students during this very difficult year. In addition to pursuing technical/musical proficiency with my students, I find myself checking in more frequently, talking more than playing during lessons from time to time, and trying to make sure that music is serving the children in a positive way. Every student is different in this capacity, so this is the time to be extra sensitive to picking repertoire that the student enjoys, making sure that when he/she picks up the violin, it’s about feeling good and having fun.
What are some highlights you'd like to share about the work at CMW?
I’ve been blown away by the sensitivity, nimbleness, and overall strength of CMW as an organization. From the teachers to the students, everyone is encouraged to constantly be listening and responding empathically to their surroundings in a way that contributes to a very strong sense of community, even in the virtual space. This year has seen a lot of innovation around the concert experience; In September, we rented a trailer bed to do COVID-safe pop-up concerts at nursing homes, bars, schools, churches, and even people’s backyards. The reception this effort received was extremely positive, and it will open up so many music sharing possibilities once we return to normalcy. CMW has continued to feature its classic concert series like the Sonata Series and the student’s Performance Party, both of which have continued and transformed into the virtual space. Everyone is constantly thinking of ways to innovate right now, and I’m sure that more opportunities will be discovered in the coming months!
As a Viola Fellow at Community MusicWorks , what has your experience been like teaching virtually?
This has been a crazy year to move to a new city and start a new position with many students and colleagues that I have yet to meet in person. Despite this, it’s been really interesting to meet all of the new students, and explore how to make lessons fun together despite the physical distance we have at the moment. My colleagues and I have all had to learn the ins and outs of zoom, from the whiteboard, to sharing audio, to figuring out how to annotate! There are aspects of virtual teaching that I think will transfer well to in-person lessons when we return to normalcy; The screen sharing, the use of media like recordings and youtube videos, and the instant ability to annotate a score are all small things that will be very useful to apply when we’re back to in-person lessons. There are more conversations being had about how to share music during this time when many of the students can't play with their friends, which is a really important part of playing any instrument. It's been awesome to see sibling duos being formed in addition to zoom concerts, and other innovative ways to make music.
What are some challengings do you encounter when mentoring over Zoom?
I’m new to Providence this year, so teaching virtually has presented a few challenges that I’ve had to come up with new solutions for. First, I have not met my students from CMW in person yet, so we’ve had to build relationships over zoom during the last 4 months or so, which is not impossible, but definitely makes building technical skills on the violin/viola more difficult when you’re missing that connection. To adjust to this, I’m trying to be very receptive to the myriad ways in which music is serving my students during this very difficult year. In addition to pursuing technical/musical proficiency with my students, I find myself checking in more frequently, talking more than playing during lessons from time to time, and trying to make sure that music is serving the children in a positive way. Every student is different in this capacity, so this is the time to be extra sensitive to picking repertoire that the student enjoys, making sure that when he/she picks up the violin, it’s about feeling good and having fun.
What are some highlights you'd like to share about the work at CMW?
I’ve been blown away by the sensitivity, nimbleness, and overall strength of CMW as an organization. From the teachers to the students, everyone is encouraged to constantly be listening and responding empathically to their surroundings in a way that contributes to a very strong sense of community, even in the virtual space. This year has seen a lot of innovation around the concert experience; In September, we rented a trailer bed to do COVID-safe pop-up concerts at nursing homes, bars, schools, churches, and even people’s backyards. The reception this effort received was extremely positive, and it will open up so many music sharing possibilities once we return to normalcy. CMW has continued to feature its classic concert series like the Sonata Series and the student’s Performance Party, both of which have continued and transformed into the virtual space. Everyone is constantly thinking of ways to innovate right now, and I’m sure that more opportunities will be discovered in the coming months!
Date
12/08/2020
Location
Providence
Collection
Citation
RICA Project Coordinator, “Community MusicWorks,” Rhode Island COVID-19 Archive, accessed September 20, 2024, http://ricovidarchive.rihs.org/items/show/1740.
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