(Detailed schedule coming soon)
For some students, online study is their preferred format. For others, it is a temporary solution to continuing music when in-person lessons and classes are not an option for personal reasons or for public health and safety reasons. Online study is offered in three tiers:
Tier 1: Recreation Level
Who? All Twinklers, all new teen/adult beginners, and any Fireflies and Sparklers who would like to stay at this level.
What?
- One 15m pre-recorded video lesson per week
- One 15m live video audiation skills group class per week
- 2-4 "playdowns" per month on Zoom (playing backwards through our Suzuki, Piano Safari, Fiddle & Song books; students can choose to watch or participate)
- Get personalized feedback by sending 1-2 short practice videos (3m or less) per week
- Get live video support on Zoom during office hours (with Elizabeth Erickson or with advanced students)
Tier 2: Club Level
Who? All Intermediates, as well as any teens, adults, Fireflies, and Sparklers who would like to apply for this level (full-time online students should inquire at least two months in advance to allow time to fulfill application requirements; temporary online students should ask if this tier is an option for you).
What?
- 15 minutes of private or semi-private lessons per week; can divide onto 1-3 days (15m x 1, 10m + 5m, or 5m x 3) depending on student preferences and teacher availability
- 45m live Zoom club meeting per week: Story Club, Teen Group, and/or Adult Group (see descriptions, below)
- Access to By Request videos (see description below) and the opportunity to make song suggestions
- One 15m live video audiation skills group class per week for those 12 and under; for ages 12+ audiation is incorporated into Teen Group or Adult Group.
- 2-4 "playdowns" per month on Zoom (playing backwards through our Suzuki, Piano Safari, Fiddle & Song books; students can choose to watch or participate)
- Unlimited personalized feedback on short practice videos
- Get live video support on Zoom during office hours (with Elizabeth Erickson or with advanced students)
Tier 3: Pro Level
Who? All advanced students, as well as any intermediates who would like to apply for this level (full-time online students should inquire at least four months in advance to allow time to fulfill application requirements; temporary online students should ask if this tier is an option for you).
What?
- For Advanced students: 60m of private lessons per week; can divide onto 1-5 days (60m x 1 / 45m + 15m / 30m x 2 / 20m x 3 / 15m x 4 / 12m x 5) depending on student preferences and teacher availability.
- For Intermediate students: 45m of private or semi-private lessons per week; can divide onto 1-5 days (45m x 1 / 30m + 15m / 15m x 3 / 9m x 5) depending on student preferences and teacher availability
- 45m live Zoom club meeting per week: Story Club, Teen Group, Adult Group, and/or Pro Seminar (see descriptions, below) Note: Pro Seminar only offered when eligible students or topics studied would differ significantly from Teen Group.
- Access to By Request videos (see description below) and the opportunity to make song suggestions
- Unlimited personalized feedback on short practice videos
- One 15m live video audiation skills group class per week for those 12 and under; for ages 12+ audiation is incorporated into Teen Group or Adult Group.
- 2-4 "playdowns" per month on Zoom (playing backwards through our Suzuki, Piano Safari, Fiddle & Song books; students can choose to watch or participate; this is a great way to practice new skills and techniques on old familiar repertoire)
- Opportunity to volunteer as a TA for a tuition discount and give back to the community: lead "playdowns" (playing backwards through our Suzuki, Piano Safari, Fiddle & Song books), lead Story Club, and/or hold office hours for younger and less experienced students
Detailed Descriptions of Classes & Clubs
Audiation Skills Classes
All students ages 12 and under are assigned to an audiation skills class according to their current audiation skill level, which may or may not match their overall playing level. In these classes we work on musicianship skills such as ear training and rhythmic and tonal pattern recognition using Solfege syllables and Gordon rhythmic syllables, form and analysis, body mapping for injury prevention, Dalcroze Eurythmics, and more.
By Request
We explore 1-4 pop/rock/jazz/folk songs each month! Songs requests are made by current club or pro tier students. Generally this will be done through pre-recorded YouTube videos but occasionally it will work better to schedule a live video meeting or two. Students can opt in or out of learning each song; those that opt in will receive video(s) geared towards their specific instrument, playing level, and audiation level.
Story Club
A unique fusion of our "Story Soirée" concerts with beginning improvisation/composition skills. Club/pro students ages 12 and under each choose a solo, create a story to connect their pieces together, and improvise or compose short pieces to alternate with the prewritten ones to bring their story to life! They each make a video of their solo, their improv/composition, and them reading part of the story. Then we present their story in a live Zoom concert and stream to an unlisted YouTube video and our private Facebook group! Students can opt in or out of each Story Club performance. These students also have the honor of coming up with the introduction for our studio-wide Story Soirées! Story Club students may be divided into multiple groups by age based on enrollment.
Teen Group
All 12-17 year old club/pro students are invited to gather together to work on audiation as well as a variety of topics and skills directed by student interests, such as the physics of acoustics; improvisation; reading/writing tab and charts; using layered ostinato loops to create a complex texture; blues and jazz rhythms, scales, and techniques; practice strategies; audio recording basics with professional sound engineer Nils Erickson; or exploring a particular time period, genre, performer, composer, ensemble type, etc.
Adult Group
Similar to our teen group (see above), following the interests of our club/pro adult students.
Pro Seminar (offered as needed)
Similar to our teen group (see above), following the interests of our pro students. This group is offered when its eligible students or topics studied would differ significantly from Teen Group.