The year 2000 may seem distant to some but, according to her experience, that is the year that Tereza Krcovska, Ph.D., laid the foundation of what we today know as the virtual music classroom in “Pianoforte”. Twenty years later, virtual music events and online education became everyday life overnight, and for her it was also a chance to return to her speciality- music sonology.
Our interlocutor today is Tereza Krcovska, Ph.D., graduated violinist, doctor of musical sciences in the area of sonology and violin professor at “Pianoforte”.
We are on the verge of a delayed beginning of the school year. Physical presence, online classes, combined education are the terms up for debate for the past couple of months. However, you and your colleagues from “Pianoforte” have already set up a virtual classroom, from the faithful month of March, and dove into the challenge called online classes for music instruments. What encouraged you to continue the usual education, even though we all believed that the schools would be closed for only two weeks?
Tereza: In March, the schools closed and quarantine was announced. The announcement was for the duration of two weeks but for an artist even two weeks without playing are too much. As a matter of fact, art id the thing that guides us, that calms us, that directs our thoughts. It was unimaginable for us that our students would spend those two weeks without their favourite hobby- a musical instrument.
The quarantine was abolished, but you continued with the online classes even after the safety measures were loosened. Why?
Tereza: As a school that mostly works with one on one classes, social distancing can be enforced at the classes with physical presence, with only minor adaptations in the methodology. Our tendency, of course, is to continue with the classes in person. However, health comes before anything else. While the protocols do change, the recommendations for social distancing remain constant. The current Protocol for the work of music schools, issued by the Commission of Contagious Diseases from the Ministry of Health is clean and simple. Apart from the recommendations for social distancing and a high level of hygiene, there is the important factor of possible conditions for a period of self-isolation for some of the students. I believe that this school year the instances of absences from class will be much higher than before. Some of the absences will be because of light colds taken more seriously, some because of the possible need for self-isolation for two weeks, some due to different quarantine situations and travel. The question remains- what to do in this situation? Online classes will offer us continuity in the work and an emotional balance of the student that might encounter this situation.
That is why, all these past months, we focused on creating a virtual classroom, and we already have a standardised methodology for online classes. That way, we know that we are ready for any case scenario. We can answer both society’s demands and those of the personal and family circumstances of the students. Our moto for the past twenty years has been “Anyone can do it, if they want to”. This gives a new opportunity to prove just that.
How do the families react to this increased music engagement in their homes?
Tereza: When you’re a performing musician, the work atmosphere at home is standard practice and is mostly sustained through practice at home.
The #StayHome trend encouraged the work atmosphere in the homes of even the youngest violin students, who are in preschool. Opportunities for home practicing and making music were made where there were none before, and we as teachers have an insight in this for the first time ever. Since at the beginning of the COVID019 crisis all classes were exclusively from home and through online platforms, I could immediately see where the home practicing conditions needed to be improved through the camera.
You mentioned the online communication platforms. Which tools do you use during the online violin classes?
Tereza: In the beginning of the online classes, I clashed with the popular opinion that the digital communication platforms are not good for music, because they use a codec adjusted to human speech. This is only partially true and it only goes for the standardized, initial settings of these platforms. However, these platforms are so complex that they offer advanced options trough which (with minor adjustments) we can receive high quality sound. Here the constant search for good sound and the improvement of the music hearing habits shone through. The students both had immense progress in their instrument and learned a lot about the audio technologies for transfer and sound recording, all in a very short period of time. This is an unexpected bonus when they enrolled in “Pianoforte” to study the violin.
As a long-term violin teacher, did you already have any experience with online classes?
Tereza: I view myself as a typical representative of Generation X, born between 1965 and 1980 (I won’t say where in between the two exactly),. We are living witnesses to the birth of digital technologies and we follow their development from the beginning. We are the ones, who in fact, made the current digital era. For that reason, allow me to go further back. In the year 2000, the Faculty of Musical Arts opened its Musical Sonology department- a key to the development of the digital archive of music materials. That was the same year that “Pianoforte” was founded in Skopje, and even though in the beginning the school was oriented only towards acoustic instruments, they were always using the most contemporary teaching methodologies.
I had just graduated as a violinist. Could you imagine what a challenge it was fot me to merge my performing career on an acoustic instrument on the one hand and the music studio at the Faculty of Musical Arts as a part of the Institute of Research and Archiving of Music (IRAM) on the other? In 2000, as a postgraduate I joined ITAM when I spend my research years, and gained the title of Ph.D. in Music Sciences. To go back to your question- creating the methodology for online classes in the virtual classroom to me was an amazing turn of events, and maybe even the crown on top of everything that I have researched and worked on so far. My experience with online educational platforms is broad, as is my knowledge in audio technologies, but I hadn’t put violin classes in this context, until now. All these years as a violin teacher (among other music subjects), I figured it was easier to conduct classes in person and I never thought of leaving that comfort zone. However, this epoch of social distancing made a new fusion of everything that I am trained in, and this resulted in the online methodology of work in “Pianoforte”.
How did the young generations accept the challenge of online classes?
Tereza: As a typical representative of Generation X, I have always approached digital technology with studiousness and understanding. Twenty years ago, my generation was fascinated by the fact that at the verge of the new millennium there were generations to whom the digital era was already granted. We popularly called them “digitally born” or “millennials”. This period of physical distancing and creating a virtual space for the regular activities was a great base for handling the digital world. I personally found it amusing to see how the “millennials” would see the fast changes during the past few months. However, I am under the impression that they were not ready enough for change. From today’s point of view, for the digitally born generations the digital technologies are ready-made tools with set up functions that are taken for granted, and often times come in the shape of a tablet, or a smartphone, which have new apps all the time. Then there is Generation Z (which constitutes most of our students) who as users of these gadgets, we have taught how to enter into the core settings of the apps, play with the hardware and software in order to get what they need at the end.
What message would you send to the youth in reference to the new wave of online activities?
Tereza: It is very much true that the new situation to work from home and reuse the current tools posed a challenge for all of us. Nevertheless, to us, as creators of the digitalisation and permanent witnesses to its development, it seemed easier to adjust to the new challenges. I immodestly admit that I am proud to have had something to share with the young colleagues, and the even younger students. Something that positively affected the music listening habits of whole families.
Contemplating this, I was reminded of Alphonse Karr’s famous epitaph “The more things change, the more they are the same”. In the context of the digital audio technology used for online classes, that would mean that when faced with a technological challenge we should neglect the modern settings and obvious buttons, forget the moto “there is an app for that”, and go deeper into the meaning of what we wish to accomplish. We can achieve quite a lot with the simple basic means if we know what it is we want and if we are determined to achieve it.
This conversation is about music instrument classes, but to me all of this seems very technical. Did the students enjoy this type of classes?
Tereza: The online classes in our virtual classroom can be envisioned like a video game. In the first level, the challenge is to set up the acoustic space, i.e. the acoustics of the virtual classroom. The testing of the hardware’s and software’s possibilities is always fun. After we finish the first level, the “game” lets you into the second level- the methodology of the teaching. Here, there are many specifics, levels, in reference to the given instrument, the age and temper of the student, the type of studying characteristic for them… Many new games and stories are born on this “level”, and both the students and we, the teachers, enjoy when we discover a new toy. The classes were more picturesque and more playful than the ones in the physical classroom. The highest level of our game is the virtual concert that can be held live, or as a montage of several videos.
We analysed these specifications together with the collective of “Pianoforte” and the students who enjoyed every novelty and even they themselves gave ideas. We came to results we are immodestly proud of. The students are certainly proud of their online performances and videos.
How does the digital technology affect the quality of the violin classes?
Tereza: Technology is what transfers the image and sound and connects us during the times of social distancing. My research during my doctoral studies was exactly on the influence that the new audio technologies have over the hearing and the music listening habits. During all these months, the conclusions from my dissertation imposed on me. In the online classes, I saw an opportunity to share all my expertise on the topic, not only with the students, but also with my colleagues. The choice of suitable audio equipment, the settings on the software we used, the position of the body and music instrument in relation to the microphone are the basic characteristics which improved the music listening habits of the students in a very short time. In merely a few classes we debunked the stereotype that “the sound is not good on a computer”, and we built or our acoustic space. This later served us in making amazing audio recordings for the virtual concert we spoke about.
What communication platform do you recommend?
Tereza: We tested many platforms. However, the platform creators also tested the needs of the market! In a very short time span, the market for communication platforms became very saturated. In just I few months, new tools and improvements appeared before my own eyes. I carefully followed and tested everything that was happening. Even though the choice of platform may depend on many things, believe me, they all started to look alike because they answered to the users’ demands.
Here are the platforms for online classes, which follow the same trend in covering users’ demands. However, I must emphasise that at the end even they referred to the already existing communication platforms with whom they found common ground. In the case of online music classes, as well as physical presence classes, the search for good tones is dominant. In comparison, the tone is not given from the instrument or the acoustics of the space. The musician is the one who needs to pull the tone in its interpretation, and that is something to be learned. In context of audio technologies, we always need to be on the lookout for good audio transmissions, or more popularly said, for good sound.
2020/2021?
Tereza: For me, as a Generation X representative, the beginning of the school year is always on the 1st September (except for weekends), and that goes for this year as well. As a collective, we almost had no rest this summer. Even when we did rest, we processed the ideas and experiences, allowing for information to process and have fresh thoughts for solutions on an even more successful online class methodology for music instruments.As a result, we already have our own standardized methodology for a steady strut in this school year. Apart from the regular online classes, we also began classes with physical presence with the students who were ready for this step. Those students who chose this can rest assured that we are following protocol, and if the need to stay home arises, the continuity of quality classes is guaranteed through the online classes.