Looking Back On A Year of Online Teaching

It may be too early to say that we have rounded the corner with the pandemic but I certainly do feel a change of mood overall.

Teaching during the pandemic was stressful at times, especially when we were first on lockdown, but we managed to maintain our sense of culture and connection. Looking back at photos from the past year, I evidently wanted to memorialize with a photo every new variation of my online setup (lol!), so here is the collection. in no particular order:

For the gear heads among you, here's what I have been using on and off throughout the year, depending on whether I was working from the acoustic piano (Pleyel P127) or the keyboard (Yamaha P125): Blue Yeti mic in Aztec Brown (color is important lol!), in the beginning I used my iPhone 7 with Atumtek selfie stand for the overhead camera but later switched to a Logitech C920 once it finally arrived (in November!), MacBook Pro 13" (2019) with a Satechi multi-port USB hub, Twelve South Adjustable Hi-rise laptop stand, a 2011 iMac, a 10" iPad from 2018 with an Apple Pencil, Dazzne D50 video lighting kit (I haven't used them very often, but as work changes from being always online to just making videos I'm sure I will use them more), a matched pair of SE7 small diaphragm condenser mics, and finally, the UAudio Apollo Twin x audio interface. Also, we can't forget the mic stands and assorted cables.

As we make our way to the end of this crazy historical moment, I want to express my appreciation and gratitude to all of you students who persisted with cultivating your musical abilities through unpredictably difficult times. You have shown yourselves to be very strong musicians indeed!