Asynchronous Lessons

Asynchronous means “not at the same time”.

We can have a lesson even if we are not together at the same moment.

Students can submit recordings, and teachers respond with comments, further recordings of more examples, links to online resources, or whatever else will be most helpful based on the student submission.

What began as a coping strategy for bad internet and poor audio connections during the COVID pandemic, has now proven to be extremely helpful when travel or other life events interfere with scheduled lessons.

Making recordings is a doubly enriching experience for students. Listening to a recording of their playing promotes the development of objective listening and performance confidence. The most common remark I hear when students listen to their own recordings is “That wasn’t as bad as I thought it was!” Small errors tend to be very big in the memory – hearing a playback puts them back into proportion.

If you choose to have an asynchronous lesson, please do not put off making the recording until the day before your next in person lesson! You will get the most value from this experience if you submit the recording in time for your teacher to offer some useful feedback that you can use before the next lesson. An asynchronous lesson recording is not homework to be submitted the next time you see the teacher! It is part of the ongoing give & take of information between you and your teacher in between lessons.