The Mandelbear's Musings

You may remember that, somewhat over a month ago, I asked whether there were any tools for voice teaching online. I didn't get any useful suggestions. (Discord was suggested, but with an inherent 200ms delay it would be pretty useless for teaching or band practice.)

Since then, a couple of things -- not necessarily answers -- have turned up. From the National Association of Teachers of Singing, we have a COVID Resources Page and two video panel discussions: Emergency NATS Chat Calming the Coronavirus Crisis and Taking Your Teaching Online #natschats, and A Conversation: What Do Science and Data Say About the Near Term Future of Singing. The description of the latter is:

The National Association of Teachers of Singing, the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), Chorus America, Barbershop Harmony Society, and Performing Arts Medical Association (PAMA) present an important webinar about the near term future of singing as we seek fact based solutions in protecting our singers, teachers, and conductors during this time.

There are more specialized services specifically for jamming that were mentioned in some of the related discussions -- JamKazam, Jamulus, and NINJAM, and a couple of others. With the possible exception of JamKazam they all work by delaying sound by an integral number of beats or bars, which may work for improvisation but probably not for teaching. It's difficult to find good comparisons. There's a conversation going on in this forum; the 2020 part starts on Page 3. Jitsi might work, too, perhaps with a lightly-loaded private server.

(added 5/12) VoiceLessons.com was recommended in one of the NATS videos; didn't make it onto the list in the previous paragraph because it wouldn't be useful to most of my readership, but definitely worth a look if you're teaching.

Disclaimer: I have not (yet) worked through all -- or even most -- of the stuff linked from NATS, and I have not tried any of the remote jam software.

For performers who want to stream concerts, there are lots more options. Here is a blog post on the Pros and Cons of 6 live streaming sites for musicians (from 2016, so a bit dated), and Lynn Noel's Crosscurrents Blog. Lynn has been hosting virtual "house concerts" recently, and has written a great blog series about how to do it.

• Live From the Mermaid's Tavern Part I: Digital Houseconcerts in the Age of COVID-19
• Live from the Mermaid's Tavern Part II: Set Up, Schedule, and Announce a Livestream
• Live from the Mermaid's Tavern Part III: Going Live on Facebook
• Q&A for Online Sessions I: Is It The App, Or My Internet?
• Q&A for Online Sessions II: Livestreaming Setup Checklist
• Q&A For Online Sessions III: Managing Performers, Singers, and Listeners
• Live From the Mermaid's Tavern Participant FAQ
• Live From the Mermaid's Tavern Houseconcert FAQ
• Live From the Mermaid's Tavern: Reflections on Our First Six Weeks

I'll close with a quote from the last section, titled "Crisis and Transformation" of Reflections on Our First Six Weeks. (I'd link to it directly, but the sections don't have IDs.) Then double back and read the rest. (taken out of sequence because it makes a good closer)

Crisis builds community from within. Six weeks ago, my mom had just died, I was laid off, my knee replacement had just been postponed as an elective surgery, and the Mermaid's Tavern was a pile of old Macs and cables in my basement. I needed motivation to face a pandemic day to day. I found it in a community that urgently needed to sing together. Thank you all for making me believe I too could be essential.

We WILL make harmony again in real time. Harmony is like bread: staple soul food, powered by a living community organism. There's nothing like it hot and fresh. Still, once you've sung with dear friends across five time zones, there's no going back. Online community is here to stay. Come on down to the Mermaid's Tavern.

Feel free to point me at other resources in the comments.

I see that I have managed to get way too close to bed-time without a post for today, so I will keep my streak going by reporting briefly on this evening's singing lesson.

I came in a little early, as usual, and caught the tail-end of the previous student's lesson. Fun -- she's a member of a local band and has a very nice voice. I also think it's valuable for me to hear how Nancy works with other students.

In addition to the usual exercises there was something new: singing through a straw. I remarked on the fact that it felt a lot like playing the kazoo. Apparently it relaxes your vocal folds and improves your breathing. There's a pretty informative article on it at Straws for Voice, but there's no need to buy one of their $2 aluminum straws -- just go to the grocery store and grab a package of paper ones.

Lessons tend to be about half exercises and half working on songs. Today we worked on Pete Seeger's "Get Up and Go", which I'm hoping to sing at Mom's birthday party in a couple of weeks.

Something seems to have clicked a month ago when I restarted lessons after stopping them last December. Darned if I know what, but I've gotten a lot better at singing intervals. I'm hitting a lot of notes that were problematic before.

There was also an earthquake. Normally one doesn't feel a 2.6, but we were practically on top of it.

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