Notes! Fall 2019 to Summer 2020

I hope you will enjoy our latest issue of Notes! Click HERE to read our newsletter!

ZOOMING WITH STRINGS IN A TIME OF COVID

On March 8th this year, I got back from the annual American Strings Teachers Association Conference in Orlando, Florida. A few days later, restrictions were applied to Europe travel, so I knew the writing was on the wall. I looked into the different platforms I could use for online teaching, settling on Zoom. I had a meeting with my students and faculty about the situation. Then immediately after our Spring Break, my faculty and I started teaching all private lessons and group classes on Zoom. To my astonishment we segued online without skipping a beat.

Every Saturday at 3:00 pm, I held a Zoom with Strings “recital,” including not playing on your primary instrument (but singing, dancing, playing another instrument, or telling jokes), playing movie music, answering trivia questions (about instruments, pieces, and composers), Suzuki Play-Down (all the books, from advanced down to “Twinkle”) with famous guest artists such as Cho-Liang Lin, Noah Bendix-Balgley, and Karen Gomyo! 

Throughout the summer, my students and I have Zoomed into local nursing homes. We zoom in with excitement, as if taking part in a real concert. The students introduce themselves and make cute little speeches. Some budding entrepreneurs here! In Fourth of July week, we celebrated healthcare workers. 

Of course, we don’t know what to expect for the academic year 2020–21. I hope it is filled with music and good spirits. I can’t wait to see all of you in person before long, and until then I wish you a wonderful time amid the challenges.

Paul Kantor from Rice University with Grace Kim during Violinfest 2019