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Any teachers out there use Skype for giving lessons? Pros/Cons?

Do have Skype, but never thought about using it for lessons! Great idea though! Thanks for suggesting it!

Pros...

Access to a much wider client base. The world in fact!

Difference in time zones would mean that it is possible to teach at any time of day.

People could call when they have a problem rather than having to wait for the next weeks lesson.

Cons....

More difficult to interact with students. Demonstration could be tricky and would involve moving the camera etc.

Sound quality is compromised so the teacher might miss something.

Charging for the service.

Expectation that you might be available whenever.

I now teach jazz and contemporary music to students worldwide with skype, it's utterly fantastic! I can see, hear and interact with them in real time, no lags, blurriness or delays, and it works perfectly. They pay me using paypal. It's a major new aspect of my business and it's gratifying to be able to help folks in Moscow, Tokyo, Bogota, etc. using this new medium.

Dave Frank
Assoc. Prof., Piano Dept.
Berklee College of Music
Director, Dave Frank School of Jazz
NYC
http://jazzheads.com/music/turning.html

I successfully took Chinese lessons (Mandarin) using Skype, with a tutor based in Nanjing. We occasionally had technical issues (mostly the dread dropped connection), but remained good humored about them, and they did not significantly interfer with the process. I paid using Paypal.

That said, at the time I lived in Santa Fe, NM and the nearest alternative Chinese language instruction was at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, an hour and a half drive each way, and not a trip you'd want to make three times a week. Piano instruction is more widely available. Unless there was an opportunity to study with a special instruction, or the rates were significantly cheaper, I'd think most students would use a local teacher. And for younger students, any source of adult discipline would have to be local (i.e., parental).

My two cents, from the perspective of a potential customer, not a teacher.

Dave, can you tell us more how you have set this up, both physically, and, with your students?

Thank you!

I specialize in jazz/improv training, and authored the book series Joy of Improv (Hal Leonard), so people contact me through them and we use the books as part of the lessons, which helps..On a business level I offer the first lesson free so they can try it out before making any commitments. I have a simple ($15 from Radio Shack) video camera that sits on top of my PC, and an equally simple $15 headset that plugs into my computer.

I just sit in front of the computer, call the student on skype, and walla! I am looking at a full screen live shot of the student. The video and audio connection is usually perfect, the video quality varies occasionally. The technical glitches are minor (not diminished) and are usually resolved by an immediate callback.

Once we've made skype contact, I do a piano lesson with them. Essentially the same as an in-person lesson. They play for me, usually by pointing the camera at the keyboard, (one guy did it from over the keyboard which was especially cool.) I can see their mistakes before they make them:)I play for them by taking my headset to my Diskclavier (about 10 feet away), and they can hear me just fine. It's essentially a simple piano lesson, but it's very very cool! They pay by paypal.

Dave Frank
Director, Dave Frank school of Jazz, NYC
www.myspace.com/davefrankjazz

Cool! That sounds like a wonderful idea. I do this for math tutoring, but never thought of piano lessons in this medium.

Cute joke. I like your sense of humor.
This sounds like a really intriguing process. I'd like to investigate it further. I'm sure it has some great implications for our future.

Thanks Dave,

I hope that a few more pro teachers try this.

I have someone in mind for me! Too far away for me to physically take lessons but I would love his input.

I also think this might work for those adults out there that I might be able to help.

Great suggestion!

Sorry if I missed something...

What is Skype?

pianobuff: Skype site
It provides free video phone calls over your computer's Internet connection, from one computer to another.

Fast forwarding this thread more than 8 years: is Skype still the tool of choice? My teacher left the area, but I'd like to get an occasional lesson from him on line. I think sound quality trumps video quality for what we need, so interested in opinions on what to use.

I'm in the process of switching from Skype, and just finished asking some technical questions that are getting some answers.

http://forum.pianoworld.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/2694738/google-hangouts-question-s.html

Personally, I'm fed up with Skype. It keeps making me reset my password and it's at the point where it's unusable. So I now do Facetime with my Mac students or Facebook video. I have not noticed that any one of these - including Skype - was really any better than another.

The biggest factor is if it can run reliably on your machine, and secondly, if there are a lot of people using your bandwidth during the lesson time.

Thanks! Trying Hangouts On Air now.

I'd be interested in your experience. I did a trial yesterday just by myself. The other party is not on Google Chrome as main server, and the instructions for that were a bit scary for me (I scare easy in this area. )

Were the instructions scary for the other party? Because if you’re talking about the instructions I gave, they’re all instructions for the recipient of the invite. You, the inviter, don’t have to change anything you’re doing. I think I may not have been clear about that in the instructions.

You probably haven't gone back to the thread since you wrote in. Yours was for Google Hangouts (which is what I asked about). Someone else then told me about Google Hangouts On Air, which is done through your Youtube account. Apparently it gives an even better sound quality because you can choose "studio" mode. I found that one a bit more involved. Apparently both have almost the same name, but are different.

Oh, I see. I did see that later post but only skimmed it so didn’t see that it was a major change of procedure.