Recording, Online Lesson & Recital Guidelines

Online lessons and recitals are an exciting part of lessons at Willowdale School of Music and we are excited to offer them even though the world is less than normal right now. Here are some guidelines on how to make your online lesson, pre-recorded video performance or live online performance go smoothly:

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View: The video camera must be in landscape (horizontal) view. This ensures we can see your whole instrument as well as yourself! (see pictures below)

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Height: Position the camera at chest height and a 2-3 feet away from the instrument. Use a tripod to hold the camera, tablet or phone, and set laptop/computers up on a steady table or countertop to minimize camera movement during recording.

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Light: Performers should be lit from in front, not behind. Ensure that there are no bright lights or windows directly behind, or your audience will not be able to see you properly.

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Noise: Keep the noise level down in other areas of the house so that your performance can be heard clearly.

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Audio: Turn the volume for digital pianos and keyboards up to the loudest volume setting. We can always turn the volume down later. If you are using an accompaniment track, do a test recording to ensure the accompaniment track volume is able to be heard over your own instrument in the recording.

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For live performances and online lessons: Ensure your Zoom program is updated to the latest version and then head to Zoom Audio Settings to optimize for music performance:

• Set "automatically adjust microphone volume" to OFF

• Set "supress background noise" to LOW

• Set "high fidelity music mode" to ON

• Set "show in-meeting option to turn on original sound" to ON

• Once in the meeting, please turn ON Original Sound (found in the top left corner of the Zoom window)

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