When your music studio is a Zoom room
By: Natalia Ribeiro
Tags: Broward County, Tsr Features, Training, Performing Studios, Virtual

Teacher at The Hit Music Studio teaches a virtual guitar lesson (Courtesy of The Hit Music Studio)

When students across the country made the switch to remote learning in the spring, it was not only schools that shut down. Performing arts studios that teach dance, music, or acting also had to switch to virtual learning in late March.

Schools like the School of Rock, which has many locations around the United States and the world, received guidance from corporations operating remotely.

“Basically within a span of a week, we switched all lessons to be able to be online,” said Burny Pelsmajer, Regional Manager of School of Rock in Davie. “We started doing master classes almost every day on how to play a song, how to understand how drums work.”

Other schools, like The Hit Music Studio in Davie, made the move to virtual learning early on. Director Diego Carvajal had to go out of town at the beginning of March, and by the time he returned, he knew things were probably going to be bad.

“We took all of our customers and moved them into Zoom before [the lockdown],” said Carvajal. “I think it really helped us because, by the time the lockdown hit, our customers were already on Zoom.”

While the transition to online was the safest option for students, the new learning platform does present challenges. For example, some students take advantage of the remote environment.

“I have students that pretend that they cannot hear me, they’re playing games, they don’t want to do the work,” said Carvajal. “They can get away with a lot more than if you’re in the room.”

While singing and playing instruments can be done virtually, theater is one of the performing arts that is harder to do remotely. The process of training actors relies on being able to connect to other cast members on stage.

“There’s a certain connection with your scene partner that is so integral to the process,” said Lauren Formica, Program Director at Florida Children’s Theatre. “It loses some of that personal closeness.”

While some students may enjoy the online experience, others do not have the same reaction.

“Some people don’t find the virtual learning experience as effective as being in person,” said Pelsmajer.

Students that have disabilities can also find the virtual learning experience more challenging.

“The ones that have specific needs, the virtual thing can be a huge, almost obstacle,” said Carvajal.

When studios were allowed to open back up, things still did not revert to normalcy. Important changes had to be made to maintain the safety of staff and students.

“People aren’t sharing instruments like they used to,” said Pelsmajer. “All vocalists have to have their own microphones.”

At the Hit Music Studio, each teacher now has their own room for lessons. Teachers can only take their mask off “if they’re in their room.”

“We’re still doing social distance between each teacher and [student],” said Carvajal. “We’re also asking everyone to wear a mask inside the studio at all times.”

Florida Children’s Theatre opened up for summer camp in June, but with stricter regulations.

“We had three, 10 person groups of kids [for summer camp],” said Formica.

The casual studio atmosphere of walking in and having students hanging around is gone. As Pelsmajer and Carvajal explained, parents are being instructed to drop their kids off and leave.

“We’ve kind of done away with all of our lobby hang outs,” said Pelsmajer.

Five students perform while wearing masks onstage (Courtesy of School of Rock)

At the School of Rock, the students would put on a show every three to four months. A selected amount of guitarists, drummers, keyboardists, and singers would interchange between a song. Now with social distancing, the format of the show has changed.

“We can’t have 20 kids sitting together grouped next to each other anymore,” said Pelsmajer.

While many things have changed for studios, it has been an opportunity to try something that was not possible in the past.

“This whole situation has opened up an entirely new avenue for us to do make up lessons at [a] person’s convenience,” said Pelsmajer.

The virtual experience has also made it possible for those that have a busy lifestyle to still receive lessons.

“I think the convenience for families is huge,” said Caravajal. “It’s almost like the ability to be very efficient on the schedule.”

In some instances, it has allowed students to attend classes from far away without having to live in South Florida.

“We were able to have kids from different places in the country take class[es],” said Formica. “At one point we had a kid in New York.”

Although the situation has had positives and negatives, studios have been doing everything they can to make sure students still get something out of class.

“I’ve just tried to do the best I can, so everybody can still maintain their experience,” said Formica.