Virtual Electronic Music School
This chapter discusses how an electronic music school works in a post-COVID world. The chapter gives models for teaching online and in person while following social distancing requirements. The text reflects on teaching techniques that are impossible during a pandemic and introduces strategies for adapting to remote instruction. The disruption caused by the pandemic has forced reassessment of long-standing assumptions and may even foment valuable changes. For example, since large-ensemble rehearsal and performance are difficult or impossible to do remotely, music educators in the United States have both the obligation and the opportunity to compare their practices with those of other English-speaking countries that have de-emphasized large teacher-directed ensembles. The chapter compares synchronous and asynchronous approaches to online teaching and proposes online formats like livestreaming. Finally, in cases where face-to-face interaction is limited or impossible, the chapter presents the concept of an online community of practice and existing examples of such communities.