First Year of SB VMI in the Books

This marks the first school year at Shanti Bhavan with Virtual Music Instruction Lessons! The demand for private music lessons continues to grow, so we created opportunities for students to continue to study with professional musicians in private and small group lessons. We recruited 8 teachers with degrees and experience teaching music at various levels including the collegiate level. We currently have 9 hours of weekly instruction on Zoom offering voice, piano, flute, music production, and composition lessons to 17 students.

We asked our teachers to share some highlights:

“It has been wonderful to see how Supriya delights in marrying two things she loves: music and movement. Watching her "dance" as a conductor-- exploring the balance between foundational technique and personal style-- has been a lot of fun! Or seeing her reaction when she discovers something as "simple" as getting the left and right hands to move in different ways was always special. Despite the many miles between us, we have a great rapport as teacher and student which made it very easy to log in to Zoom every week”

“I was pleasantly surprised when one of my students took initiative in inquiring about/analyzing more complex rhythmic patterns - one that I would have saved for a much later lesson- and through curiosity and persistence, came away with a much stronger understanding of the relationship of note values and rhythm (we spent the whole lesson going over 5 - 6 different rhythmic patterns). Displaying self-sufficiency and advocacy for one's own learning is an amazing display of growth and it's always a joy to witness this firsthand.”

“I was so impressed by Arasu when he came to a lesson one week missing the second page of his bach prelude. He learned the whole second page of the piece during that lesson, bar by bar, by ear, and memorized it at once. (I told him the chords and figures one bar at a time)”

We asked teachers how this challenged their personal growth:

“This is my first time teaching conducting in a focused way to a high school student as well as my first time teaching it online! It was challenging to structure things-- and I'm not quite sure I had it figured out by the end of the year-- but I appreciate the ways in which this opportunity allowed me to think differently about a craft I have been steeped in for years and how to teach it to the next generation of leaders.”

“It is always a joy to work with Shanti Bhavan students. Their earnestness and desire for knowledge always re-inspires my teaching and I always find myself reconsidering the ways in which I can be a more helpful, understanding, and resourceful teacher for my students.”

“I remember this specifically because it showed me how modeling the proper path in many ways, and being patient with the students really works. A lot of times I would get in my head about teaching strategies, but this showed me that kids know how to learn a lot implicitly, it just takes the care of time to teach.”