In order for you to be able to have your drum lessons online in your own home, there are a number of ways you can do it depending on what equipment you have at your disposal.

 

 

What Equipment Will You Need

 

• A device capable of capturing video/audio.
  (It would help if you have a floor stand to mount it on so that it is steady and can be easily moved)

• A reliable and high-speed Broadband connection.

• A Speaker to play all music/backing tracks/metronome through, so I can hear them. If you are using electronic drums, then
  you can connect your separate music playing device to them via an 'aux' or 'mix in' input which should be labelled on the drums module.

• For ELECTRONIC DRUMS, if you ususally play them through headphones, you will need an amplifier so that I can hear them.

• I use Spotify in my lessons for any new music I want a student to play along to, so access to Spotify or a similar music streaming service would be helpful.

 

 

 

FaceTime/Whatsapp/Skype/Zoom/Facebook - Which Option is Best?

FaceTime is my prefered platform, but if you do not have any Apple devices, then I am happy to try others. So far, I have found Zoom and Facebook Messanger to be the most reliable. (With Zoom you will need to change a sound setting which I can talk you through)

 

 

 

Will The Microphone/Camera in Your Device Be Good Enough?
 

• Microphone - the quality of the device internal microphone is
  probably more important. There are various online tools to
  measure the recording quality of both microphone and camera
  on your device and they will suggest if there are any settings you
  may be able to change to improve it
  I would suggest you use the following link to perform
  this test: https://tokbox.com/developer/tools/precall/

• Camera - the camera will need to capture an image similar
  to the one in the picture to the right. Ideally a side view, but it
  can be either side, as long as it overlooks most of the drum kit
  and at least the lower arms/sticks of the student.Bear in mind
  also that the device will need to be close enough that the student
  can see me on their screen, should I need to demonstrate 
  anything for them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Will It Make A Difference If You're Using Electronic/Acoustic Drums

In short, no. The main issue will be trying to transmit a balance of the different sound sources down your recording device to me so that I can hear both the drums (acoustic or electronic) and either the metronome/backing tracks. Please bear in mind the following:

• ​Apart from acoustic drums, if there is more than one sound source, it will helpIf if all speakers/amplifiers have a degree of flexibility with their positioning to help get the right balance of sounds coming through at my end. ​
  (To help me hear better, I might ask you to move one of them further away/closer to the microphone for example)

• For acoustic drums, it may help to use some dampening - in its simplest form, this is using bits of tape and rolled up loo roll or towels on the drums. Cymbal dampening is a little trickier but here are a couiple of video that demonstrates these techniques:
  
  
  
  
  
  
   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Note On Safeguarding
In order to follow the best Safeguarding procedures, I would request that whichever video calling app is being used, MUST be controlled and accessed via a parents account and NOT a students own account. Should any new resources be needed for a lesson, I will email them in advance to the parent. I'm sure you will understand that Safeguarding is just as important to consider in your own homes as it would be in school.