GUIDE | GET READY FOR YOUR ONLINE SINGING LESSON ON ZOOM with Ronni Bailey

I am super excited to be able to offer Wilkes student’s one to one private singing lessons online over this lockdown period. I have been running my private teaching studio online since March and the lessons have been really successful. It is a great way of keeping the development and enjoyment of singing thriving when we are unable to meet in person. This is a great opportunity for our young developing singers at Wilkes to gain individual and focused singing advice specific to their own voice and level of ability.

For those who are feeling nervous about the lesson, please don’t worry, I will help you every step of the way and I want you to really enjoy your lesson and to help you build your confidence singing.

Have a think about what song you might want to sing. Something you would feel reasonably comfortable singing with me during your lesson. This can be a song you enjoy singing, a part of a song, or for our more advanced young singers you may want to choose a song you particularly want to work on or would like some advice about.

If you have no idea what to sing – this is ok too as I can find something to teach you during the lesson.

SET UP IN SHORT

You will need a good internet connection, video/web/phone camera, built in mic & good lighting. .
Zoom link access code and password.

RONNI | Online Singing Lesson With Ronni Bailey

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/644063523?pwd=bjc3N1VmOSs0MEZOYmQvUW1Ubm9BUT09

Meeting ID: 644 063 523

Passcode: 023225

3. You will need to be able to access Youtube / Google to play music and read lyrics from your side as well as see and hear me on ZOOM

SET UP IN MORE DETAIL & GETTING PREPARED FOR YOUR ONLINE LESSON

Here are some tips of how best you can prepare for your online singing lessons at RONNI.

You need a good internet connection. Plugging in direct to the router via ethernet works best when trying to create a good internet connection. However many of our students also log on via wifi successfully without any additional help needed during their lessons.

It can benefit to close any unnecessary programs or windows running on your computer.

Ask anyone else in your household to avoid downloading large files or streaming movies during your lesson to avoid a fight for bandwidth.

Camera & Mic | You will need to use a device that is connected to a camera and microphone.

Prepare your Video Screen Height | You will need to place your video call device (computer, iPad or mobile screen with audio & camera) so you can stand (or sit) as straight as possible and still see the screen. Try not to hunch over a screen.

Check you have good room light. Ideally in a well lit room with light aimed towards your face rather than a bright window light behind you which can sometimes make you look in shadow dark on the screen. Try different layouts to find your best set up.

Ideally in a Private Room for your lesson so there are no distractions.

Be Prepared | Have your water, lyrics, pens, highlighter, have your music/backing tracks ready or access you tube or music and lyrics as needed. Where possible in between lessons make a printed copy of your lyrics to the songs you are focusing on so you can write any notes and advice given during your lessons on them and highlight areas to focus on in your home practice. Keep these in a folder and bring to your online lesson each week.

IMPORTANT - PLAYING MUSIC & BACKING TRACKS

Ideally you will need to PLAY MUSIC FROM YOUR SIDE when singing to avoid latency (ECHO). Set up options are below.

Using Zoom on a Computer

FOR 1-1 sessions using Zoom on a Computer If you are using a computer/laptop to access zoom It is helpful to arrange your screen in two sections. Having Zoom open in one half and Google so you can access lyrics or you tube in the other section as the picture demonstrates. If you know in advance the song(s) you want to work on during your lesson, have your lyrics ready with any music tracks you may need to play available. Be prepared! I can also send specially tailored music files through the Zoom chat box this way as needed. This has proved very helpful.

FOR 1-1 sessions using Zoom on a Phone, tablet or Ipad you will need a 2nd device. Your 2nd devise (phone, iPad, tablet, laptop or computer) will need to be able to play your music / youtube / karaoke, tracks etc or look at lyrics from for whatever song(s) we are working on. This works equally successfully however you may wish to consider how any specially tailored tracks can be sent during a lesson if needed. Options can be agreed with students/parents individually as best suited or emailed direct to parents for students to have ready for their next lesson as needed.

CONNECTING TO ZOOM

Download the Zoom App for your device. If you a click on the Zoom meeting link I have sent you, you should be prompted to download and install Zoom and it should recognise what devise you are using. If you already have Zoom downloaded click join meeting and copy the link I sent you here to gain access.

Reminder: You will need a device with a camera and microphone available.

By clicking on the ‘Join Zoom Meeting’ link it should take you to the download page for ZOOM. If it does not download straight away….
Click download & run (B) and this should recognise which platform you are on. eg. Windows, Mac, Mobiles (hopefully)
If you already have ZOOM downloaded and it doesn’t open - click the ‘click here’ button (A) to launch Zoom.

Using the meeting link will take you straight to that meeting where you can wait in the waiting room until we are ready to begin

When joining it will ask you to ‘join using internet audio’ click this.

SETTINGS IN ZOOM

Settings in Zoom | If you have access to a PC or laptop you should be able to alter your settings as follows for a better Zoom experience. When Zoom is open:
- Go to the 'audio settings' via the arrow next to the ‘Mute’ button or by clicking the settings icon the 'Audio'.
- Untick ‘Automatically Adjust Microphone Volume’
- Go to ‘Advanced’ at the bottom of the audio settings page
  - Tick the box for “Show in-meeting option to “Enable Original Sound” from microphone”. This one is really important. Some of the software, designed to help speech, mistakes sustained notes as background hum and cuts them out.
  - Change both “Suppress Persistent Background Noise” and “Suppress Intermittent Background Noise” to disabled.
  - Makes sure “Echo Cancellation” is set to auto.
  - Be sure each of you choose “Turn on Original Sound” when you return to meeting.

ZOOM CHAT / SHARING FILES. Zoom chat is helpful if for any reason there is no sound so we can communicate and rectify. The Chat box is also useful for sharing any tailored audio files or documents between teacher and student. It can be helpful to have a download folder to save any shared files to for easy access at a later date. The sharing of files this way seems to work best when on a laptop/PC and not on iPads or phones.