COVID-19 SAFETY

 
 

I don't think many of us thought in September of 2019 that the 2020 School year and study year would have ended as it did! Like all industries, music and piano lessons shifted their format in response to the COVID-19 pandemic that took us all by surprises. At RPI we have a diverse client base, with many different family dynamics and sizes, and also a number of people in our teaching circle who are much at much higher risk of severe complications due to COVID-19

In response, Gabriel and I have had to look at our approach to the return to teaching and how we interact with each family. We stumbled upon an interesting issue in working on our scheduling this year. Many families want only virtual lessons while some families want to get back to in person lessons as soon as possible. A number of our families have had regular lessons in their home for years which allowed us to construct efficient routes to provide lessons for those in a specific region each day. However, we discovered that it is very difficult to do both in person lesson and virtual lessons in the same day as the virtual lessons cannot be conducted from the car. We are responding to this and trying to organize our time so that each family has their needs best met.

YOUR PART-During the Lesson

To ensure that all parties are safe for their lessons this year, we would ask the following for each home we travel to:

  1. The piano to be cleaned with an alcohol based sanitizer before the lesson;

  2. Students should be prepared to wear masks for each lesson(please practice in advance so that especially the little ones are used to it);

  3. Hand Sanitizer should be set up in each studio so it can be used throughout the lesson if necessary by the instructor;

  4. Please be set up for each student so that we can sit back 2m from the piano. If we have to work with little students we will do so the best we can and limit the amount of hands on contact as much as possible.

  5. Please have hand sanitizer in the bathroom so that if nature calls we can use it after washing our hands.

OUR PART-During the lesson

  1. We will wear masks to all lessons, and abide by social distancing protocols at all times.

  2. If we must demonstrate we will ask to switch at the instrument with the student to demonstrate, and then return to our seat.

  3. We will sanitize our hands prior to entering your home each lesson.

COMMUNICATION-All of us

  1. All teachers and families and students are to follow the same guidelines and screening tool as the back to school guidelines as set out by Ottawa public health: https://secureforms.ottawapublichealth.ca/School-Health-Sante-scolaire/COVID-19-Screening-Tool-for-Students

  2. If anyone in the family comes down with any illness please let us know and cancel the lesson immediately, we will switch over to virtual learning until the symptoms are resolved or until 24 hours after the results of the COVID-19 test.

  3. If we are sick, we will switch to virtual lesson until 24 hours after our test or until after our symptoms have subsided. We won’t travel and teach when we are under the weather!

  4. If there is a case in the child’s cohort please let us know as this will also have proceed in a virtual process until the symptoms are resolved.

  5. Please make sure that all families are set up properly for virtual lessons including proper equipment as regardless of the chosen format this year, we will inevitably all be doing lessons virtually at some point this year.

VIRTUAL EQUIPMENT

  1. The Best set up requires a high quality microphone and good picture and also a good set of speakers to enhance the sounds, as after all music is sound, and tone production is critical in good pianistic playing.

    Our Recommendations are the Blue Yeti USB microphone connected to a good laptop or computer. I run mine to my iMac and it works great. I think one of the best bangs for the buck are the Bose Companion 2 Series iii speakers that a number of students are using. They really up the audio quality and you can feel the tone of the piano. For internet speed please get as much as is economically feasible, and make sure in all classes and performances to “turn on original sound” on ZOOM!

COVID-19 MAKE UP LESSONS

  1. Any lesson which is missed for illness will NOT be made up. As you can imagine, this would create an impossible situation given the number of times children are symptomatic of something. This year we have to be very strict to ensure all of our safety. The best way to make sure every lesson occurs this year, is by virtual means. Our biggest priority is the over all health and safety of all of us, so we will have to proceed in a manner in which allows us to move forward during the year smoothly.

    We are so excited to be working with each family and watching each student grow and progress in their studies. We also understand how important our role is in the mental health and inspiration of each student. We will strive to help the students aspire and achieve great things even in very challenging times.

Best to you all

Ryan Phelps-Director

Honours.B.Mus, ATCL Trinity College London UK.