“To play without passion is inexcusable!”

Taking Theory and Musicianship Lessons Online

Theory and Musicianship lessons have traditionally been undertaken in one-on-one or group lessons in the same room as the teacher. This enabled the teacher to correct your work and discuss it in real time and for the teacher to see your working of examples as you did them, providing guidance along the way. Online tutorials abound, but they lack this real time feedback component. It is now possible to engage in live lessons via online video chat platforms and still take advantage of the instant feedback of a teacher.

Here's what you'll need to do this in my studio:
  1. A Zoom account - a free one is fine. https://zoom.us/
    1. I set up a regular ‘meeting’ on Zoom for each student; you will use the same link to join your 'meeting' (ie lesson) each week.
  2. A scanner or scanning app on your phone, so that you can send your completed work to me prior to the lesson, preferably as a pdf. I will correct your work on the screen during the lesson 
  3. Optional: An app that displays pdf files and allows you to annotate the file
    1. iPad users: ForScore is the go-to app for this. PiaScaore a free or lite version you could try, which has  many of the same features. MobileSheets is also available for iOS devices. 
    2. Android, Windows and Surface users: MobileSheetsPro is the best available. There is a free version for you to experiment with before you purchase the full app.
    3. There are many other apps for reading and annotating pdfs, and your device will most likely have one already installed. It may be adequate for your needs - you’ll only know by experimenting. Try scanning a page of your theory book as a pdf and then work on it in the app and you’ll soon see how easy it is to correct mistakes (or not), to change colours, to erase etc.
    4. A stylus for writing is usually much easier and more accurate than using your finger
    5. Phones are generally too small to work well, but might be ok in an emergency
Preparing for an online lesson
  1. Prior to your lesson, you need to either:
    1. make a pdf copy of your completed homework and email it to me, or,
    2. if you did your homework in the app, email it to me from the app as a pdf file (or a .msf file if you are using MobileSheetsPro)
  2. If you are working with pencil and paper, have your theory books, manuscript paper etc with you.
  3. If you do your work on a device, make sure you have any pdf files you might need during the lesson, eg
    1. a blank manuscript pdf file available for working examples during the lesson
    2. any pages scanned from your workbook that you know you will be working on during the lesson
    3. any past exam papers you have purchased that you are ready to work on
  4. Connect to the Zoom meeting - aim to do this a few minutes or so before your lesson is scheduled to begin:
    1. On your device, go to the reminder email from your teacher with the Zoom meeting link in it
    2. Click on the link or copy and paste it
    3. Alternatively you can go to the Zoom app and click on ‘join meeting’ and type in (or paste in) the sequence of numbers at the end of the link. After the first time you have joined this meeting, you will only need to type the first one or two digits and it will prompt you with the full number to join.
    4. If I am already on line, you’ll get straight into the meeting. If I’m not online yet, or I’m online but still in the previous student’s meeting, you’ll be taken to a waiting screen.
Let me know if you need any further information.

Brenda Hunting's Piano Studio, Shailer Park.
Mobile: 0413 290 982
brenda@brendahunting.com
PO Box 7352, Loganholme 4129

 

© Brenda Hunting 2025