PREPARING FOR YOUR LIVE ONLINE LESSON

• Find a quiet place that is free of background noise and any other potential distractions.

• Tune your instrument before your lesson. If you don't know how to, check with your tutor or use an online tuner:

  • Online tuner: https://tuner.ninja

  • Guitar tuner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Efr8srjXsDs 

  • OR https://micguitar.com

• Prepare all your music and any other accessories you may need (e.g., picks and capo for guitarists, rosin for string instruments).

• Your tutor may ask you to send pictures or scans of your music and/or theory homework (if applicable) before the lesson.

• To make it easier for our tutor/s to find you, upload a clear, close up photo of yourself as your profile photo and your first and/or last names as your Skype name. 

• Log in to Skype 5 minutes before your scheduled lesson time to check your video and audio is up and running.

• Position your camera to ensure a full view of your instrument and hands. The ideal view is from the side, rather than the front.

• For group lessons, check you can mute and unmute your device's microphone.

• Please wait for your tutor to initiate the call, as lessons often run back to back.

TROUBLESHOOTING

• Restart or update Skype. Newer versions may only be compatible with each other.

• Check the Skype Status page. The site will tell you if there are any reported issues across Skype.

• Can't find your tutor or can’t see your tutor’s details in your contacts? Check the Blocked Contacts list. Make sure your Privacy Settings allow calls from anyone: Scroll down to the Settings and preferences drop down and select Edit profile. Select Profile settings and uncheck Appear in search results.

• Screen too dark? Make sure you don't have a window behind you since the camera will expose for the bright window, leaving you appearing dark.

• Background blurred? This is a built-in feature on Skype. We recommend all students to turn this off before starting lessons.

• Issues with sound? Make sure your device's microphone isn't too close to your instrument, which will distort the sound, or too far, which makes it challenging to hear your teacher speak. Make sure you get your microphone or audio interface correctly set up in the Sound Settings (Go to ‘Skype’ > ‘Audio & Video Settings’ and select the correct microphone, check volumes, and make test calls to test the Audio) or the Control Panel of your computer.

• Using a Chromebook? The Skype App is now available to download on a Chromebook. If that doesn’t work, try running Skype for Web in your Chrome browser: Click here to open Skype for Web, press ‘Chat now’ and log in with your Microsoft Account.