How to (Successfully) Run a Virtual Recital

Last week, our studio ran our first "virtual recital" via Zoom. We were, of course, worried about the nebulous and finicky nature of technology but decided that we could attempt it, if we set some ground rules for our participants.


Here were the ground rules we set for our musicians:

For folks who were tuning in to listen, we asked these things of them:

Here are a few more specifics:

-mute for iphones and computers is *typically* located on the bottom left corner of the screen. You simply click the microphone icon to mute or unmute.

-Ipads are different: the unmute/mute button is a + and - sign, located in the top right hand corner of the screen

-a person can either view folks through active speaker or gallery view. Active speaker is the person who is talking. In this "mode," the screen will rapidly flash between folks who are speaking, which can be chaotic BUT when someone is singing or active, it is ideal for watching that one person. Gallery view is displaying all participants at once in small windows. For computers, this option is available at the top right hand corner of the screen.

-Ipads are weird again: the display options are in the bottom left hand corner.

We learned a few things this first time through: that moderators (folks who launch the meeting) have the power to mute any participants upon entry to the chat. We discovered this about 20 minutes in and wished we had discovered it earlier as someone accidentally unmuted and interrupted a student's monologue. We also discovered that student's audio quality was much more unpredictable with 20+ people in a chat room. Thus, we will likely ask students to sing or act with some kind of plug-in mic, be it apple earbuds, if that is the only option. 

You can elect to "automatically record" a session on Zoom. We did this, but left our screen on gallery view so the archival video will not be the best for students. Next time, I will add another moderator and give them the task of muting folks who forget to mute whilst I record in active speaker mode.

We hope these tips enable YOU to run your own virtual recital, however imperfect it may be. This recital really lifted a lot of spirits and gave students something to work towards in these confined times.