The Effectiveness of and Issues Relating to Remote Non-Face-to-Face Lessons on Singing with Simultaneous Piano Self-Accompaniment

Some 20 students were taught to sing and simultaneously accompany themselves on the piano using remote non-face to-face lessons assisted by the use of model performances recorded on DVDs. The performances of each student before and after the lessons were compared and analyzed. The analysis indicated that improvements were made in many aspects of performance on which the instructor had given advice. It also revealed that those students who had developed a good appreciation of their own performance, from the combination of the instructor’s advice and study of the model performances, had made dramatic progress.However, it was also found that in certain respects these remote non-face-to-face lessons were not fully effective. We concluded that, to ensure the quality of the learning of simultaneous piano playing and singing, it is necessary to: improve the non-face-to-face instruction method; to complement it with some face-to-face lessons; to help students develop their performance image and develop a better appreciation of music from the model performances of music in the e-learning educational material; to help them check their fingering from e-learning material, which includes annotated musical scores; and to update the e-learning material periodically.