Cultivating Mindfulness During the Online Music Lesson

If there is one thing that the global pandemic has taught me, it is that the relentless multi-tasking that has long dictated the cadence of my days does not always invite the best outcome or create the best version of myself. I have also conceded in recent months that the act of juggling countless “balls in the air” is not the point of pride that I have believed it to be. So, I am embarking on a quest to rediscover the lost art of single-tasking, and in that pursuit, I have found no better training ground than the online lesson. How easy it is during that Zoom session for the mind to drift to other tasks that we need to be doing, or frankly at times, would rather be doing. This certainly happens during in-person lessons as well. I have been teaching for over 30 years and have needed to call back my attention countless times. I even confess that there have been moments when a student has looked expectantly at me after playing a passage, only for me to realize that I did not hear what they just played. Thankfully, that is a rare occurrence and experienced teachers know that we can always say, “I would love to hear that one more time.” But online lessons take the challenge of focused engagement to another level for both teachers and students.

I had no experience teaching lessons online prior to the pandemic. I had never needed to, and although I knew friends and colleagues who ran successful online studios, I had dismissed it for myself as an insufficient pedagogical method that could not compare to my being in the room with the student to adjust a bow hold or play a passage with them to demonstrate bowing style. When my university had to initiate the quick pivot to online instruction in the early months of 2020 along with schools around the world, I grudgingly acquiesced. Now, although I still believe that a virtual lesson falls short in comparison to the close proximity teaching that has always served as the foundation of applied music instruction, I have learned that there is much that can be accomplished and even celebrated. Indeed, this instructional venue change has caused me to grow as a teacher, to adapt and devise creative solutions, and I am thankful for this opportunity to refresh my teaching and renew my commitment to music education.

But now many months later, after countless online meetings and lessons, I find that I still struggle at times with staying fully engaged in the lesson. And I know that I am not alone. If the flurry of online meetings has taught us anything, it is that we can “sneak away” to answer emails or write a grocery list, even as we face forward into a camera and feign total engagement. But unlike in some of the meetings that I have to attend, I want to be fully present for my students. They need that from me. They deserve that from me.

Mindfulness is a concept and practice that has gained much attention and exploration during recent years. I began to examine it in earnest because of some chronic pain issues I developed. Fortunately, I discovered Vidyamala Burch and her Breathworks organization. Vidyamala had suffered a series of accidents and surgeries in her youth that left her wheelchair bound and in chronic pain. Her experiences and mindfulness techniques have made a great impact on my life, and I continue to look for more ways to integrate them into my living and teaching.

I have never been prouder of the American String Teachers Association, of which I have been a member for almost 30 years, than when I was reading the guidelines they published over the summer to assist string teachers in navigating a return to teaching and saw so much space devoted to the mental health of students and teachers. I eagerly read the suggestions and began to work on ways to incorporate mindfulness and gratitude practices in my studio. As a result, I have added a section to my students’ weekly practice log that asks them to list three things that they have been grateful for in the past week. I have used this as a teachable moment to explain the research studies that have shown that the process of naming just three things each day for which we are grateful can rewire our brains to foster greater contentment and resiliency. What I find especially important is that these do not have to be lifechanging events or momentous declarations. Just the simple things. Each week, I love to read of the support my students are drawing from friends, from pets, from nature, and from coffee and chocolate. We start their lessons now by discussing both of our gratitude lists. We also talk about what has been hard during the past week. None of us have lived through a time with so much collective suffering and so many “Can’ts.” This mental health check-up at the beginning of the lesson provides a meaningful segue into the musical work we will do and shifts the focus for the teacher toward who we teach and not just what we teach.

Yet despite all of my efforts, I struggled through several online lessons yesterday. My To-Do List loomed long and insistent in its knocking on my mind’s door. My email box continued to amass as the minutes ticked by. And so, I felt restless because I wanted to do it all in that moment. I wanted to reject single-tasking for the more familiar juggling bout. Then, I called to myself, “Hey, this student needs you to be fully present. You need to be in this moment. The past is gone. The future is unknowable. What you have is now.”

I realize even more since 2020 that mindfulness does not exist as an achievement to be attained and then checked off a skills list. It remains a process. Like so many of the important aspects of our humanness, cultivating mindfulness requires a lifelong commitment. With that realization and acceptance, I am grateful that no matter how our minds become distracted or overstimulated, that we can still gently call ourselves back to the moment. What a beautiful act that is for us and for our students.