Mom’s making lemonade – what’s your excuse?

Over the last week, shelter-in-place restrictions due to Covid-19 have turned the work landscape upside down.

This is one story of how one person, given lemons, has made lemonade.

Mom turned 89 last week.  She has been a lifetime pianist, still does performances at senior homes several times each month, and has been teaching now for about 65 years, currently with about 5-10 weekly students.

The new workplace rules prevent in-person lessons, and as anyone who ever took piano lessons knows, skills deteriorate quickly.  This is not good when you’re a piano teacher.  You need your students to continue to move forward with their skills.

So, with guidance from a former piano student (now at MIT), Mom decided she would try to teach remotely.

And that is exactly what she’s done.

As she described it excitedly yesterday:

“It’s really very easy.  I’m using Chrome, and the Zoom app.  My students (aged 7-17) are quite capable of setting up a camera to show their hands on the keyboard.  I send them an invitation, give them the code, and off we go.  I see their hands, and they see me.  It actually works better for the younger students because they are forced to figure things out for themselves”.

Mom has successfully completed her first 5 online teaching sessions, with more to come.

She did not have this skill last week.

What barriers are you facing?  What’s your excuse? 

Love you, Mom.  And yes, I’m washing my hands.