Depending on where you know me from you will associate me with the technical world or the dance world, but often people do not know that I do both. Whichever world you know me from it always surprises people when they find out about my other life. I have danced since I was 4 and wanted to be a nuclear physicist when I was 6, so both of these worlds have been with me a long time. I also worked in the fitness industry as an aerobics/yoga/Pilates instructor for 20 years. I have a lot of friends who teach in these sectors and they are going to be facing a challenging time.
The pending isolation requirements means that very soon classes will not be able to be attended in person, so they have to be cancelled or move online. This is not an easy thing to do, there is much more complexity than just moving your regular Monday meeting online. So, using my day job skills, I’ve worked out the best way to teach dancing over an online conferencing platform. This blog post will go through the basic set up that will work with no extra equipment. If you want optional extras to improve the quality of your sound, video and set up then have a look at my other blog post https://swamphen.co.uk/new-blog/2020/3/23/optimise-your-dancingfitness-teaching-set-up-with-zoom If you don’t know how to download Zoom I’ll do a separate post explaining this process. I’ll put the links in here when the extra blog posts are up and running. I wanted to get this information out as soon as possible, so I thought I would start with the basic set up and work from there.
WHICH ONLINE PLATFORM TO USE?
Zoom is not the only option, but it is a good one that is well used and therefore already downloaded by a lot of people, so this is where we are going to start. Zoom allows you to hold sessions of up to 40 min for free. If you want to hold a longer session, you can but it costs a few pounds a month to upgrade your Zoom account to do this.
You will need to download Zoom and create an account. Once you have signed up to Zoom you can book a meeting at a specific time and a special URL (Uniform Resource Locator) will be generated by Zoom. This is the link to your class on Zoom. It will look something like this: https://us04web.zoom.us/j/470324602
Then all you need to do is email this to the people who you want in the class. I will cover how you get this link in more detail in a separate blog post.
Your students will also need to download Zoom, but this is very easy for them. When they click the Zoom link you have sent them by email they will be prompted to download Zoom (if it is not already installed) and they will be taken through the steps to do this.
Ok, so your class is now set up and waiting for you when the time comes. Now you need to set up your space and your computer, and those of your students.
WHERE TO SET UP
Ideally you need a space big enough to move around in and be about 3m away from your webcam. However, the reality is you will probably have to set up where you can, so do what you can. If you need to be closer to the camera, then you may have to move it and select if your feet or your torso is going to be shown.
WHERE TO PUT THE WEBCAM
You can either use the inbuilt webcam in your laptop or use an external one if you don’t have an inbuilt webcam. Both will work fine. I have found the best place to put your computer and webcam is about 3m away from you and either on the floor or on something that is kitchen worktop height. This will allow the picture to show your whole body. If it is higher up you don’t have to spend all your time crouching down to the floor to change your music. If it is on the floor, just be aware if you crouch down in front of your laptop you will be giving your class an in depth view of your crotch!
If you want to further optimise your set up then check out my other blog post https://swamphen.co.uk/new-blog/2020/3/23/optimise-your-dancingfitness-teaching-set-up-with-zoom
HOW TO PLAY MUSIC
You have to play your music on the laptop you are using Zoom on. You can do this with whatever programme you usually use.
Make sure the volume is very low or it will drown out your voice for the participants. On windows media player the volume of 3/100 works well for me.
Turn the volume on your computer up high so you can hear the music!
Or if you are on a Mac use Apple Music with the volume on its lowest setting.
Turn the volume on your computer up high so you can hear the music!
Your voice is still going to be quiet whilst the music is on, but you will be heard. If you want to make your voice louder, then the only option is to use an external microphone, have a look at this blog post for further details https://swamphen.co.uk/new-blog/2020/3/23/optimise-your-dancingfitness-teaching-set-up-with-zoom
ZOOM SETTINGS FOR CLASSES
There are many different ways to set up Zoom, but to allow you to see your students, have them see you and hear your music I suggest the following using my Einstein bear as a model. When the meeting is up and running:
1) At the bottom of the zoom screen click ‘share’
2) Click the tab at the top that says ‘advanced’
3) Choose ‘computer sound only’
4) At the bottom right hand side click ‘share’
If this is working you should have a green box at the top of your screen saying: ‘You are sharing computer sound’.
You also need to make sure that all the students are muted, or the sound and image will swap to them if they make a noise! To do this:
A) Click ‘manage participants’ at the bottom of the screen
B) In the pop up window on the right hand side click ‘Mute All’
C) To close this pop up window click the down arrow on the top left hand side and click ‘close’.
To end the session, click the ‘End Meeting’ in red text at the bottom right hand of your screen. When the pop-up window comes up click ‘End Meeting for All’.
WHAT WILL IT LOOK AND SOUND LIKE?
Using the basic set up described in this blog, here’s a quick video of what to expect:
To credit the music artist the song being played is Jonathan Coulton’s Code Monkey, his music is shared through the Creative Commons licence and you can find out more about him at https://www.jonathancoulton.com/ go check him out!
UNRELIABLE INTERNET CONNECTION
If you find your internet is coming in and out or freezing, try using an ethernet cable between your router and your laptop. If the issue was your Wi-Fi dropping out then this should solve that problem.
ISSUES WITH USING ONLINE PLATFORMS
There will be a delay between the music you hear and the music your students hear, this latency is caused by transmitting the signal over the internet. As you are looking at your class they are going to appear to be out of time with your music and out of time with each other by a second or so, because the delay between each student will be different. Just be aware of this as there is no group fix. To solve for one student at a time they could play the music on their laptop and share it with you.
I hope you have found this information useful and good luck! You may well find me on the other end of your online classes when you’re up and running. If you want to optimise your set up, then have a look at my next blog post https://swamphen.co.uk/new-blog/2020/3/23/optimise-your-dancingfitness-teaching-set-up-with-zoom
P.S. Yes, if you were wondering, that is a picture of me practicing my dancing at my grandparents when I was little!
CHANGES TO ZOOM UPDATE 09/07/2020
There have been a lot of changes to zoom since I wrote this article, and the changes are dependent on what version of zoom you are running and whether you are using a mac or windows.
Now the ‘share computer sound’ has disappeared for most people. If this has happened, you are actually better off now playing your music from an external speaker. Depending on the power and volume of your speaker will dictate where it needs to be, so have a play around with speaker positioning with a helpful friend on the other end of your zoom call to see what is best. With this option you may or may not be able to be heard over the music, so again, check your positioning or use a microphone.
If you are teaching tap, or something where noises need to be heard, you need to look at the ‘supress background noise settings’. Again these are different depending on which zoom you are using. For both get to the sound settings by pressing the arrow next to the mute button. If you can see the ‘Suppress background noise’ setting set it to low. Or go to the advanced sound settings, and turn off supress background noise. This will allow your taps to be heard and not removed as zoom thinks they are just background noise. This can also help with your voice being heard if you are struggling to get your voice above the music.