TEACHING AND SOCIAL DISTANCING

By Johanne James

Hello my dear readers and hope all is well and that you’re not going too crazy, or killing one another? Not yet anyway!

Today I shall be telling as to how I go about teaching, at a very respectable distance, so much so that I don’t even have to be in the same country! Lately I’ve been using Zoom, and I’m sure you’ve all heard of it or use it yourselves? Now this is wonderful for me, as I don’t have to leave the comfort of my living room and wish that all my teaching can be done this way. I must say though that it does have its drawbacks, in the sense that there is a little delay in the response and also that the mic on the tablet I’m using is very sensitive and can cut out once the playing starts. Also the screen can freeze now and then, but these are issues that can be resolved with technology that’s available. I shall be doing some investigation as to what is out there that will make my job that much easier, and we all want an easy life, do we not? I’m not using a drum kit, just a pad and some sticks, giving the students lots of rudiments to practice that will hopefully improve their technical ability and dexterity. It means them having to go away and work on what they’ve been given. Do they practice? Well, one student when asked that same question gleefully said “Yes”, and for how long? “15 minutes” A day I replied, “No sir, for the week”. And there you have it. Unfortunately this generation expect immediate results with the minimum of effort. They expect for it to fall into their laps. I’ve been asked more times than I care to remember, “How do I do a drum solo sir”? To which my reply is usually, “Son. You have more chance becoming the world’s first black female pope from Hackney who has learned plate spinning whilst making a five course meal at an exclusive cafe in Paris”! And walking a Staffordshire bull terrier in the midst of taming a Stegosaurus!”

Being at a distance may well become the norm as there is no end in sight, but as I have said before that no state is permanent, not even a bad one. We are now so afraid of getting close to one another that we dare not leave our houses! The funny thing is that the way the media have portrayed this virus I thought I was going to see dead bodies in the street and football stadiums and ice rinks also full of dead bodies! Where are they? More people die of preventative diseases on a daily basis. Anyway that is a topic for another day.

For now I say thanks for listening and take good care.

Johanne James


#social #distancing #stayhome #stayhealthy #headbangerslifetyle #hbls #awayoflife