Teaching students the piano during a partial lockdown has been a major learning curve for one teacher.

Alexandra Camilleri Gambin has spent the last three weeks trying to adjust to teaching her students virtually.

“I really miss talking with the students. Right now, we are just making the most time we have for the lesson,” she said.

The self-employed pianist said that since schools closed and the partial lockdown was implemented, she has been trying to continue her one-to-one and class lessons online.

Gambin manages to teach her 15 students, aged between five and 10, through Zoom video conferencing and its active whiteboards, to teach musical theory, notation and symbols. While her virtual teaching has evolved over the weeks, it has its practical limits.

“It’s hard to teach timing and rhythm over a phone. Then there are the audio issues when the student plays soft or loud and the background distractions.

“You can’t really tell when you are watching through a phone,” she said.

“We could be doing this for a couple of months yet, so I am trying to improve the teaching and find ways for students to continue their singing, clapping and sight reading. These are harder to practise.”

Parents have also become stand-in teachers for her students, keeping them focused and translating instructions.

What worries the teacher is how she will prepare her students for exams.

Her three Grade Two students were due to sit for their exams in March and April, but these have been cancelled. If they go ahead, the next set are expected to take place between October and November.