zoom

Many leisure-time music groups are now using Zoom for their rehearsals, performances and other activities, and are finding that some of their members are having issues with the audio – either they can’t hear, or they can’t be heard, or both!

These issues are down to a mixture of reasons. Zoom works by picking up sounds at certain frequencies, and cuts out when the frequencies go outside of these limits. As we all continue to work and socialise even more online, our internet connections and devices struggle with the demands being placed on them. 

Musical director of St Helens Ladies’ Choir, Patricia Lewis, describes her journey from having very little technological knowledge to running her choral group on Zoom during the pandemic.

Background

After early retirement from running a busy school music department and working with operatic societies, in 2011 I started a daytime weekly ladies’ choir in St Helens where I live. Many of our members do not read music and were technically inexperienced. From within the big choir we have a smaller choral group which also performs separately.

What is Zoom?

Zoom is an online platform that allows you to have a meeting virtually, where every participant is in a seperate location, but they can still hear and see each other.

Do I need the internet to use it?

Zoom is most commonly used on a device connected to the internet, and if you want to see or be seen then you will need to be online. But you can also dial in to a meeting using a normal phone line, in this case the person on the telephone can hear and be heard but cannot see or be seen.

This resource covers how to use the online meeting platform Zoom for online instrumental rehearsals. To find out more about Zoom and how to set it up, read our Zoom: how it works resource. 

This resource covers how to use the online meeting platform Zoom for online choir rehearsals. To find out more about Zoom and how to set it up, read our Zoom: how it works resource.