4.3.3 Tools used during sessions
When the project was shifted online, it was decided to send instruments
to participants’ homes, to allow them a rich and varied experience.
Instrument choices were made according to their needs and interests, in
collaboration with a student facilitator, parents, and participants
themselves during a preliminary session of the Extra-Ordinary
Music Camp . The delay between choosing and ordering instruments and
their arrival, however, led to the project starting without instruments.
This unforeseen delay, lasting up to three weeks in some cases, meant
that creativity was required in session leaders, creating or modifying
activities to incorporate material found in participants’ homes. In
fact, the instruments’ late delivery also brought some unanticipated
benefits. Firstly, session leaders report that they could address
technical and questions and initiate a session routine without the
distractions generated by the presence of instruments. The routine and
session interactions were thus learned and integrated before the more
complex learning of musical instruments. As well, delivery of
instruments after a few sessions generated momentum for many
participants, serving to solidify interest in the music camp. What could
at first have been considered a hindrance, then, may have become a
factor of perseverance, perhaps even contributing to the fact that no
participants abandoned the project unfinished. Indeed, the late
instrument delivery engendered continuous learning, the participants
first acquiring skills for remote learning and acquainting themselves
with the session leader and routines, before learning to use musical
instruments, which involves new cognitive and motor abilities.
As well, several tools facilitated online teaching for session leaders,
who worked from their homes. A fisheye lens, for example, allowed a
wide-angle view of the room, reducing the manipulations needed (e.g.
moving the computer camera, moving to the back of the room, etc.) to
maintain an optimal viewing angle. Headphones were also essential, to
ensure confidentiality, to benefit from high sound quality and avoid
audio feedback and echo, and to diminish background noise. Headphones
can also help hold youths’ attention during sessions. Finally,
pictograms were useful for anchoring sessions and supporting
comprehension, particularly with younger participants and in the first
weeks of the project. However, as the participants became accustomed to
the session structure, material, activities, and leaders, pictograms
were used less and less, up to their elimination entirely for certain
participants who no longer needed them and who responded well to verbal
and gestural instructions. Gestures thus became the new visual cues,
more culturally valid and transferable to daily life than pictograms for
participants whose development and preferences allowed their use.