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.