Like most of us, Ethan Fiks has had to respond creatively to the new reality of the Coronavirus.
Ethan has been teaching my nine-year-old-son, Travis, guitar for the past year and a half. Travis went from not being able to play guitar to now playing songs like “Stray Cat Strut” and “Wonderwall.”
We go to Ethan’s house on East 16th Street, just off Cortelyou, in Ditmas Park for lessons. I’m more of a chaperon than anything else. My main challenge is getting Travis to suspend his ongoing stand-up act during the lesson, or to stop spinning around in his stool.
“Travis, stop spinning. Look at the music sheet,” I say. Initially, Ethan needed parental support. But now I think Travis takes the lessons seriously and focuses well.
What I love about Ethan is that, despite Travis’s attempts to sidetrack his instruction, the sheet of music sitting on the stand remains Ethan’s focal point. “OK, let’s do the chorus now,” he says, gently but matter-of-factly, bringing Travis’s attention back to the lesson after a joke or two.
But this past week, everything has changed. Due to the requirement for social distancing, we’re now taking lessons via FaceTime.
This past Sunday, we set up an iPad, using a stand to point the video camera at Travis, and displayed Ethan’s video on our smart TV using wireless HDMI. Ethan can see Travis’s hands and listen to his execution, making sure he hit the 7th on the G7 chord or correctly barred a minor chord.
“I think you’re playing on the wrong fret,” says Ethan, correcting Travis’s playing of “Stray Cat Strut.” Travis moves one position down and voila, the song sounds right.
After the lesson, my wife, Arielle, Travis and I talk to Ethan. “That seemed to go pretty well,” says Arlelle.
“I agree. That was great,” says Ethan. “I could hear everything he was playing. I could even see his hands.”
“And we don’t have to tell him to stop spinning on the stool,” I add. We all laugh a bit.
After teaching in New York CIty since 1997, Ethan, like so many others dealing with COVID-19, has had to find a new way to do things. “Not all of my students have moved to online lessons yet,” he said.
“Do you think this might change the way you teach going forward?” I asked.
“Well, I have friends that live in NYC and teach people all around the world, so yes,” he replied. “And we don’t know how long this will continue.”
We’re always running late to Ethan’s house. Being able to take the lessons remotely is a great advantage. Now we don’t have to run out of the house bedraggled and unkempt to make an 11 am appointment. Travis can sit on the couch and do his lesson while we shuffle about, make breakfast and get ready for the day.
Of course, the fact that I’m a guitar player means I’m not able to watch or to listen or provide any instruction. “You do things differently from the way Ethan does stuff,” says Travis after I try to help him with “Stray Cat Strut.”
I sigh and back off, wishing I could be more helpful. Perhaps not now, but maybe someday.
In the meantime, we’ll continue doing lessons online with Ethan for now. I suspect we will keep doing lessons online even after all of this is over. We will at least have the option.
See more info on Ethan Fiks at ethanfiks.com. Mike Fiorito’s most recent book , Call Me Guido, was published in 2019 by Ovunque Siamo Press. His two short story collections, Hallucinating Huxley and Freud’s Haberdashery Habit, were published by Alien Buddha Press. He is a regular contributor to The Red Hook Star-Revue. Visit callmeguido.com.
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I studied with Ethan in the late ‘90’s at the National Guitar Workshop and found him to be a gifted music teacher. Remote instruction can be very effective, in some ways both more efficient and effective as in person instruction. I hope those who have been taking lessons will continue remotely if that option is available. And when music venues reopen, please support live music and working musicians.