'Piece Of Normalcy': Music Students Keep Rocking During Pandemic

MEDFORD, MA — Two years after starting LB Music School in Medford, Lauren Bateman found herself in a nightmare – a car crashed through the front of the building, causing extensive damage and forcing her business from its home. Within a year, she opened a new location across the street, parlaying her success there into two more schools in Wakefield and Lynn.

Now, LB Music School faces a new challenge: the coronavirus pandemic, which has made in-person music lessons impossible. The shutdown forced its entire operation – 23 instructors, two front administrators and 475-500 students – online, where it holds music lessons over Zoom video chat.

Bateman estimates about 70-75 percent of the school's students have remained enrolled in virtual lessons. There are some drawbacks, like relying on a sometimes inconsistent internet connection and having to tell, rather than show, where to play on an instrument. But the teachers have been "shocked" by how attentive the students are, Bateman said.

"It's something new and technology based, so I think kids are finding it fun," Bateman told Patch.

The lessons also give working parents an outlet to connect with their kids' achievements, said Bateman.

"Some parents have said for them it's nice to have that one piece of normalcy, that one thing they're still doing every week. You know, Tuesday at 4 o'clock is piano," she said. "They actually get to hear the kids more. I think for parents it's been a plus because they've been able to see more of what the kids are working on."

See how LB Music School holds lessons during the shutdown: