Staying Connected: Michael Ismerio on Teaching Fiddle Online

Michael Ismerio is a fiddler and teacher based near Asheville, North Carolina. He's been teaching fiddle online for a number of years, and he recently launched an online fiddle course through his website. He spent the past two years developing the online course, which happened to launch shortly before the coronavirus pandemic forced us all to stay home.

Over the last month, Ismerio has been hosting a free webinar on "The Secret to Old-Time Fiddling," which showcases his teaching method that uses mnemonics to learn various bowing patterns.

Ismerio's next webinar it tomorrow, May 12, but he will be hosting the webinars every two weeks for the time being. You can sign up for the webinar at michaelismerio.com/webinar-registration.

GBB conducted an interview with Ismerio for our last post, "Going Virtual: Old-Time Music in the Time of COVID-19," but his answers seemed worth publishing in full. The following is a transcript of our email conversation.

How did the idea of a fiddle webinar come about?

"The idea of moving my teaching online actually came about years ago as I realized I could only reach a limited number of people living where I live outside of Asheville in the mountains of Western North Carolina," Ismero said. "I really believe in my teaching method and knew that if I could create a system that works online, then I would be able to reach and serve a lot more people.

"I spent the last two years professionally filming and editing 40 instructional fiddle videos and building an online teaching platform on my website to house and organize the videos," he added. "The fact that my teaching platform went live a few months before the pandemic was pure coincidence.

"The webinar idea came about as a means of solving a challenge which is that most people don't know about my teaching method and how it differs from other teachers," he said. "In essence, the webinar is a no-cost opportunity for people to get to know me and see if they like how I teach and present information."

What challenges did you encounter in presenting in this format?

"In all my online teaching, the time lag has been the biggest challenge," Ismerio said. "I have taught for many years in person and have really focused on playing with my students at the same time in order to keep them focused and moving forward. With the time lapse inherent in video, I have had to adjust how I teach and do more call and response type teaching. I still have my students play along with me, but I have to mute their audio so that the sound doesn't cancel each other out.

"I also quickly realized that I could not do the webinar alone," he added, "so I brought in a co-host to moderate the webinar so that I could focus on delivering the content."

What is the value of providing online interactive events for the old-time community?

"The value I am providing is helping people use this unexpected space in their life to focus on rhythm and bowing and improving their overall fiddle technique," Ismerio said. "I also have a private Facebook group for my students to help build a sense of community between my students. I can imagine a lot of other value for interactive events for community building as well."

How could others benefit from following this example?

"The main benefits that I can see are encouraging folks to still find ways to share their gifts even while isolated," Ismerio said. "To stay connected with other human beings. And potentially to augment their unpredictable financial situation."

During the pandemic, Ismerio has been offering a "Stuck at Home Sale," where his online course and individual lessons are 50 percent off. The sale ends tomorrow after his webinar.