In the times of the COVID isolation, Strat and Lyndal have found themselves in demand to present workshops online. This has stimulated thought and discussion about participants seeking social connection and a meaningful music making experience online, how to meet everyone’s needs and get around the various obstacles including the inability for all to play together due to lag.

Their online workshops may involve preparing tutorial videos and recordings, so a big group sound can be heard and played along with by participants. It usually involves periods of socialising as well as a very tight script so the whole workshop can be condensed into a smaller time frame to allow for the additional concentration required when working via the screen.

Sometimes the online workshop can be a fun celebration as in the ‘Grand Iso Parade’ for CMVic’s Grantville Online requiring costumes and dancing; and sometimes it is a tune-learning opportunity with sheet music and videos available ahead of the workshop.

In this new way of working Strat and Lyndal have discovered advantages – like not having to travel long distances and connecting globally – but are also acutely aware of the ‘technology gap’ and thinking about ways to include people for whom, for a whole raft of reasons, it does not suit.