SKYPE WEBCAM LESSONS

With the power of the internet, a webcam, and free easy-to-use video chat software, we now have the ability to have face-to-face klezmer fiddle lessons from the convenience of your home. This new technology has made it possible for anyone to get lessons from anywhere in the world. The best part is that you might already have all the equipment you need to get going.

There are many people who lack the ability to have lessons through traditional means, due to work and family schedule or geographic location. Webcam lessons can be incredibly effective. The lessons work just like traditional lessons: we schedule a time, but instead of meeting at my teaching studio we meet online through a video chat. It's quasi-Jetsonian! After a few minutes, you’ll feel like we’re sitting across the table from each other.

You will need:

a computer with internet connection

free Skype video chat software

a webcam

OK! let's get started...

1. Your Computer and Internet Connection

Any broadband internet connection will work great: cable, DSL, satellite, etc. All of these have enough speed to deliver and receive high-quality audio and video for your lesson. The only internet connection that won't work is old-fashioned dial-up.

2. 2.Download and Install Skype (it's Free!)
   

Skype is a free program that allows voice and video chat. It works like a telephone, but it includes voice and video. Instead of dialing a phone number, you call a person through their username.

My username for Skype is krywanoga.

3. Get a Webcam

The Skype website says: "Most PC-compatible webcams should work with Skype, however some older models may not work."  Check out Skype's list of recommended webcams.

For Mac users, your newer Mac usually has an iSight camera built-in.

4. 4.Send me a contact request via Skype. If you are new to Skype and need some help, please send me an email.
   

THERE ARE OTHER WEB PROGRAMS AVAILABLE FOR WEBCAM LESSONS LIKE ICHAT AND FACETIME.  PLEASE CONTACT ME REGARDING THE DETAILS OF SETTING THESE UP.

Username: krywanoga

Krywawa- what? Krywanoga (say kree-va-NOH-gah) is the Polish spelling of my family’s original Russian name.  My grandfather and his entire family ditched it when they arrived in the USA in the 1920’s.  It translates roughly to “crooked foot.” 

There is some evidence that Hoffman was my great-grandmother’s maiden name, though nobody is sure... Until not too long ago, Jews in Eastern Europe didn’t have surnames, which made taxation difficult, so it was decided at various times in various places to assign surnames. Previously, Jews in Eastern Europe used their Hebrew names, which consisted of their first name and the name of their father. For example, my Hebrew name is Daniel ben (son of) Mordechai.

I wasn’t there, so this is how I imagine it went down: My great-great or perhaps great-great-great grandfather, who walked with a limp due to a childhood accident with a clarinet player, didn’t have enough money for the “tax” traditionally paid to the Czar’s clerk who was handing out surnames that day.  So instead of a fancy name like Goldberg or Silverstein, he got Krywanoga, which is a bit of an insult.