Recording students, Posting to YouTube

After posting  my students’ Jingle Bell variations, someone asked me to elaborate on how I record my students and then post to YouTube. There are a number of great posts out there about recording your students, so I’ll just give you the fast and easy method of recording video!

1. I record video of my students with my digital camera.  Most digital cameras take digital videos these days.  Some restrict the amount of time you can record a student, but the newer cameras usually allow for as long of a video as your memory card will hold.
2. I download my video from my camera to my computer. I like to use the free software called Picasa to store all of my photos and videos.
3. I edit my recording on Windows Movie Maker, though you can do a bit of editing with Picasa as well.  Within the Movie Maker, you can upload the video from your camera and cut and paste it into a linear movie line where you can also add intros, captions, endings, etc.
4. I upload my video to YouTube.  You must first have an account on YouTube to do this.  This is especially easy if you have gmail address.
5. I add captions using YouTube.  YouTube will allow you to add captions and make minor edits to your video before allowing others to see it.
6. Once the video is on YouTube, you can copy and paste the html that allows your website to “air” your video.  You can “air” any video on your website that is hosted on YouTube.

Here are some things that you need to consider before posting videos online:

1. Privacy.  I protect my student’s privacy by only showing their hands playing  the piano and by only using their first names.  Many parents, including myself, would be very unhappy if they saw a video of their child on YouTube and had not given permission to post it.  Be careful to protect the privacy of your students.
2. Copyright.  Most music published in the last 70 years is still under copyright (copyright extends from the lifetime of the composer life plus 70 years), so you must be careful not to post full recordings of current composers without consent from who owns the copyright (which is usually the publishing company).  You’ll notice that I have only posted recordings of my own student’s variations of a public domain tune.  Posting performances of “classical” music is a bit less problematic since most of the classical composer’s music is in the public domain and its just the editions of printed music that are copyright.  Be careful with early 20th Century composers though as their works may still be copyright.
3. Duration and File Size. Youtube has limits as to the size of the file being uploaded (2 GB or 10 minutes), so it is better to take short videos and upload them than one long video.  Of course, you can always edit your video after the fact.  Most readers will only watch a 2-3 minute video with interest, so plan accordingly.

I hope this helps.  It’s a very scaled down version of what can be done, but these days, what is fastest is often the best for me and I know is probably the case with many other teachers.