![\"photo](\"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Peter-Bok-and-his-erhu.jpeg\")
Peter Bok with his erhu. Photo courtesy of Peter Bok.<\/p><\/div>\n
Since most of his work relied on in-person activity, he\u2019s made a digital shift during lockdown.<\/p>\n
Bok\u2019s Cantonese opera lessons initially took place at a community centre with many of his students being retired adults. With the pandemic pausing his in-person lessons, he has been trying to move online. But he is facing some barriers and hesitations.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot many of my students would like to take online just because they think that face to face is much better for them to learn. Technically, some of the students may not have the device or computer or they don\u2019t have enough data to connect to the online lessons,\" he says.<\/p>\n
Bok hopes to bridge the gap for his students.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have the online training, but hopefully in the near future we would like to resolve the problem by teaching some of the students to learn how to use it so that they can continue to sing or their hobby,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
The age range of his erhu students is much wider, with the youngest being 8 years old and the oldest being 80 years old. He currently teaches erhu through FaceTime or WhatsApp, one of his students starting to learn during lockdown.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have one student, she just started learning from me online. We haven\u2019t met before. I think her progress is quite good and very amazing. The online lesson is very helpful for her because she doesn\u2019t need to go out,\u201d Bok explained.<\/p>\n
In the future, Bok believes he will add online lessons to his teaching methodology for the convenience of himself and his students.<\/p>\n
![\"photo](\"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Peter-Bok-and-his-students-500x281.jpeg\")
Peter Bok and fellow musicians. Photo courtesy of Peter Bok.<\/p><\/div>\n
\u201cI had one student living far away. I had to spend two hours driving over to his home to teach. You can imagine, one hour lesson, I have to spend nearly four hours on the way. It is not very fruitful for me as an instructor,\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n
He leaves some advice for musicians and music teachers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it is very important that she or he has to prepare to upgrade themselves to use the computer, the online system, so that when they come across any potential students, they can operate the online teaching at home.\u00a0 The other thing is they have to upgrade themselves to learn other things to well equip themselves,\" Bok says.<\/p>\n