Art students struggle with online learning

HCM CITY – Students pursuing a career in arts often face problems when switching from face-to-face to online learning.

As art students’ opportunity to practice has decreased during social distancing, they need to make a lot of effort in order to keep their “fire” going.

Trần Vỹ Thái in HCM City’s District 7 told the Tuổi Trẻ (Youth) newspaper that he has been practising singing via a computer, instead of the usual face-to-face, one-on-one session with his teachers, for nearly two months now.

Thái and his teachers exchange music lessons on Goggle Meet.

Bùi Xuân Nhi in District 12, a student vocalist at the HCM City Conservatory of Music, had to become familiar with online vocal lessons as well.

“I was initially sceptical at how effective online learning would be. Many shows were cancelled, which means that I have lost valuable opportunities to practise vocal and performance skills, so I need to do everything to keep the fire within me,” Nhi said.

As a student of the Faculty of Arts and Cultural Management at HCM City University of Culture, Nguyễn Trung Hếu from Thủ Đức City said that he has made a schedule to practise choreography at home these days.

Meritorious Artist Nguyễn Thị Ánh Tuyết from the music department of Nguyễn Tất Thành University acknowledged that online music lessons are not as good as those offline.

However, since the larger purpose of online education is to maintain students’ interest, it is crucial for some subjects to be conducted online. Choreography classes and ones with collective practice will resume after the social distancing period.

Trương Đức Cường, principal of the Đồng Nai College of Decorative Arts, said that depending on the nature of each subject, the school would consider if online training is necessary.

For instance, while computer-based design with accurate data can be learned online, subjects related to hand drawing or body measurement should only be done offline.

Some subjects require specific tools to conduct learning, such as pottery, making it inconvenient for students to study online if they don’t have their own workshop. VNS