January 2022
Has Your Ensemble Considered a Hybrid Meeting? Some ARS Groups Are Leading the Way
by Judy Smutek
During the COVID 19 pandemic, most ARS chapters, consorts and orchestras suspended in person meetings altogether. Many groups held virtual meetings in order to foster that feeling of community and keep playing music “together.” Forward-thinking ARS chapters have taken the next step from fully virtual meetings to “hybrid” meetings, where much of the group meets in person but welcomes online participants as well. After adjusting their tech setups in response to feedback from the online attendees, several ARS chapters in different parts of the country are regularly meeting in a hybrid fashion now. Should your own local chapter or consort consider doing the same?  

To gather information on this topic, I contacted several chapters to ask how they set up and conducted their hybrid meetings, and I summarized their responses. Read on to find out how hybrid meetings may be just what you need to feel like a playing group again. The technical challenges are less daunting than you might think.
Why Hold Hybrid Meetings?
Some recorder chapters picked up new virtual members in the past 18 months, even members who lived too far away to consider attending in person meetings. Other chapters have members whose health concerns or transportation options prevent them from attending meetings at the local venue. Yet some members want and are ready to meet in person again. To satisfy everyone, hybrid meetings have proven a viable alternative. As I write this, parts of the country are experiencing serious upticks in COVID cases, and the Omicron variant of the virus is currently a major cause for concern. Hybrid meetings present a real opportunity to keep playing together!
What Do You Need to Go Hybrid?
At a minimum, you’ll want to have these in place to hold a hybrid recorder gathering:
  • A meeting venue with internet connectivity and enough space to allow in person attendees to stay socially distant
  • A laptop computer with camera and microphone
  • One attendee whose Zoom account is used to schedule and start the meeting
More than one ARS chapter holds regular meetings with this minimalist setup, and the online attendees are happy with the result. 
For a better audio and video experience, you could add these to your equipment list:
  • A separate webcam attached to the computer
  • One or two microphones attached to the computer. A USB directional microphone can be purchased for well under $100, plus $20-30 for a mic stand. 
  • Tripod for the camera if you use a separate webcam will allow best positioning so zoom attendees can see the director. Remember, they won’t have a click track!
  • Small table for the computer and mic(s), if you have no stands or tripods
  • A separate speaker to allow online attendees to be heard when they comment or ask questions
Steps to Take Before the First Meeting - Highly Recommended!
  • Test your whole setup as you plan to use it at the meeting, with the help of one or two people
  • Consider the size and shape of your meeting room, as well as the size of your group, when placing the separate cameras, mics, and speakers 
  • Ensure that remote participants can see and hear the director (ask someone to participate in the test remotely and give you feedback) 
  • Ask an attendee/volunteer to monitor the chat stream or help remote participants with tech problems. If the group leader is technically savvy, s/he may be able to handle this while leading the meeting, but this is not always the case.
Specifics from the Groups Running Hybrid Sessions
As you’ll see below, these groups handle technology and logistics very differently, but in person and online attendees enjoy the experience.
Recorder Society of Long Island, New York (Rachel Begley, Music Director)
  • Our goal was for the online experience to be as enjoyable as possible… Attendance has been players 11-13 in person, 6-10 online.
  • Players joining us online generally do so 15 minutes before playing begins. They get online chit chat time!
  • People pre-print and bring their own music to the meetings.
  • Those attending in person have assigned seats, with seating arranged around the microphone so that the strongest players are closest to it. This ensures the virtual attendees have the best possible playing experience.
  • Part assignments are made ahead of time with assigned seating in mind.
  • Our camera is set up such that our virtual participants can see enough of the conductor to follow the gestures while also seeing about half the players in the room. We move the camera to the other side of the room for the second half of the session.
Dallas Recorder Society, Texas (David Podeschi, Chapter Representative)
  • Prior to arriving at the venue, I tested the setup home to home with our chapter president so that on arrival I could quickly plug everything in and work on fine tuning the view and sound.
  • I placed one mic in front of the players, elevated and pointed towards them…far enough away and elevated so that the first row of players wouldn’t dominate the sound. The goal was a balanced sound across all players.
  • The second mic was placed closer to the directors and pointed at him.
  • Our rather bright sounding and reverberant venue meant two mics were important, one that can be placed in a way that achieves a balanced sound to play along with and another to make the director loud and clear.
  • The second meeting...was easier to set up, having done it once. I moved the camera closer to the music director per the feedback that he was the only one “Zoomers” needed to see for playing
Renard Consort, Wisconsin (James Chaudoir, Music Director)
Group size 12-14, approximately half online.
  • We used the simplest of setups, a laptop computer with an internal camera and microphone.
  • Computer was placed so that online participants could see and hear in-person ensemble and director. 
  • No technical glitches. Online participants could see and hear well, unmute, and ask questions when the in-person group was not playing.
Bergen County Chapter, New Jersey (Mike O’Connor, Chapter Member)
  • We did this as an experiment and had only one member at home…We didn’t want to have a lot of people at home in case something went wrong. We had eight people in person.
  • We used the computer’s camera focused on the teacher, and that worked fine.
  • We used a professional quality mic attached to the computer… set for omnidirectional sound, and it worked well.
Recorders by the Bay, Wisconsin (Denise Jacobs, Music Director)
  • I had no mic or headphones. I sat at my piano with a laptop facing me on the left (on a tall kitchen stool which was the perfect height)... and played all or most of the parts for duets, trios and quartets on piano and switched to recorder when demonstrating something specific.
  • Another member had a Zoom account and offered to be the meeting host, turning host control over to the music director. 
  • Though we didn’t use a (separate) mic and were all wearing musician masks, the people at home said that they could hear us clearly.
Want to Learn More?
 If this article has piqued your interest, and you’d like to learn more, feel free to contact me, and I will put you in contact with the ARS members who helped with this article. You could also reach out directly to the chapters listed by contacting their representatives directly via the ARS website. From the website homepage, hover over the Our Community dropdown menu and select the Chapters option. You can search for specific chapters using the search function under the Find a Chapter link. Susan Burns, ARS Administrative Director, could also help you contact the chapter reps contributing to this article. As you can see, there’s more than one way to hold a hybrid playing meeting, and you don’t have to be a technical genius to do it.
Judy Smutek is an ARS Board member who heads the Communications Committee. She lives in Ann Arbor, MI.
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