LA GRANDE — Music teacher Carla Arnold is Central Elementary School’s go-to person for many technology questions related to distance education.

The educator, who helps put on workshops on distance education technology, delights in fielding queries about the subject, just as she does teaching students online.

Make no mistake, Arnold would prefer to instruct students in person, but when she has to do it virtually, she embraces the task with a zeal befitting her glass-is-always-half-full perspective.

“There are so many options for doing things (with distance education),” she said.

Arnold puts these options to the test each school day afternoon during meetings of the La Grande School District’s La Grande Fiddle Club, which is run in conjunction with the Grande Ronde Symphony. The club’s members meet online to play the violin, cello, bass and other related instruments under the guidance of Arnold, Grande Ronde Symphony members Denise Hattan and Kathy Thimmes, and additional educators. They deliver the instruction via the online meeting platform Zoom.

Central Elementary Principal Suzy Mayes credited Arnold with developing an excellent understanding of Zoom, which Central used earlier this school year when teachers could provide only online instruction due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Mayes said Arnold is so respected for her expertise that some teachers refer to her as Central’s “Zoom Queen.”

The pandemic restrictions still dictate that Arnold must lead her string club sessions virtually — but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Going online has helped the club not only survive but thrive. Prior to the pandemic, the club had a little more than 30 members and met once a week during the school year. Today, the club boasts 47 members and meets every school day afternoon.

Arnold attributed the club’s growing popularity to the fact students now have fewer activities, such as athletics, competing for their attention and time due to the pandemic.

“Kids have always been curious about playing stringed instruments. Because there are now no sports, our musicians don’t have to make choices between sports and music,” said Arnold, who credited Mayes and LG School District Director of Education Scott Carpenter with providing valuable support for the online Fiddle Club.

Arnold is thankful for distance technology because it gives the strings club a chance to continue meeting and helps fill a void when many feel isolated because necessary state COVID-19 rules restrict public gatherings.

“In these times especially we crave being with other people, especially the kids. On Zoom, we can laugh and giggle and tease and get teased and yet still hunker down and learn the fine art of playing such cool instruments,” said Arnold, who also now is providing in-person instruction to Central classes each school day.

Teaching music online can provide an advantage over in-person instruction because students can more easily focus on their teacher.

“Teachers can spotlight themselves so students can see up close demonstrations of playing or finger patterns,” Arnold said. “Having the focus on the teacher without the sounds of kids doodling on their instruments helps many students focus on the concept being demonstrated.”

Zoom also allows small groups of students to play together or receive individualized instruction in virtual breakout rooms, while Arnold teaches a large group. She said the breakout rooms are a great teaching tool. Arnold always assigns one student in a breakout room to be its leader.

“Kids like to be selected to be leaders,” she said. “It gives them a feeling of importance.”

A drawback to teaching music virtually is students, who are in their homes, don’t play instruments together. This means they aren’t able to hear the whole group at once, making it difficult to learn to carry their own part while hearing multiple parts, Arnold said.

Another shortcoming is students have to learn to tune their instruments themselves and are responsible for fixing broken strings and the like, which means they usually have to go to a local music store for repairs that otherwise could have been done in an in-person class.

Arnold enjoys teaching online, but said that she will always prefer providing in-person instruction. She said it makes it much easier to quickly respond to student needs.

“You can provide instant feedback,” Arnold said.

The educator noted, though, the move to make the string club virtual is proving so successful that an online school district Ukulele Club was recently added, which meets once a week and has 15 members. It is run with the help of Kate Dunlap, a Greenwood elementary music teacher, Jennifer Slippy, a Central counselor, and Sheldeen Yiftheg, a Central parent.

Arnold said the positive reception the district’s strings club has received after going online will influence how it operates once the pandemic is over, with the club likely to provide both in-person and online instruction.

“It will be a hybrid,” she said.

Of the club’s 47 members, 44 are in the La Grande School District and three are in the Imbler School District. The students are in grades three to five. Fiddle Club members make up the bulk of the Student Symphony. Arnold hopes that by keeping the virtual element in the future the club can be expanded to include students from other Union County school districts and those in Baker County.

“In these times especially we crave being with other people, especially the kids. On Zoom, we can laugh and giggle and tease and get teased and yet still hunker down and learn the fine art of playing such cool instruments.”

— Carla Arnold, Central Elementary School music teacher