As the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to intensify in the U.S. and across the world, we are making every effort to ensure the health and safety of our students, families, faculty, and staff.  We have also been monitoring closely the rapidly-changing recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and the school closings mandated by state government authorities.  As a result, all ISM private individual lessons will be held online only effective Monday, March 16th in an effort to protect the health and well-being of the ISM community.

All lessons will be conducted virtually through Skype, Zoom, Facetime or other video software at the same lesson time as scheduled. Your teacher will be in touch with you to coordinate the logistics. We are taking steps to ensure that we maintain the highest quality music instruction possible during these extraordinary circumstances. Providing this online learning alternative will ensure that our students continue practicing and keep their spirits up during a potentially difficult time.

For the best online lesson experience, please ensure that you take the following steps before your lesson begins:

  1. Make sure you have a tablet, laptop, or smartphone with a camera and video capability.
  2. Test the video and sound capability of your device.
  3. Make sure you have your online account information whether you use Skype/Zoom/Facetime BEFORE the first lesson.
  4. Subscribe to a broadband connection either through a wired service (such as Verizon FIOS) in combination with Wi-Fi, or a cellular data connection. In general, using Wi-Fi is faster than using wireless data from a cellphone carrier.  Some Internet Service Providers are offering special prices for high-speed Internet access during this time.  For instance, COMCAST has opened its Xfinity Wi-Fi Network for free nationally, and is offering two months of free internet to new, low-income customers.
  5. Please adjust the camera so that the student’s hands and instrument can be seen.
  6. If you are having any technical issues with online lessons, please call or email your teacher directly or contact the ISM administration. If you’d like to do a trial run with your teacher please let us know ahead of time.
  7. For students under 18, the parent or guardian must be present at the beginning and end of the lesson for check in and check out.

Early Childhood Music Classes, Group Make-ups and Ensembles: Our administration will be contacting you this week with information for how to shift all of our Group Classes online.

ISM faculty and staff are here to help you throughout this entire process. If you are having any trouble getting online to participate in a distance learning lesson, please write to

Bethesda Location:  administration@ismw.org

Potomac Location:  frontdesk@ismw.org

and we will be happy to assist you at any time!

We would like to thank you very much for your patience, support and your commitment to ISM during this difficult time.  We will miss seeing the smiles on the faces of our students and the laughter and music through the hallways.  We look forward to welcoming you back very soon!

Meanwhile, let’s keep MUSIC in our daily lives and keep our children’s education going!

Warm regards,

ISM Administration