We’ve always known our volunteer teachers would go to great lengths for their students. For three of our instructors this year, those lengths included teaching across state lines! University of Tennessee undergrads Matteo Sforza, Natalee Jobert and Karen Wemhoener all continued to teach their music lessons even after leaving Knoxville earlier in the year, thanks to the wonders of Zoom. “It’s been really awesome that they’ve not strayed from us even as they had to go home to be with their families,” says Ed Sublet, our Volunteer and Program Manager. “They’ve been so consistent for us. We appreciate that more than anything, because that’s the goal: to keep everything running as if we’re not in the middle of a pandemic.” Karen, a vocal performance major, taught piano lessons from her family’s home outside Dallas. “I was really glad to have it to do during quarantine,” she says. “It gave me something to focus on.” Her students are Olesia and Julissa. Natalee is a junior in industrial engineering. She went home to Cincinnati and continued piano lessons with students Emily and Aiden. She describes the online teaching experience as “weird” but she makes it work, often “miming” her instructions to students on camera because she can’t lean in and play the part herself on a keyboard as she would in a normal, in-person lesson. Matteo, who is studying supply chain management, taught drum lessons from family homes in Minnesota and Virginia for a while. It wasn’t hard, he says. Matteo and his student, Kaden, were able to keep the same schedule and carried on as if everything was normal. All three students are back in Knoxville now, but they’ll be heading out soon—and they’re more than willing to keep teaching remotely if it comes to that. We’re extremely grateful for their willingness to keep pitching in!