Having a solid connection to the network is critical to a good sounding video, that doesn’t freeze, or have other audio problems.

Cabled connection! If at all possible, you should use an Ethernet cable to connect to the network. If you must use WiFi, please ensure that others in your household are not on network devices during your performance.

Why is WiFi bad? WiFi is a party line- every device using it takes some of the bandwidth out of the available pool. So, if you’re on Zoom, your partner is browsing the web, you have a child playing online games, and another child warming up lunch in the microwave… this will reduce the amount of bandwidth available. Yes, home appliances and the walls of your home can interfere with the signal!

How fast is your network? It is important to check your Upload speed. The minimum Upload speed for a decent music performance is around 2.5Mbps (slower is possible, too; but you may have skips, jumps, and freezes in your feed). You can check your network speed at www.speedtest.net. (Note: Speedtest reports on your DOWNLOAD speed first. Unfortunately, this figure isn’t helpful in this context. Just wait a moment after the Download speed is reported, and you’ll have your figure for your Upload speed.)