Problems of oboe teaching in a time of the COVID-19 pandemic

In the modern world, there are an enormous number of changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This fact influences all areas and, in particular, music education. The connection between the pandemic and changes in music education related to oboe teaching will be considered in this work. The research investigates the correlation between music education (oboe teaching) and education modes (offline and online). This correlation was tested for veracity by using statistical analysis of data sets (Student and Shapiro-Wilk tests). These data sets were obtained using a survey that evaluated practice and theoretical skills. The participants were categorized into two distinct groups for this investigation: the control group, characterized by offline education during the experimental phase, and the experimental group, which encompassed both offline and online educational modalities. The survey contained different tasks that illustrated students' evaluations of their improvements in learning to play the oboe. A fundamental objective of this study involves substantiating the conjecture that online education, particularly in the context of the pandemic, exerts an adverse impact on oboe pedagogy. It was shown from the results (teachers' interviews) that some problems (like lack of connection with teachers, problems related to self-education, and students' cheating) have a negative impact on learning to play the oboe, especially on practice skills. However, most of the students evaluated their improvements at a high level, but this perspective lacked empirical basis. It should be noted that there was some improvement in theoretical knowledge, but almost all teachers thought this fact was related to cheating. It also should be noted that students evaluated their skills in the period of offline education lower than teachers.