Using the lapel microphone

ASHLEY: Welcome! We are here today to talk about equity practices in education, and I'm here with Leon de Bruin, a Senior Lecturer in Music at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music.

Hi, Leon!

LEON: Hello, Ashley. Good to be here!

ASHLEY: Thank you for coming. Leon, before today, we were talking about using microphones in class as an equity practice in education. I wanted to start by asking if you started your career using a microphone.

LEON: No, no, I didn't. When I first started teaching, it was in the secondary education realm, so there were diverse practises going on there. I was an instrumental music teacher, so I taught one-to-one as well as small group tuition. But also taught large classrooms of maybe 25 to 28 students from year 7 through to year 12.

ASHLEY: And I'm guessing the secondary school didn't have a lot of money to give all the teachers lapel mics.

LEON: No, it didn't. So that was very much a case of using one's voice … strenuously. But I believe teaching is performative act. And for me, it's about moving around the classroom, engaging all of the students all of the time.

ASHLEY: You're a free-range academic.

LEON: Yeah, absolutely. That's right. Rather than just standing out the front, I am one that walks through the classroom, engaging students, looking at people's eyes and leading them through the ideas and the knowledge.

ASHLEY: Yeah, oh, I love that. So what helped you get started in using microphones?

LEON: So, that all changed when I came to higher education. And I found myself being able to use microphones.

We have lapel microphones here, and that was a revelation because it actually allowed me to continue walking through the class, being as engaging as I can. And ensuring that everyone could hear me.

ASHLEY: Yeah, no matter where you are in the class, the sound is the same.

LEON: Yes, although, the great thing about using a microphone is that you've got a wider palette of colours, which was, you can use your voice, you can still speak softly and everyone can still hear you.

You can use specific articulation or diction to emphasise certain points or concepts.

ASHLEY: Yeah, so there's people who say, I've got a big booming voice, I know how to project.

LEON: That's still valid but they could choose to sort of rest their voice a bit and use something quieter.

Absolutely. Why use white, grey, and black when you've got a whole rainbow of colours that you can use to really bring the knowledge alive?

ASHLEY: What did you notice changed because of your microphone use? You had already said you've got this really wide palette of colours. Was there anything else that you noticed as a difference?

LEON: I found that that students were continually attentive. They follow you around the room, but they're still able to hear you.

You can focus on a particular table and even perhaps with your back turned briefly, everyone can still hear you, everyone is still engaged and you can use the classroom as a stage. So to me, teaching is performative. And you can really use it effectively.

ASHLEY: And it might not come up as much in music, but I know, some people really do supplement their hearing with lip reading.

So, if you've got your back to someone having the, at least the consistent sound of a microphone would really help.

LEON: Mm mm! And certainly I have a range of students in my classrooms. Certainly people with particular needs, but also in international students with needs as well. So, having a clear voice coming through the microphone all of the time throughout the class means that all of their voice captioning devices will work really effectively, which is really important.

ASHLEY: And I liked something that we talked about before was that you said that with that wide palette of colours, you could use your voice to signify an important term, a new term, which would be good for international students, but really for any student who's learning new vocabulary as they go.

LEON: Absolutely, some students are listening to you and they're also reading a caption as well, so you're able to use your voice and emphasise certain things. And the concept will come through clearly.

And you're also cultivating reflexes in students. If they're listening to the ways that you are inflecting in certain ways, they know or almost automatically this is an important point because of the way that you're speaking and it's coming through at a certain pitch or a certain tone or a certain metre.

ASHLEY: And of course, we think about captioning software for hearing impaired students. We do think about these days, international students using it, but neurodivergent students also, I hear report using it, live remote captioning or just captioning to help them focus.

Do you have a lot of neurodivergent or any neurodivergent students, do you think?

LEON: Absolutely, I have several across my cohorts and it's proving really effective for them, which is great.

ASHLEY: This sounds like a practice that with just a little bit of getting used to tech, everyone can implement to really help their classes.

Just to conclude, did you want to give everyone watching one tip to take away from today?

LEON: Hmm, I would encourage people to use a lapel mic and explore the possibilities that kind of tech avails. Because yes, we can say we've got a booming voice, but you can do much more with much less and be much more impactful and effective, I think, in the classroom or lecture hall by using it.

ASHLEY: So the tip is, is an attitude change. It's a just, have an experimental or curious mindset or-

LEON: Absolutely! Be curious, be improvisational, adapt. And be open to engaging your listeners more actively.

ASHLEY: Well, we are so lucky to have you. Thank you, Leon.

LEON: Thank you, Ashley. Good to be here!