This is an I-Heart podcast.

This is Solvable. I'm Malcolm Gladwell.

Occasionally we would get to go and break-out rooms on Zoom

and then just discuss our feelings about what's happening at the time.

And when the lockdown began, we were all devastated because singing was our life.

Sam is 12 years old, and like many kids, he's struggling with the restrictions COVID-19 has imposed on his life.

There's a lot of talk in the news about the impact of COVID on classroom education.

But for Sam and his friends, what they are missing is after school.

Ragazzi was like a sanctuary to go to at the end of the school day.

Ragazzi is a boys' choir based in California.

Sam's been singing in the group for seven years.

In pre-COVID times, he would rehearse twice a week for several hours each day.

But all of that came to a halt when COVID arrived in the U.S.

The choir was basically stuck.

If you've ever tried to sing something like

a happy birthday during a Zoom meeting,

you know what I'm talking about.

Making music sync up with other people

in real time over the internet is really tough.

The connectivity delays,

what they call latency, can be pretty awkward.

Give us the technical explanation of the problem your son was facing.

...