Why online music lessons work

If you’re curious about it and wonder what it would be like to take some, this article might clear it up for you.

Online communication is our reality and an increasing number of education offerings are provided though the web. Music education is no exception to this phenomena. I think that challenge in online music education is to provide the student with a real music learning experience. For example, there are many online music offerings existing, but most offer just tutorials stuff and no feedback from an experienced teacher. We find that students deserve more. This is why to offer you a live and private music experience while keeping the challenges of its online delivery in mind.

Learning music live and online offers unique advantages

Online music lessons offer unique possibilities and advantages compared to offline-lessons. This channels allows not only for music lessons, but the provision of handouts, sheet music, sound files and much more. Teachers and students can be connected much easier and more often than seeing each other at school once a week. The internet quality improves daily making this teaching channel more and more relevant. Yet average teaching taken online does not make a difference by itself.  As professionals in music and music education we found this development ideal to start an online school offering more than traditional music teaching.

You may ask wether it is possible to learn music without a teacher being present in the same room. Our experience shows that it is!

Remote learning has a history, starting with remote university courses in the last century. Before the internet, remote learning was a paper based process. And it already existed for musicians: teachers and students would exchange audiotapes playing demonstrations an exercises. In the 1980s and 1990s series of video tutorials on DVD or VHS formats became available. Even whole schools were founded on the idea of providing video tapes and DVDs to students on a regular basis. These kinds of offers still prevail today in the form of video instruction videos streamed to students via the web,

Nevertheless we think that live feedback is the most important tool for music students to learn. Video chat software like Skype is enabling live feedback and at the base f our teaching concept. This is different from the most online music school offerings.

Since there’s not (yet) a 3D teacher in front of you you may expect that the teacher-pupil contact would be limited. According to our experience it takes just couple of minutes and both get used to it. Both, student and teacher gets into the flow. As a student you will soon discover that you can effectively this way. And at the end of the day it’s the teacher’s responsibility to ensure productive lessons, no matter what medium is used.

There is a need for high quality feedback – now delivered

MyMusicSchool.com is based on direct feedback to ensure students learn the right things. It is our goal to deliver to our students high quality music lessons with an innovative and state-of-the-art approach, no matter if  offline or online. In order to make them available to many students, independent of their locations, we chose the online channel.

Direct feedback is an important characteristic of a music lesson. Singing or playing an instrument involves mental and physical activity and requires complex physical coordination there is a high risk of doing thing the wrong way. Missing direct feedback is why working exclusively with tutorials or apps can be less effective and a risk to train ones own mistakes rather the right way forward. Students who do not learn with real teachers risk doing things the wrong way and in the end becoming frustrated or losing time. Music lessons require a live teacher to correct students and give feedback to improve. Feedback from experienced professionals is of the right quality. This is why MyMusicSchool.com offers students live learning with music professionals. We think it is the quickest and most effective way to learn and progress in music.

Online music education calls for new music teaching methods

To deliver music education well we have developed our very own methods and materials. Our idea is to ensure that remotely the learning flow is uninterrupted and motivates students by providing musical experiences. The teaching materials we designed and provide to you as part of the package offer additional  information necessary to give you a well-rounded music experience, unlike in many regular music schools. MyMusciSchool.com combines this with feedback and improvement suggestions right on the spot.

Let’s take a closer look at the other characteristics based on our own experience. Here is an overview of the key points that make online learning effective:

Flexibility with location…

The most obvious thing about online lessons is that the teacher and the student don’t even have to meet at the same physical place. And yes, it possible to study with a person located on a different continent. As long as there’s good internet connection, distance doesn’t matter at all in fact.

Abandoning travel times is just one of the many improvements online music teaching offers, saving students and teachers time and money. In the old days, teachers and students oftentimes had to spend as much time travelling as the actual lessons were. 

With online lessons they save time, energy and even money. Getting high quality lessons wherever you are has become a reality.

…flexibility in scheduling…

Saving traveling efforts is one advantage, scheduling is a another huge one. The way MyMusicSchool.com is set up you can book a lesson with a chosen teacher anytime they are available. The booking system is synchronized with the calendars of the teachers. Instead of spending time on trying to find the date that fits both of you, you get an overview of all the possible times and simply book the desired hour. Using the calendar on the website is made easy for both students and teachers. And cancelling and rescheduling your lesson is as easy as booking it in the first place. So the online channel facilitates student booking their lessons.

…and flexibility in cancelling

At traditional music schools, student make contracts and pay for their lesson each week. If they cannot make it, they still have to pay. Non such at MyMusicSchool.com. If you cancel your lesson up to 24 hours beforehand, you won’t get charged. So you will keep your money’s worth.

Our students save money in comparison

At many traditional music schools you might be surprised that price per lesson seems comparably cheap. But read the fine print. In most cases, you will have to pay during state holidays as well, even though there are no lessons taught. In Germany for example, mere holidays can add up to 10 weeks per year. Add a couple of cancellations because you call sick or attend your friends birthday party and you will  end up paying 25% more than stated. At MyMusicSchool.com on the opposite is the case: you only pay for what you get.

Easy access and exchange of materials

Besides having the guidance of a qualified teachers, learning to sing or play music is a lot about listening to music and broadening your knowledge of it. A lot of information and recordings are accessible through internet. During the precious time of a live regular lesson it usually takes too long to look everything up and listen to it out right away. In online lesson‚ however sharing links to related materials with students becomes much easier, be it sound files, videos or articles. Another clear advantage to study music online. And keeping track of your homework and assignments is easier than ever – just browse your chat history for all the exercises and links.

A base of tailor made educational materials for you

At MyMusicSchool.com we have used our experiences with online learning and consolidated them into a new learning system which we call MusXperience. The MusXperience method has been set up as a constantly expanding curriculum supported by original teaching materials. Our teachers have access to a database of exercises on techniques, pieces, examples, handouts and more. Lessons are complemented by play-alongs tracks produced by our team to accompany your practicing. This way you are not left alone but equipped with more tools you need to make practice more motivating and possible.

Though our initial assessment, lessons are being adjusted to your personal goals and desires. Many students want to learn their favourite songs, pieces or musical styles. Our team of teachers are trained musicians active the music scene around the world. Some of them contribute original materials to our body of exercises and handouts.

Why not try online lessons yourself?

Curious to try online lessons out? Just get in touch with us via email, chat or the phone. We are happy to answer any further questions that you might have. We want to make music education more personal, effective and fun for students! The advantage of flexibility, highly qualified teachers and materials combined is MyMusicSchool.com.