The world of technology has significantly altered the way we approach learning and gathering information today. While formal classrooms have been slower to take on internet-friendly research methodologies, our recreational learning and personal interests are being heavily influenced by our ability to use the internet and technology to get the information we need.
Websites like Khan Academy are literally changing the way we learn and giving us more online access to knowledge than we would have had ten years ago.
Teaching Children How To Play an Instrument Online
Particularly in the case of music, we’re seeing more and more of a trend towards young people being taught through an internet medium, regardless of whether it’s a self-taught platform or a teacher-student relationship. Today, it is easy to learn online.
Music Lessons via the Internet
Particularly when it comes to one-on-one music lessons, audio and video platforms, like Skype, are being used to deliver lessons to and from anywhere in the world. While the process does have an adjustment period (especially if someone is used to having music lessons in person), it’s actually a perfectly natural way to learn music, and can be especially conducive to teaching younger kids how to play an instrument.
Learning something from an unstructured source, like the internet, involves much self-discipline and self-motivation— two things that you don’t typically associate with young kids. Combine that with their limited attention spans and turning a kid loose to learn an instrument on the internet, and we will probably see mixed results.
However, scheduling lessons with a teacher via Skype or Google Hangouts can actually have pretty positive results and can help your child stay interested and committed to their instrument by having regularly scheduled lessons and another person to motivate them.
So, what happens when music lessons have run their course? The internet might still be your answer.
Blogs, Forums and Online Communities
Music lessons can only get a child so far, and at some point, the student has to take their development into their own hands and really start carving out a niche with their instrument. When lessons have run their course, the best vehicles for soldiering on can still be found online.
They usually come in one of the following three forms:
Blogs
Forums
Online Communities
Many of these formats will cross paths, but one thing is certain: for just about any instrument you would want to learn, the most readily available (and usually free) information you’ll be able to find on the topic will be through one of these internet mediums.
For example, if your child is interested in guitar, you’ve got massive online communities and forums, such as Ultimate-Guitar, that they can use as a resource. Additionally, smaller sites, like Guitar Noise, Justin Guitar and Guitar Chalk, still have a ton of material and active forums, so there’s enough out there to keep a young guitar enthusiast busy with their instrument for a long time.