The Benefits of Online Music Lessons for Kids
When the Covid-19 Pandemic forced 100% of our lessons online, some students were skeptical. Then after the 1st lesson, most were overwhelmingly surprised and elated at how well the lessons work and curious what the long-term benefits could be. You might be surprised to find out what these amazing benefits of online lessons are. Read on!
1. Online lessons bring music into your home!
While traditional in person lessons are great...they tend to include a bit of rushing around, dropping off, the occasional forgetting of books, and then rushing home for dinner or back to school for another event.
Online lessons bring music directly into your home! No forgotten piano books, no rushing, and most of all, parents can hear and enjoy the lesson rather than utilizing the lesson time to run a few more necessary errands. Imagine washing dishes while listening to your child sing and play music! Some families even report group singing and merriment running through their homes!
2. Online lessons incorporate more ear training
Online lessons rely a bit more on learning by ear than in person learning might. Without even realizing it, students learn to “hear” pitches and rhythms with more confidence. For example, your teacher might sing a melody or rhythm, and even though students can follow along visually, sometimes they end up doing more listening and imitating. This is an incredible skill to develop early in your musical journey!
Take a look at 5 yr old Adam learning to sing by ear:
3. Online Lessons help improve Note Reading
We are noticing that LOTS of our students are reading music much better since they began online learning. During in-person lessons, teachers inevitably point to the notes on the page where they want their student to focus. With online lessons, this is obviously not possible. While this was at first hard to overcome, now that we are all used to it, we are noticing that students aren’t relying on this and therefore are becoming more independent with their reading - there aren’t as many “training wheels” to inevitably take off and we are finding children are riding with more ease and confidence than ever!
4. Children learn to interact through music
While too much computer time is obviously a negative, the type of learning that music provides is much more interactive and FUN than normal solo computer learning. For the youngest students, there is an element of “repeat after me” and engagement that requires them to interact just as if they were in the room with their teacher.
Here’s a great example:
5. Online lessons promote independence
We find children are really rising to the occasion in terms of their own preparation around their online lessons! Simply put, online learning has put more responsibility in the hands of the child - a responsibility which we have found they are more than ready for.
For in-person lessons, children rely on their parents to help remember (and find) their books before their lesson and then during the lesson, they rely on their teacher to find the right page, write down their lesson notes, etc.
For online lessons, students are responsible to organize their own music files, lesson notes, and communication from their teacher. They have a better idea of how to navigate their lesson books and theory books because the teacher isn’t flipping through it for them in the lesson. Instead, they learn to find everything they need all by themselves. Which means….children are intuitively learning to rely on their parents less and less for help with practice. Thank God, am I right parents??!!
Also, because books aren’t being shuffled from home to the lesson and back again, we’ve noticed fewer “lost” books but rather students showing up to their online lessons well prepared and well equipped.
6. Teachers can help with the students’ at home learning environment/setup
As teachers, it’s very enlightening to see what a students’ home learning environment looks like! Within moments, teachers can assess……..is the height of the piano bench correct? Is the pedal working? Are children sitting with good posture at home? Should students consider finding a quieter/less distracting part of the house to take their lessons (and practice)? Is there enough light in the room? Is the piano in tune?? The list goes on…..
Teachers are reporting being shocked of some of the things they saw at home, and within just the first lesson, they were able to fix (or inevitably avoid) some bad habits! A true surprise and gift that online learning has provided! It’s kinda like having a traveling piano teacher come to your home!
7. Lessons are recorded and can be re-watched!
Students have told us that going back through their lessons and watching video of their teacher’s instructions and actual hands demonstrating (from our top-down cameras!) is revolutionizing their retention and at home practice. No more “in one ear and out the other” lessons. Anything that students want to review, they can do so as many times as they’d like! This part of the technology is one of the favorites for both the students and the teachers.
8. Teachers have their own instrument to demonstrate concepts
No more swapping seats when it’s time to demonstrate. With online lessons, teachers are sitting at their own instrument with a camera to their side and directly above their hands to capture the top down angle. Lessons are much more interactive (and fast) because teachers can demonstrate quickly while students watch, and then students can try right away. The back and forth between instruction and demonstration creates an easier/quicker learning environment and it’s fun!
9. More practice time!
Because lessons start and end with children in their own homes sitting at their own piano, we find students are practicing more! Rather than packing up and driving home right after the lesson, students simply close their laptop screen, and guess what - they continue playing! We are finding that students are practicing more than ever!
10. You can study with your favorite instructor from anywhere in the world!
Online lessons allow students to continue studying with their favorite instructor even when you (or they) move to a different area or go on vacation. No more of the “Summer Backslide”. Online lessons allow for music to become a more consistent and reliable part of children’s lives.
11. Connect with other students all over the world!
Online study allows students to engage in recitals, master classes, and open mics with other students from all over the world. In person events are wonderful of course. But in addition to these, we find that online events can really engage and connect students when they are not able to be together in person. They get to know other students from different parts of the word, different time zones, and different cultures that they wouldn’t normally have the chance to. It’s like having a virtual musical pen pal!
The power of music truly transcends space and can change lives even through a computer screen. We encourage everyone who has an interest to give online learning a try!