Say what you will, but modern technology has changed our lives, especially in the past couple of decades. This made an impact on pretty much all the fields and with all professions, allowing us to do our tasks or any kind of work more effectively. This is also the case with music and music education, which has changed drastically. So, this article is about virtual music lessons.
Since musicians and music teachers are facing big challenges in recent times, both music performance and music education have found their way into the online sphere. Thanks to fast internet connection speeds and very innovative tools at our disposal; music lessons can now be taken online in a real-time setting, be it one-on-one or a group session. With this in mind; we felt like exploring this topic more and explaining why virtual music lessons are here to stay.
Alternative to In-Person Lessons – No Need to Actually Go Anywhere Outside of Your Home
One of the most obvious reasons why virtual music lessons are getting more popular is that both a teacher and a student don’t need to leave their home. With so many things going on in their lives, a lot of parents these days don’t always have enough time to drive their kids to take music lessons.
Additionally, taking lessons from your home has its own benefits as well. A student will have all the comfort that they need in order to have an effective lesson. This can also be of great benefit to a teacher; especially if they’re working with shy children who might be more comfortable in their bedroom in front of their computer.
Music Schools (or Any Other Schools) Can Close Due to Bad Weather or Other Issues – Not Virtual Music Lessons
It’s far from an uncommon occurrence to have schools of any kind close due to bad weather. Of course, other issues can present a problem, as is the case with unusually jammed traffic or, as we’ve seen in 2020, a huge pandemic. But none of these have to present a problem to teachers, students, and parents anymore; as the internet can provide a lot of assistance in education.
Be it a severe snowstorm, pandemic, or any other occurrence that can put entire cities to a halt, you won’t need to reschedule lessons. Both a teacher and a student can make things up and continue working as if nothing had happened, all while enjoying their time in the comfort of their homes. All you need is a stable internet connection, an average laptop, and you’re ready to go!
Reaching New Students Outside of a School’s or a Teacher’s Area
But taking things to online territories gives even more options. It’s not just about students who are already taking lessons at a particular music school or with a particular teacher. In fact, doing things through online platforms can help you reach out to new students; students who are outside of a school’s or teacher’s area. Even if they’re hundreds or thousands of miles away; students can now choose a teacher according to their needs and music style preferences. No need to worry about finding the right setting.
What’s more, doing online lessons and using different tools for this can help you expand your school’s business. Just imagine – you can use any online space to reach out to new students that otherwise might not know about what you’re offering. And this is exactly one of the main reasons why online music lessons are not only here to stay but will also see a significant rise in the coming years.
Virtual Music Lessons During Vacations
If the whole family is going on a vacation, it doesn’t mean that kids should drop their music lessons. Kids will no longer have to catch up. Or in some particular cases, completely start over from the scratch after being absent for a while. Take your laptops with you, use your accommodation’s wi-fi; and you’ll be able to have normal music lessons anywhere in the world!
This also requires portable travel-friendly instruments. But these are also available for a very decent price, especially if we’re talking about compact travel guitars, basses, and ukuleles. Set things up, turn on the camera; and take a lesson while you’re taking a break from your visits to a nearby beach.
New Advancements With Online Video Streaming Platforms
Of course, taking things to the online sphere doesn’t mean that regular brick and mortar music schools will be thing of the past. Quite the contrary. Having the option to take music lessons in real-time through an online platform is just another very useful convenience to an educational institution or a private tutor.
However, it can’t be just any platform that could help students and teachers have effective online lessons. Sure, Zoom and Skype have been used for this purpose and they have been proven to be useful to some degree. However, these are made for simple conference calls and Zoom was practical enough for schools and universities. However, if we’re talking about music lessons, there are a few important things to consider. This is exactly where a platform like Rock Out Loud Live swoops in to save the day.
With Rock Out Loud Live, you get more than just a chat room. First off, it can simply be opened through a Google Chrome browser and it provides musicians and teachers with great audio quality; no need to further bother with tweaking its settings. A teacher will just get a simple link that they can send to their student.
But it’s more than just a pretty-looking platform with improved sound quality. Aside from this, and a very secure peer-to-peer connection, Rock Out Loud Live offers additional necessary tools for guitar, bass, ukulele, and drum lessons. There’s a huge collection of sheet music and tablatures of many popular songs that are great for beginner and intermediate level musicians. What’s more, there’s an abundance of chord diagrams; you can also use a fully functioning tool for creating and saving PDF files. You can also easily send them via the “Share PDF” feature. As you can see, possibilities are almost endless!
Check out Rock Out Loud Live on the official site.
