I remember when I learned how to play guitar about 20 years ago when I was a kid – it happened mostly by spending time with an older cousin who played guitar and taught me a couple of basic things. Then I had a teacher for a few months and from there I learned on my own through experimenting, occasionally buying guitar tab sheets, and sharing with other friends who also played guitar.
I would imagine this is how people have learned how to play instruments for centuries, but today the internet, production technologies, and mobile technologies enable ways of that are more accessible, robust, and convenient. “Yousician” is a music learning platform with more than 20 million users who use it to learn how to play guitar, ukelele, piano, bass, and singing. It is not just video tutorials as one might find on Youtube, but carefully designed lesson plans that take the learner through a learning path. Their app gives real-time feedback, and allows students to choose what specific skills they wish to develop. Content is updated weekly and their library contains more than 10,000 songs and lessons. It is available in English, Spanish, French, German, Dutch, Italian, Russian, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese and Chinese.
Of course, it is always nice to have that master-pupil relationship and there might be subtler elements that can’t be transferred to this learning environment. However, an alternative like this has many benefits such as flexibility (learn anytime, anywhere), saving money, accessibility, gamification, and self-directed learning.
To learn more about Yousician visit the following link:
Yousician
Hi Eduardo, this is a great resource for music education. One of the highest barriers to traditional music education is the learning process as most students are heavily dependent on a teacher to grasp the basics which can be costly and time consuming. Even with advanced training, maintaining a sense of motivation to practice is not often easy. From experience (perhaps I was too young at the time) I didn’t really “enjoy” learning how to play the Piano and Violin. It was a very monotonous and bland experience (though I grew to appreciate it when I got older). With mobile apps, it allows useful features such as real time feedback or ability to cater to the learner’s interests (eg: I want to learn how to play this song etc or practice some scales) I think this is a good starting point for capturing the essence of music education. Students won’t feel like they’re boxed into a rigid framework but can choose to progress at their own speed/pace. Speaking of Guitar, I was also self taught and looking back, my learning experience probably would have been more exciting if I had an app similar to Yousician or Fender Play instead of figuring out things through trial and error. I also came across a wearable mobile tech called “Wristruments (https://www.wristruments.com)” where it creates a hands free learning experience for Guitar, Bass and Ukelele students (the guitar neck essentially shows up on your smartwatch)
Hi John, thanks for sharing your insights. Yes, I think that an app like this would have made our experiences of learning how to plan instruments more engaging. I remember being pretty addicted to learning guitar and it is interesting to see how much I learned with limited resources and think about how much I could have learned with a tool like this. Thanks for sharing the information about Wristruments – I’ve never seen anything like this before! very *handy* indeed! It’s going to be interesting to see how these technologies evolve when AR becomes more popular!
Hi Eduardo! Thank you for offering up this resource. Just recently, the Victoria School district cut funding to all music programs in their elementary and middle schools. It was a really sad and unfortunate decision as there were many students discouraged from continuing with music and cost a couple teachers their jobs. This app could still give those students a potential to learn how to play an instrument either inside school (during lunch or maybe a club period) and outside of school.
Additionally, if school districts were to purchase a subscription to this account in replacement of their budget cut to the music program, they could still help encourage students to learn music at no cost.
Hello Megan! Oh, I’m sorry to hear that! It I sad to hear how arts sometimes get pushed back to the bottom of the list of educational priorities. I think that artistic expression promotes the development of areas of the brain that can’t be developed by other disciplines, and we should be mindful of that. Oh well, I think that we would naturally seek out engaging in creative activities in our free time anyway (that’s how I learned guitar as there were no music classes in my school), and it’s good that we have apps like this. I think your idea of the school purchasing a subscription to encourage music learning is a good idea, and it would be also to somehow integrate some of the teachers that lost their jobs.
Hi Eduardo, great resource, and thanks for sharing! I think the financial aspect of this resource and others like it are often overlooked. We often forget that expert knowledge costs money and even with a subscription fee like Yousician utilizes, the cost is often greatly reduced making it more accessible to people from differing financial backgrounds. It also reduces costs like transportation, buying sheet music, or having to find/finance a learning space. I do think educational applications such as this also raise the need to reexamine internet access as a basic human right in accordance with the right to education, in addition to the need to upgrade and maintain mobile internet infrastructures that are affordable.
Thanks for sharing your ideas Braden – good observations. Yes, I remember that learning guitar with an instructor was very costly. There was a time limitation also, as the class would be 90 minutes long and that was it for the week. With an app like this, you could spend hours learning and even create a weekly plan to keep the learning organized. You’re right – I think that as tools like these are becoming available and showing the great benefits they can provide to people, it is important to question how this impacts the digital divide and take the necessary steps to reduce the gaps in accessibility. Governments should invest more in national internet access, not just for the benefit of citizens but also for the benefit of the nation as this would help them to develop skills and abilities that improve the economy.