Its time has come, its emergence into the music education
world is inevitable, we have both the audio and video technology now to assure
that it can work. I have enjoyed exploring this new teaching mode possibility
and am struck by its efficiency and the potential that it opens for the future.
Getting started is easy; in most
of the world today dependable high-speed internet and social networks such as
Skype are available. Of course, in order to take advantage of this gift of our
time, we need a computer; plus a microphone and a camera, which fortunately have become standard. Occasionally, there are internet problems but, as time passes, they’re
increasingly infrequent.
The video aspect is usually not
a problem; sometimes I‘ve encountered video problems due to severe weather
conditions, either at the location of the student or the teacher, however, when
the weather improves the problems stop.
Most microphones, and sound
systems in computers today are good; of course, we can improve the audio quality
by investing in high quality microphones, speakers and earphones. This is a
decision that needs to be made by each teacher and each student as required by
the sound system of his or her personal computer and the limitations of on-line
sound quality.
Most teachers at some point
during a lesson like to interact with a student; this would include, singing,
playing, or keeping time, (clapping for example). The on-line problem is; the sound
for the listener will always arrive late to the sound of the speaker (player).
For example, if the teacher counts to four, to establish a tempo for the
student to play on the following first beat, the teacher will hear the note
arrive after the first beat. The
student will begin in the tempo of the teacher’s count but the teacher will
hear it late; this makes playing together almost impossible. If the teacher
makes an adjustment to be together with the student, then the student has to
make another adjustment. In other words, it just doesn’t work!
Dynamics are a major part of music;
unfortunately, the audio system of the internet has not yet taken that into
consideration. The difference between a fortissimo and a pianissimo over the internet
is very small; we hear a difference in tone quality because a fortissimo has a
greater number of harmonics than a pianissimo, but the on-line dynamic is almost
the same.
These are small and temporary problems,
which certainly will be resolved as the technology evolves. There is absolutely
no question that this new mode of music education will become increasingly more
efficient and available. Of course, it’s been available in general education
for the last decade but the study of mathematics, medicine, language etc., rarely
require the high quality digital sound necessary for music.
Payment for e-lessons is only another small problem;
PayPal seems to be the obvious solution.
If you are interested to take a free trial e-lesson please
contact me, I would like to hear from you.
Tokyo, July 9, 2009
Revised March 15. 2013, Tokyo
