Today’s blog was inspired by a reader who asked if I had any suggestions for learning a musical instrument over the internet. My reader’s dream is to enjoy playing music and maybe participate in charitable events or at nursing homes and children’s hospitals. As a retiree, however, money is not available for music lessons and there are no handy music teachers anyway.

My Musical Background

As a girl, I had guitar and singing lessons, and later completed a diploma in guitar teaching. I taught few pupils, though, and felt that guitar teaching was not for me. Years later, my daughter played violin with the local community orchestra. The orchestra needed cello players, and I was inspired by a double bass player who confided that she had learned the instrument as an adult so she could play along with her children.

If she could do it, why couldn’t I? I spoke to my daughter’s strings teacher who loaned me an instrument to try out and signed me up for a few lessons. After plenty of practice, I joined the orchestra, bought my own cello and had occasional lessons to learn tricky pieces of music and brush up on my technique. I stayed with the orchestra for several years, even after my daughter quit. These days, writing and blogging take up most of my time.

Are There any Online Courses About Learning Music?

If you search for music using Class Central’s search engine, more than 100 courses appear on various aspects of music.

Want to learn the guitar? Try Coursera’s Guitar for Beginners I. This course takes beginners through choosing the right guitar, basics of chords and notes, fingering, and a few simple pieces.

Sometimes having knowledge of music theory helps with your appreciation and performance standard, but the main thing is that you enjoy what you are learning.

Perform at your Best: Foundations of Performance Psychology (edX) assumes participants are competent musicians who know the basics of practice and can play pieces well at home, but freeze up in front of an audience. It includes a strong practical component introducing various techniques to both minimize nervous feelings during performances and improve performances even though the piece may be technically correct.  Students are encouraged to record snippets of their performances and share them online. Unfortunately, this course is currently not accepting new enrollments, although the course videos and readings may be available for viewing from the archive.

If composing is more your thing, you could explore Write Like Mozart: An Introduction to Classical Music Composition.

YouTube

YouTube has plenty of material about learning music. Depending on the instrument and your preference, you may want to learn how to read music or play by ear (listening and copying) or from chord charts (for instance, guitar).

You may be able to find YouTube clips on particular aspects of playing such as a specific riff, breathing techniques for wind instruments, tricky fingering, or strumming styles. Use your imagination to make some internet searches.

Other Online Possibilities

Nothing beats a competent music teacher to help students reach their full potential. They can spot things that the inexperienced student doesn’t notice. Even if you can’t afford music lessons every week, maybe a teacher will be willing to help you with difficult sections, poor technique, or bad habits in your playing. My cello teacher was happy for me to phone her for a lesson when I needed help, and we always made the most of the occasional half-hour or hour together. Weekly lessons are great when teaching children and people who need a regular boost to keep motivated while practicing alone at home, but at the time, irregular lessons suited my budget. I was motivated to practice so I could become and continue to be a useful member of the orchestra.

With Skype, Facebook video chat and other live online video opportunities, it is now possible to have a virtual lesson even though your teacher may be miles away. Face-to-face is best, as you have the benefit of 3-D vision and more accurate audio, but the internet is reducing the effects of isolation all over the world.

Sheet Music Online

Free or purchased sheet music can be found at www.musicnotes.com or www.sheetmusicplus.com among others.

Practice

No matter what learning resources you use, the most important part of learning an instrument can’t be found on the internet. It can be very rewarding when you observe yourself improving from one practice session to the next. Unfortunately, practice can also be the most boring and frustrating part of the learning process.

Our old friend the Pomodoro can help here. While the standard 25-minute Pomodoro is a great tool, many beginner musicians find this just too long at first. If necessary, set a short Pomodoro and start off by telling your brain you only need to do five or ten minutes of music. Perhaps by the end of that few minutes you will be looking forward to playing for longer.

Playing music is a skill that improves most rapidly with frequent practice. Seven 15-minute practices spread out over a week are far better than one marathon of two hours.

Play difficult sections of music, even very short snippets, every day until they become easier. A tricky transition from one note or chord to another can eventually become effortless with repetition. Start off slowly to give your brain time to send the right messages to your fingers. Maybe just those two notes or chords over and over, gradually increasing the speed. One day you’ll nail it, then the next day it might not work again. With perseverance it will stick more often than not, then you can move on to the next challenge.

If, however, you continually find a particular part difficult, seek help from a teacher or fellow musician. Sometimes just a simple change in approach is all that’s needed.

Further Ideas

Using techniques to focus your brain might help you learn more quickly. After an intense practice session, reward yourself by playing an easy piece that you enjoy. You may also want to warm up with something easy at the start of your practice, as long as it doesn’t take up too much time.

Interleaved practice is also a useful technique. Instead of playing one piece of music over and over for 15 minutes, try just five minutes for each of three different pieces. Repeat difficult sections several times before adding them back into the whole piece. For a longer practice, go over the three pieces again for another five minutes each, or try some different pieces. If five minutes feels too short, feel free to make it a bit longer, but the idea is to keep the brain engaged and not lose concentration.

You may find that making recordings of your progress can help with motivation. Find a recording app and record a new piece, stumbles and all. A week or so later, after several concentrated practice sessions, record it again and listen to the improvements.

We can also fool our brain by telling ourselves that we are about to play some music or have a personal jam session. Avoiding the “p” word (practice) might make it easier to start.

A Final Thought

Although there are many online resources for learning a musical instrument, nothing beats actually playing it yourself. If you can share your budding musical expertise with your family, a band, or the community, you may discover a wonderful new hobby.

By Pat Bowden, published May 15, 2018.