To enhance piano lessons with technology is to make the most of the great opportunities available to us in 2023.
Music teaching and learning have been benefiting from consumer-oriented technology for decades now. The learning process is challenging but many different technologies aim to make it easier and more enjoyable.
If you are a music teacher (and more specifically, a piano teacher), you and your students can benefit from technology. But, why? Using the right tools can lead to a better learning experience, greater engagement, and faster, long-lasting results.
However, it’s very important to remember: Nothing will ever replace the benefits of an in-person lesson. Technology is meant to augment the value of the learning experience, not to replace it with an entirely new, digital version.
With the above being said, this article explains multiple ways in which you can enhance piano lessons with technology in 2023.
Record Piano Lessons and Tutorials for On-Demand Use
Every single piano lesson you plan and teach contains great learning value. This is something that students get to experience every time they sit down with you for their practice.
However, it is natural to expect that some of the elements introduced during your lesson will be forgotten, fast. This is not because of a flaw in your teaching techniques or the inability of the student to retain information. Instead, it is a normal part of learning.
Some concepts and techniques will require constant repetition and revisiting the information more than once. So, instead of spending precious time during each lesson on the same concept, make that knowledge always available to the student.
In order to do so in the most effective way, you can record the lessons and tutorials for private use. Nowadays, production costs are lower than ever. Produce short videos on high-interest lessons, tutorials, techniques, and concepts and make them available to the students on the cloud.
But how, exactly? The most basic yet practical way to do so today is by privately uploading these videos on a streaming platform like Youtube and sending the link to the students. Private uploading means that the video can only be viewed by those with the unique link. This keeps the video out of public searches (if that’s what you prefer). Like this, you can build a decent private video library for your students to benefit from.
Implement Music Notation Software in the Learning Experience
Music notation software allows you to create and edit sheet music easily through a digital interface. This tool gives the ability to input notes using your computer mouse and keyboard, format musical notation, guitar tabs, drum notation, and other specialized notation forms.
Widely used by composers and arrangers, music notation software is also popular among educators. By implementing this valuable tool in your learning process, you can create a whole new dimension for piano students. They can get familiar with the creation process for lead sheets, experiment with different sounds and styles, start practicing their composing and arranging skills, and more.
Finale and Sibelius are two of the premium options available. However, there is open-source software as well, such as MuseScore.
Use Metronomes and Tuners for Greater Skill Development
Metronomes and tuners are tools, available in digital formats, that allow students to improve their timing, rhythm, and pitch accuracy. Implementing their recurrent use during piano practice will certainly help to boost skill development.
Good timing and pitch habits help students to deliver more polished performances on the piano. This way to enhance piano lessons will directly affect the level of performance the student will develop and show.
Also, by using metronomes and tuners, easily accessible in their digital forms, you will be adding a measurement tool to the practice, one that makes it easier to produce and process feedback.
These are essential skills that cannot be absent during piano practice. By using technology, you are making their development more accessible.
Introduce Music Production Software to Your Lessons
The ultimate goal for many piano students is to have the skills to produce music. But producing music is not limited to delivering a good performance on the piano. Instead, there is a considerable technical process behind it.
At the same time, music production of professional quality hasn’t been this accessible before. This is because professional-grade music production software is now widely available. And on the hardware side, the requirements are less and less stringent over time.
Music production software such as Logic Pro and Ableton are well-known, convenient for users with music knowledge, and affordable. Developing this technical skill on the side will allow music students to develop a highly valuable dimension in their practice. They will basically learn to produce the music in a format that is to enjoy, reproduce, and distribute.
And even if the student’s goal isn’t to produce any music, using these digital tools will nevertheless make the practice more fun and engaging, simply because they will be able to play and experiment with different sounds, styles, and techniques.
The Bottom Line
When enhancing piano lessons with technology, the benefits are tenfold. Students benefit by boosting skill development but also by having more fun and feeling more motivated.
Technology is a great resource for music teachers. This is the keyword: resource. As a resource, these and many other digital tools are meant to improve the current state of piano practice, not replace it.
For every aspect here mentioned, there are indeed analog alternatives. And while old-school educators may lean towards those, decades of learning experience supported by technology make evident the advantages.
Today, piano students, especially the youngest ones, have a natural inclination towards tech-based tools and their digital literacy comes in handy.
