For pretty much all of human history, if you wanted to learn to play music you basically had two options available to you: take a class or lessons, or learn on your own. Over the centuries, these options have changed a little in flavour, but have basically remained the same. What I mean by that is whether is was in prehistory, and the teacher was trying to teach a certain rhythm on tribal drums, the 18th century when nuns were slapping the backs of piano student’s hands, or just 20 years ago when you tried to teach yourself guitar with a workbook after school, the learning process was pretty much the same.
That being said, there have been a few technological advancements along the way that have changed things forever. Most of these changes have come more recently, with the advent of the internet and other digital technologies, but there was a development or two in the past that had major influence on how we learn today. This week we’re going to explore some of those changes, and what they mean for music students today.
1. Sheet Music
Back in 2012, Beck released a new album called Song Reader. This album stood out because it wasn’t released on CD or any digital format. In fact, the album was only released as a collection of sheet music, written, but not performed, by the artist. Apparently, the whole idea was spawned when Beck received the sheet music for one of his first albums, and he asked himself, “What if I wrote songs specifically for people to learn off of a page?”
While in 2012 it might seem quaint, or even weird or backwards to release an album only in sheet music form, but in 1473, when the first sheet music was made with a printing press, it would have been the height of modern technology, and a whole new way to learn music. Before sheet music, learning would have been done entirely by ear. It’s true, how you produce each note wouldn’t have changed, and the scales would have remained the same, but having that sheet in front of you to read, so you know where you are in the piece, and what the next note was, completely revolutionized the way music was taught. Suddenly a song could be learned and reproduced without needing to memorize it. It changed the song from being the end of the learning process to an integral part of it.
2. Huge Music Libraries
If you’re at least as old as I am, you’ll remember growing up listening to only a handful of your own records, while being involuntarily forced to listen to whatever genre your parent’s listened to. And then, when you got to your music class, instead of learning any of the limited music you were exposed to on a daily basis, you learned some classical piece that was a few hundred years old.
That’s not necessarily the case anymore. Now, both teachers and students have access to a massive library of music for free, or a small fee. Before the internet, if you wanted to find a particular sound you would either have to spend both money and time hunting it down, or simply go without. Today, however, thanks mostly to the internet and apps like Spotify and YouTube, you can listen to any kind of music you can imagine at the touch of a button.
Now, streaming music apps like Spotify might not teach music per say, but listening to and being exposed to different styles and genres is an important part of becoming a musician. And what’s more, thanks to the internet, if you hear something you like on YouTube, and you want to learn it, the sheet music is out there to be found, also usually for free or at a reasonable price.
Today’s music classes are learning movie theme songs (Star Wars, Jurassic Park), as well as their favourite pop or rock songs along side those classics we learned with.
3. Song Artists & Titles At Your Finger Tips
Going hand in hand with the last point is the fact that we no longer have to wonder what that song we love is called, and who sings it. It used to be that you would have to just listen to the radio and hope you caught the DJ’s introduction to find out the title and the band. And if you wanted to learn the song, you’d either have to try to do it by ear, or hunt down the sheet music, praying that it even exists.
Now, if you miss the title introduction, all you need to do it whip out the old smartphone and open Shazam or SoundHound, and in a matter of moments you have all the info you need to seek out the sheet music online and start learning your new favourite song.
4. Lessons, Your Way
Probably the biggest change to come to the process of learning to play music has come to the options for learning. While your only options were once struggling to teach yourself, or in-person lessons that were usually costly and inflexible in both structure and time frame, today’s options have practically exploded.
All any aspiring musician needs to do today is hop on YouTube and search for “lessons” for their instrument of choice, 100% for free. Even better, head over to sites like chordify or ultimate-guitar and actually choose the song you want to learn. You can choose to start the traditional way, with chords and scales (there are YouTube tutorials for all of these, on pretty much any instrument), or forget “wasting” your time learning to play a G-chord, and dive right into learning the songs and techniques you want, at your own pace.
Today, there is no need to study up on the fundamentals of rock, when all you want to play is jazz. Though it’s true that the basic fundamentals never change, and are necessary for playing any music, how you get there is completely a matter of choice now.
