The Advantages of Music Lessons vs. Self Teaching

by Donna Buckheit

With today's wealth of knowledge and information readily available on the internet, is there ever a reason to leave your home? You can get a little bit of everything all of the time while on the web. But after nearly two years indoors, many of us have come to realize, there are some things you just can't get online, especially when it comes to learning music. Let’s dive into a few of them:

Access to an Expert (Who is a Human)

It’s true that you can get just about anything you can imagine on the internet- and this includes music lessons. Music lessons on the web are an impeccable resource, drastically expanding the amount of people who have access to music education. It is a beautiful thing when anyone who wants to learn an instrument can do a quick Youtube search on their laptop and find an endless bounty of music tutorials. However, there is something to be said about having access to a real live human person with years of experience in the field. A music instructor can listen to what you’re playing, and offer individualized directions for improvement and learning. They have the ability to answer questions and provide insights in real-time, unlike a Youtube video that might take weeks to respond, or might never be able to at all. If you’re having trouble with a certain section of music, an instructor would be able to play it back to you themselves. This would allow you to hear and see it played correctly, helping form the mental connections necessary to improve.

One-on-One Interaction

Music instructors typically offer one-on-one music lessons, in which they are committed to actively listening to students’ learning goals and responding accordingly. They can construct individualized lessons in which they provide feedback and gauge the student’s level of progress and mastery. This becomes especially useful when learning very challenging or advanced music. To find quality music lessons in Rockland County, click here.

Access to Music and Instruments

A very obvious advantage of taking music lessons is the access to resources a professional music shop or musician will have at their disposal for you to use. Finding sheet music for very specific songs can be tricky if you're searching for it online by yourself. A music instructor might have another means of finding it, or may possess it already from years of obtaining music for lessons.

Music instructors are also able to provide something a little more bulky than sheet music, and that's the instruments themselves. Instruments like the violin, guitar, or flute are fairly easy to acquire and keep at home for a self-taught music lesson online. With larger instruments like the piano, organ, harp, or drums, it’s much more convenient to take lessons at a music store or studio with these instruments readily available for use.

Better Focus, Less Distractions

Having the right environment for learning and practicing is essential for growth. Take music lessons in Rockland nearby for the optimal learning environment! For those of us who tend to lose focus on our phones or laptops (which is basically all of us), we know we need to turn off the gadgets and turn up the focus. With a music instructor in front of you, there’s very little impulse to check an email or browse Instagram, because they aren’t right in front of you. Instead, a person is- which brings us to our final reason why online tutorials will never overtake music lessons:

The Opportunity to Unplug

In a busy world where we have access to “everything, all of the time”, it can feel impossible to stay present and detach from the digital realm. But with the right music instructor, you can stay focused, see improvements, and get lost in the music. All of these elements will compel you to experience the world without a lens, and to unplug for a while. (Well, at least from your phone; the amp- you may have to plug into.)

Music Lessons In Rockland County

Contact Ryan Townsend of RCT Music Group at (845)-358-1236 to schedule your music lessons in Rockland County today! Enjoy all of the benefits music lessons have to offer.