Thomas J. West Music

I've been formally offering private online webcam music lessons since 2008. I offer lessons from beginner to advanced on any band or orchestra instrument, piano, and voice, and beginner to intermediate on guitar. The lessons are typically delivered over Skype, although I have delivered lessons using Tinychat and Google Plus Hangouts. I have had students from across the US and two European students.

Up until fall of 2010, I have only had students take webcam lessons for a month or two at a time. I got my first long-term student about this time last year. Most of the inquiries I have gotten have been fleeting. The students I have taken on in general have turned to online learning because they have a situation where finding a quality instructor locally was not possible. They have ranged in age from 5 up to 40 with the majority being upper elementary or middle school age.

This fall, my student roster has expanded by six. I am receiving more requests for information about the service than ever before. There is a definite trend happening here. It seems that people are more and more turning to online learning as an alternative or supplement to traditional methods.

I also provide instruction at my full-time job for online instrumental and vocal lessons. This is the third year of that program, and we are now up to 13 students who receive academic credit for taking music or art courses online. This Remote Access program incorporates not only webcam sessions, but use of method and theory books, Smart Music as a practice and assessment tool, and sites like Theta Music Trainer and Noteflight for ear training and composition.

There is no doubt in my mind that blended online learning combined with traditional local instruction is the wave of the future. I find it pretty exciting to be surfing that wave. I am happy to share these experiences in hopes that more educators and parents become aware of the opportunities blended learning can create.

This article (c) 2011 Thomas J. West. All content on ThomasJWestMusic dot com is licensed under a Creative Contributions Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Please contact the author before publishing on or off-line.

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