Thomas J. West Music

I have been offering live private music lessons via webcam since 2008. Over that course of time, the online environment has changed dramatically thanks to social media advances. Despite these trends, my student roster continues to be sporadic and modest in size. I had attributed that primarily to the notion that online lessons had simply not "caught on" yet as a viable way of receiving music instruction. Given my recent experiences, however, I am beginning to change my point of view.

This recent article from the New York Times entitled With Enough Bandwidth, Many Join the Band - Music Lessons on Webcam Grows in Popularity, Catherine Saint Louis accurately reports the advantages of online lessons (convenience in scheduling, no need to travel, etc.), but also identifies accurately the trend in online music lessons that is catching hold with consumers. It turns out that the surge in popularity is an economic one more than resistance to a new method of instruction. In the article, Saint Louis reveals that "niche" instruments are popular choices for online lessons - instruments such as the bagpipes, ukulele, and mandolin. This is an economic motivation of supply and demand - most of us would have to hunt for an experienced teacher of niche instruments in our geographic area, but you can find many willing to skype with you.

The other type of online lesson that is surging are those students looking to study with professional specialists on a particular instrument. Again, it is an economic scarcity. Top-flight specialists are available on skype for anyone worldwide rather than having to hunt for a specialist in your area. One such specialist I have spoken to stated that about half of his current private lessons roster is online via skype.

I am a generalist when it comes to music instruction. My area of focus is on helping beginning and intermediate students build a foundation in the basics of musicianship and the mechanics of their chosen instrument. I can start beginners, work with intermediate students, and coach advanced students on any band or orchestra instrument, voice students, piano students, and guitar. What I can not do is give specialized instruction at an advanced level for any of those instruments with the exception of my primary instrument, which is the clarinet. So far in the four years I have been teaching online lessons, the trend for me as a generalist has been to get elementary or middle school students who are in a situation geographically where a local instructor is not available or affordable. I have also worked with a few adult learners from all over the world - people who always wanted to learn or want to return to the instrument they played as a child. In all of those students, all but two have only taken lessons online with me for an average of two months. I currently have two students for online lessons, one of which has been with me for a little over a year.

The convenience of online lessons also means that students will tend to try it and not stick with it. When it comes to specialists, however, their client base is dedicated to studying the instrument and actively seeking out top-tier instruction. They are more likely to stay committed, though any of us who have been through an undergraduate music degree program can tell you that even students studying to be professional performers may not always be dedicated.

As the validity of online instruction, blended learning, and cyber schools continues to grow, economics will obviously continue to be the determining factor in the kinds of online music instruction that proliferates. I would add that instrumental instruction for high demand instruments, such as guitar, piano, and drums, will continue to be lucrative for teachers simply by virtue of the vast number of students looking for help. There are cultural factors at play there as well, but that is a different topic for a different article.

Given my current experiences and information such as this New York Times article, it definitely gives me pause and is food for thought. A change of focus is in order for my online lessons service - what that change entails has not yet formulated itself in my mind. Suggestions are welcome - send them to my contact page.

This article (c) 2012 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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