Can A Computer Teach Music?

By Author: AllisonIanelli
Total Articles: 3
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Music is a form of human expression and a computer is not human. It is very unlikely that a computer will ever teach everything that goes into making music, but there are things that it can help with. In this article I will give my big picture of what goes into the music lessons I teach. I will give some examples of what needs to be done in each area. Finally I will explain how MusicGoals music theory software can be used to improve progress in music lessons.

A good place to start is with what I hope will be the outcome of music lessons. My goals as a teacher are for my students to gain:

Love of making joyful music and sharing it - everything starts here and grows from this point.
Musical literacy - reading, writing, rhythm, ear training, music theory.
Physical technique - the development and knowledge of muscles and motions.
Musical maturity - This could be defined as understanding style, or being able to concentrate and communicate expressively. I like to think of this as the ability to make music no matter what the notes are. A beginner needs a familiar piece of music to hear in their mind ...
... and recreate. A musically mature musician can make music on the spot with whatever they have on hand.

From this list you can start to see what needs to go into music lessons. First and foremost there must be time spent making music at the level of the student. This is always the fun part. The elements that go into teaching musical literacy and technique can be taught to some extent by choosing pieces that demonstrate these elements. The problem is that they seem to be in competition with one another for the student's attention. Can you think about technique while trying to read notes or identify chords and make music? This is why it is much more efficient to set aside time to work on some element of technique and another block of time to focus on learning a scale, chord, or some other element that will lead to musical literacy.

Technique is one area where you must have a qualified teacher. An experienced teacher can look at how you are using fingers, wrists, arms, and body and show you how to use them to achieve different musical results. This information is hard to acquire from a book or computer program. A teacher will demonstrate and comment on what you are doing. I remind students to work on three areas every time they practice: 1) Warm up with technique, 2) Work on instrument memorization, 3) Work on and play music. A balance of these three in every music lesson and every practice time will produce the best results.

Musical maturity comes from listening to and playing lots of music. Ear training and mastery of music theory speed up the learning process because they make it easier to learn new music. This is where music theory software can be of most benefit. MusicGoals music theory software is aimed at developing musical literacy. While a computer cannot teach everything, it can be a practice partner when it comes to mastering music fundamentals, ear training, sight-reading, rhythm, and music theory. It makes the most efficient use of time and energy because it isolates each element where a weakness may lie.

So now you have a brief overview from my perspective of the role of computer music theory software in music lessons. MusicGoals music theory software has become my assistant teacher. I know that I can depend on MusicGoals Rhythm before a recital to make everyone play more rhythmically. MusicGoals Eye and Ear teaches and drills much more than I will ever have time for in a music lesson. I do not foresee ever losing my job to a computer, but it sure helps my students gain knowledge and master skills.

For more information about Ear Training please move on www.musicgoals.com