There are all sorts of ways to take up, practice, and master a musical instrument, especially now in the age of the internet and its near-universal access to knowledge. But it can’t be all thing to all people.
How can you put technology to work in the way that proves most fulfilling and useful to you? How do you even determine the tools that are available to you? Let’s explore some steps to building a technologically enhanced musical practice.
Get involved in online music communities.
It’s easier than ever to learn from and connect with people who make and share music on digital platforms. From YouTube to SoundCloud to Bandcamp to other forums, the internet has become not only a vehicle of performance and self-marketing but a meeting place for people of all ages and locations who want to study, discuss, or just nerd out about music.
For those who want to get formal about it, you can even sign up for online courses with universities and conservatories or masterclasses with experts who share insider tricks of the trade.
Read up with the help of reliable sources.
If you’re just getting your start on the piano, for example, and you don’t know where to begin with hand positioning or how to choose the right repertoire to play, you’ll need to do some research up front—and for that you’ll need trustworthy sources of information.
Fortunately there is a plethora of music magazines, blogs, and other online resources for you to consult. They’ll give you handy, accessible guides to all things musical, even on topics like the fundamentals of music theory, such as scales and arpeggios. The more you dive into the vast literature database that the musical community has amassed online, the better your chances of finding topics that interest you and writing that helps you make sense of those topics. Pretty soon you’ll be taking the tips and experiments you’ve read about and translating them to your practice—thereby making it more fun and fruitful.
Watch videos.
Few forms of learning are as direct and transferable as is communicated by visual media. Observing people of various skill levels and areas of expertise playing instruments and working with music will give you a mind’s-eye picture to go on when you sit down at your instrument. Not that you are obligated to play the exact same way, but you’ll get an idea of what you might like to try or a benchmark you’d like to set for yourself. And, returning to the point about connecting with fellow musicians, the comments sections give you space to commune with others who want to analyze, appreciate, and take something away from the art.
Last but not at all least—download apps!
Of course, we’d be remiss in talking about technology and musical learning if we didn’t shout out the specific applications that can aid your practice right from your phone or other device. Arguably the most immediate and convenient means of technologically augmenting your musical experience, apps can help you, among other things:
- tune your instrument
- keep time
- learn chord structures and progressions
- record, overdub, and listen to yourself
- share your work to various platforms, should you choose to
- and more!
With usually varying levels of difficulty and involvement depending on how much experience the user has, apps are a budding musician’s best friend these days. There are some geared toward almost every instrument out there—it’s only a matter of time before you find yours.
The expanding amount and variety of technology at our disposal can play a fundamental (dare we say…instrumental) role in engaging new and aspiring musicians. Hardly ever before has it been so easy to acquire a skill through connecting with others, educating yourself, and establishing a regular, reliable practice. So don’t hesitate to let technology into your creative life: it can serve to remind you why you got into making music in the first place.
