What are the advantages of online lessons compared to conventional lessons?

A lot of people are skeptical when they think about taking music lessons online, and most people think its an inferior way to learn. I have to admit I was one of them and refused to go down that route but then Covid 19 came along and had other ideas.

This article goes through the huge amount of advantages I have found both for myself as a teacher, but especially for my students. Please note I teach guitar ukulele and banjo so I cannot say if the benefits are the same for instruments such as piano and singing.

Saves time

The first advantage is that you can do lessons from the comfort of your own home and save a huge amount of time. And I do mean a huge amount of time. Think of how much effort it takes to commute back and forth to lessons, going through traffic or dropping kids off and picking them up again. Most people spend longer commuting back and forth to the premises than they actually do in the lesson. When I asked my own students the majority of them said they spent at least one hour getting to and from lessons, that is twice as long as the actual lesson.

Less risk

Another huge advantage i have realized is that you can meet your teacher before you sign up for lessons. Lets face it we have all had at least one teacher we really did not like and have probably come across a few useless ones is well. Any teacher that is giving 1 to 1 online lessons will have at least a sample video lesson if not the option to have a free trial before you sign up for a full term. When you go to a music school the majority of people sign up for a full term before they even meet the teacher. I actually had this experience myself and knew within five minutes that the teacher was not for me, he was very boring and spoke far to much about himself, unfortunately i had already signed up for 16 weeks.

Increased efficiency

This brings us on to the 3rd main advantage i have found which is that I get far more covered in a lesson . I was surprised by this one myself. After the first few classes where i felt like my Grandmother using a telephone for the first time “CAN YOU HEAR ME I CAN HEAR YOU” I quickly found that i was able to start lessons instantly, there is no time wasted by a student setting up and packing up their instrument, taking off their jacket, tuning their guitar or getting out their notes. All my students now know to have their instrument and notes ready and we can now start a lesson within 5 seconds.

Record your lessons

Another advantage which a lot of my students have mentioned is the fact they can record the lesson. This is especially true for students who are at an intermediate or higher level when certain topics can be fairly difficult or they can not remember how we played that tricky strumming pattern, now all they have to do is rewind to that part of the lesson instead of asking me “how does that bit go again” at the start of the next lesson. Sometimes students can have bad days where nothing seems to go in, the fact that they can re-watch the lesson when their brain has decided to start working again means we don’t lose a whole lesson explaining everything again.

Students miss less lessons

Another bonus is that students miss far less lessons and are also far less likely to be late. Sometimes we have crazy busy days but the fact that you only need thirty minutes as opposed to an hour and a half as discussed earlier means it is less likely that students can not make a lesson. I even had a few instances that the student did actually forget about the lesson but once I contacted them through Zoom it reminded them therefore saving them missing it.

Easier communication

I have also found that it is far easier to communicate with the parents of any children I am teaching and it is easier for them to keep up to date with how their child is getting on. They can actually sit in for the whole lesson if they want to and see how their child is progressing.

Saves the environment

I had to throw this one in there because with the amount of photocopying I have done in the last 15 years I reckon I could have killed a whole rain-forest. Now all my notes and documents are sent electronically which does not have to be printed out.

Saves money

The last point is that it saves both me and the student money. First of all I do not have to rent a premises to host the student which saves me money which I can pass on to the student. The fact that the student is also missing less classes and getting far more out of each lesson is also a factor. The commuting cost of going to and from the lesson is also wiped out.