Music School in Portland Oregon Uses Technology to Spread Holiday Cheer

Portland Oregon, students of piano, violin, guitar and cello are using creative new ways to bring in the holiday spirit, using modern technology. One of the challenges for music instructors during December is to find ways to keep their students motivated to practice over the long holiday break. As a result, the teachers at the Eliason School of Music have created several ideas that keep students motivated to play their best, and these ideas have the added benefit of being enjoyed by family and relatives.

The first idea is what the school calls the “Video Postcard”. This is where students use technology such as a smartphone, tablet or laptop to create a video of themselves playing Holiday Music. Students love this idea, however, they find the process can be quite challenging. When one creates a video postcard it is important that one is able to play the entire piece through without any mistakes, and sometimes this means the student might need to spend a lot of time re-recording the postcard until they feel like it is a great video. Students who take part in this often tell their teachers that they were surprised by the experience, and it required them to practice a lot and they needed to have a good mastery of the piece they were playing.

Once the students feel they have a good video with holiday music on it, they then send the video to their teachers over the internet or by text message. The teachers will then listen to it and provide feedback to work on in the next lesson and for future playing. Once the student feels really good about the quality of their performance on the video, they then send the video to family and friends as a holiday gift. The family and friends love receiving the videos, it has a very personal touch and it is especially a big hit with grandparents. The students always receive a lot of praise for their playing, which improves their confidence and self-esteem and paves the way for even better playing and practice in the future. The video can be easily saved for holidays memories and this works great for families. To learn more about having lessons piano, violin, guitar and cello.

A second idea that is being used at the Eliason School of Music over the holidays are duet videos. This can be created by a teacher or by another musician in the family, and these are videos that are recorded with one part of a duet being played. It is similar to a “music minus one” recording one can find in music stores, and the videos are designed to be played along with at home. An example of this could be a piano video with the teacher playing a holiday carol, usually at a slightly slower tempo, and there might be a metronome beat in the background so it is easier for students to keep track of time. The teacher will count in the start and then the student starts playing along with the video.

Many families report this is a lot of fun and they appreciate the full sound that is created by hearing several musicians play at once. This also teaches students how to hear how harmony works, because the parts are mostly different but they fit together. It is a very fun and motivating experience for students to play along in this manner and as a result practice increases as well as motivation.

School founder Brian Eliason is very excited by the options that technology brings to music lessons, he even mentions that he teaches several students now over the internet. Brian says, “Technology really has an incredible potential to bring music to more people and to make music more enjoyable. It also allows learning to happen more quickly and it is an incredible tool.”