The Impact of the Internet on Piano Players

For my third Communications II blog I am to write about how a trend may impact my discourse community. I have chosen to write about how technological advances (specifically the internet) has influenced piano players.

Technology has come a long way in the last few years. Specifically, the internet and how it is used has had a huge impact on our society. Can you imagine, what society was like before international leaders could Tweet? I personally can’t since I was only twelve when twitter was invented and I am pretty sure my family was still using dial-up (BBC, 2016). The internet has clearly changed in the last twenty years which has far-reaching effects on our world. It also effects how people learn the piano.

When I was a child and I wanted to learn the piano, I had to sign up for hourly lessons once a week and receive homework sheets to learn scales and notes. I would also practice for hours when I was not at my weekly lesson. Now that I am relearning the piano all I need to do is go on to my phone or laptop and look at the latest tutorials on Youtube or search for sheet music. Any tutorials I follow are self-paced and I can practice as little or as often as I want. This method has suites me because I cannot afford to take piano lessons with a real instructor right now. However, in the future that may change. Because the internet is so widely available in Canada anyone can go online and learn the basics of the piano for free. This is very positive because low-income families can still participate in musical activities. Another positive side to technology is that learners can focus on songs and genres they are interested in instead of having to follow the songs and genres that the teacher teaches.

However, not all the impacts of technology are positive. The negative aspect of learning fully online is that the human interaction of having an instructor to provide constructive criticism is missing. Because I do not have an instructor I could also be playing the piano incorrectly and not know. This is a limitation as well because it limits my ability to improve through feedback. Finally, without an instructor I cannot feel the same sense of shared pride from my successes. It is rewarding to play a song accurately and to get recognized for your hard work and to share that success with your instructor (who has been working just as hard to teach you). This is a big loss for piano players who are learning by themselves. For better or worse technology impacts everything.

References:

BBC (Mar 21, 2016) We look back at famous first tweets as Twitter turns 10. Retrieved

from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/35857514/we-look-back-at-famous-first-

tweets-as-twitter-turns-10