A couple of articles online about music performance instruction via the internet. I can see the appeal of a ‘learn in your own time’ approach to online education (it’d certainly deal with the incredible patience required when dealing with a music student like me), as well as the novelty of being able to play with other musicians around the world in real time.
Not entirely sure how they cope with the problem of lag — that split second it takes for information to travel through the network and reassemble itself into audio — but it sounds like connection speeds have come to the point where the delay is tolerable for the most part. MIDI seems to be a key factor: far less information at stake than audio data…
Mastering music through online instruction
Tabs are now a controversial part of online guitar learning, with music publishers threatening copyright lawsuits to shut down sites offering unauthorized (and often inaccurate) transcriptions of songs. But the proliferation of tablature is only a small part of a largely online revolution in musical instruction. From the real-time animated guitar fret board of workshoplive.com to the truefiretv.com on-demand guitar lessons to the animated courses of Berkleemusic.com, students are increasingly able to forgo formal lessons in favor of a la carte online instruction with as little or as much human interaction as they want.
Online Music Education by eJamming
Using eJamming Studio 1.5, musicians can plug their MIDI-enabled digital instruments — keyboards, guitars, bass guitars, drum kits and wind controllers — into their computers’ USB port, and connect and play with up to seven other musicians in real time and totally in sync. eJamming’s Voice-Over-IP allows users to chat with one another during eJamming sessions. Adding webcams allows them to see each other.
