No Need for Music Teachers

            I’ve played piano since I was young and have picked up the guitar and a little drums in the past few years, but piano will forever be my favorite. Before I realized how much I enjoyed playing keys I got tired of it. My teacher made me learn classical pieces, boring scales, and other theory that I was not a fan of. I wanted to learn U2 and Coldplay songs; they were my two favorite bands in the fifth grade. Eventually the classical music got to me. I’d had enough and quit.

            From fifth to almost the end of my eighth grade year I didn’t touch any musical instruments. This stayed true until one of my friends, who was actually a few years younger than me, sat down at my piano and played “Stronger” by Kanye West. He didn’t take lessons at all so I asked him how he learned to play. His answer? YouTube. I was fascinated and, after exploring it myself, I became obsessed. I could bypass the teacher and learn only what I wanted to learn: songs that I wanted to learn how to play, and play for people.

            Five years later I still use YouTube as a resource to learn new music on the piano and guitar. There weren’t that many different options when I started using YouTube as a teaching aid, but now there are millions of tutorials for thousands of songs for piano, guitar, bass, and many other instruments. Another nice feature is that many teachers post hundreds of tutorials. Naturally, most of the video lessons they teach are of songs that are all similar styles (For instance, a teacher with a great Elton John lesson for “Levon” probably will have other solid Elton John lessons as well as Billy Joel). So, you actually end up finding a multitude of teachers that are good at teaching you different songs, and styles of play. You can also subscribe to their YouTube page and be notified whenever they post a new video.

As I have gotten older I’ve realized how important some of that theory was that the teacher was trying to teach me. Luckily YouTube is full of great videos on theory for classical, blues, jazz, funk, and other kinds of playing styles. So I can, not only learn the songs I want to play right away, but I can become a better pianist too.

My question is why would you pay for a piano or guitar teacher when you can learn the basics as well as very advanced techniques online? You can also decide that you just want to learn one song in particular, and no one wants to pay a teacher to do that, and I’m sure the teacher doesn’t want to do it either. On YouTube you can replay the video as many times as you want, free of charge. It’s easy, economical, and if I was a piano teacher I might find another job.

American Idol: Be Gone

           The television show, American Idol is destroying music stars of our generation. Music is a form of art, and a form of expression. Music stars of the pre-Idol era were raw, and original. Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Tom Petty, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana, Jack White, and The Dave Matthews Band are all examples of musical acts that are perfect in their imperfections. There is a great chance that not one of the previously mentioned acts would make it through the early rounds of American Idol, but they are all widely considered as some of the most influential musicians of their respective eras. American Idol produces perfectly tuned, pitched, and postured musicians that all turn out roughly the same. Music has become synthesized and inorganic, and I believe American Idol is a leading cause of that amongst other things.

            In my opinion, music is something that all humans can relate to. It is a universal language that touches us in a different way than anything else. The reason for this is the songwriters and musicians performing are raw, vulnerable, and display the pure emotions they felt when writing their song. Often times their voice will be slightly off key, or their guitar will be a little out of tune, but that’s what people relate to, and it’s what music fans come together to rejoice over. A new sound, or way of doing something that has been done for so long in songwriting.

            Don’t get me wrong, there are a few musicians who have avoided the vortex of American Idol artists and those who mimic them, but they are few and far between compared to the music legends of the past. Let’s take out the perfectionists and refill the music industry with what we are all, imperfect.