MUSIC EDUCATION @ Our Fingertips
In the Mahabharata, Eklavya trained himself to be
the best archer; just by having a statue of Guru Dronacharya by his side as he
diligently practiced! Later, even his ‘teacher’ was astounded when he discovered
his amazing skills! Eklavya gave due credit to his teacher. Feeling insecure, Guru
Dronacharya felt free to demand Ekalavya’s right hand’s thumb as Guru Dakshina (Teacher’s due) so that as
per his promise, his favorite student, Arjuna, would continue to be the best
archer…
Here, the Internet is Usman Riaz’s Music-Teacher!
However, unlike the Mahabharata Story, the advantage with the Internet as the
Teacher is that it would never permanently demand a body part and de-thumb us!
All it needs is- Power/Electricity, a Laptop/Smartphone with Internet
Subscription and a good download speed!
Usman’s video struck an immediate ‘Chord’ with me!
First, it is about Music and I simply love Music! Second, ‘Music Education’ was
my idea that was shortlisted from thousands of entries and earned the honour
amongst the Top-4 entries that won the "AMD Future Is Me Contest"
conducted during 2011-12
Usman Riaz has Music in his genes thanks to his
illustrious Family’s Music & Arts background. His parents recognized his
aptitude for Music and encouraged him to learn. However, as the facilities were
limited in his country, Pakistan, with poor availability of suitable teachers, Usman adopted
the Internet as his Teacher. He learnt his Music lessons from YouTube videos
serving as his Guides. He watched hundreds of YouTube videos. He played Videos,
paused and replayed those several times to learn Music.
Usman learnt to play Musical Instruments like the
Guitar. He noticed the finger positioning and learnt by playing and pausing and
replaying the videos, while imitating the same moves with his instrument. Usman
has taught himself how to play many different instruments like the Mandolin,
Harmonica, Piano etc. Usman is at ease with Body Percussion and has even
applied the combination of all his learnings to direct a Music Video Film! That
Usman is a budding Musician in his own right proves that the Internet is a
great Teacher!
Usman rightly feels - “Acquiring knowledge &
sharing ideas can lead to many wonderful things…”
The musical journey of Usman
has catapulted him to International Cultural & Musical Exchange Tours.
These facilitate brilliant ideas exchange and learning that betters the
talents. Usman is grateful for the incredible experience to interact and
perform with Musicians all over the World. The Internet sure has opened a whole
new world of possibilities for this promising young man.
Advantages of Using the Internet for Music Education
The Internet makes us to ‘feel at home’ while learning
world music at home at any part of the globe! Smart cost-effective
music-classes without any barriers through mobile-phones & computers
enable interested students to learn music without leaving their homes. We save
resources in learning to sing & play instruments at our time & pace
from experts without any constraints.
Extensive Music-training/coaching
lessons/guides are available by accessing videos through cell-phones now. Learning
to play instruments & to sing e.g. Western Classical music or Indian
Classical Raagas, will be at our time & pace at home. Presently, it is
cumbersome to attend classes at the other end of the city while taking care of
day-to-day commitments. Also, good-teachers are either not available or one
spends much higher time, effort & resources in accessing/affording them.
Target
Audience
Music Education has a huge target audience with music-lovers of all ages
& nationalities. They may be at different stages of Learning; with basic
learners who are starting out or some are at advanced levels. All get
quality affordable music education & lessons from the best teachers
worldwide; without any location, time or resource constraints. Anyone can learn
to play music instruments. Also, they may choose to learn to sing whatever form
interests them.
Implementation
With the Internet & 3G-mobile
telephony becoming an integral part of our lives, smart music-classes are
possible with better quality-mobile-phone-handsets that support 3G & 4G and
better download speeds & uninterrupted Internet access.
Aspiring singers &
musical-instrument-learners get to exercise their vocal-chords
& learn to play instruments. We can learn any music starting from
scratch- Opera-style-singing, pop-songs, Bhajans etc. The students just
repeat after the videos & learn music!
For musical instruments, learner has to keep her instrument ready before
joining in for the lessons. Learners can also take the help of audio-visual
instructions and play through video-conferencing software like Skype &
Internet MIDI. There can be private-teacher student music-lessons,
teacher-directed group lessons, student-led peer-to-peer forums & video
posting & sharing in 'Gallery' that can be viewed by all (viz.
music-directors).
Market
Impact
Talented pop-star Justin Beiber was ‘discovered’
as his mother posted his Videos on YouTube.
Music Education can give promising
artists scope for employment/public-performance. Further, there's an incentive
for the best students to be selected by experts for a face-to-face interaction,
training or live-concert. After learning, students can create own music,
copyright & earn royalty.
Environment
Impact
This music-education is
environmental-friendly too as we save resources- time, effort, money & fuel
commuting from one part (of the city or globe) to another to learn music! No vehicles
or passports are required to travel for Music Education!
Usman Riaz’s hard-work, sincere learning by observation
and disciplined practical experience thanks to the Internet has proved to be
the key to the treasure-house of knowledge & information at his finger-tips…
Like Usman, we too can adopt the Internet as our Friend
and Guide, who’s available 24X7 by our side! Mastery of Music and Musical instruments
requires the learning spirit, enthusiasm and interest, ‘riyaz’ i.e. practice
and talent. Lucky are those who seek, find and respect the best Lessons and Teachers
as Guides.
Best wishes to Usman Riaz for a great future.
A ‘Note’ for other aspirants- ‘Seek and you shall Find…’
‘Dhoondne par Bhagwaan bhi mil jaate hain’ i.e. If you search, then you
can find even God!
With that positive ‘Note’ and the ‘Song’ of belief
and hope on our lips,
Let’s ‘Tune’ in to the wealth of ‘Music’ Education
at our Fingertips!
I loved to share my views about Music Education thanks to IndiBlogger.in & Franklin Templeton Investments. Please do let me know what you feel...
I have been thinking of this particular video of the Idea Caravan - how Usman Riaz has learnt Music with the help of the Internet.
ReplyDeleteI had submitted this Music Education idea two years ago for the 'AMD Future Is Me' Contest. My Idea ultimately won me the top prize.
The fact is Usman has implemented Music Education much before that and has actually gained such proficiency, that too at such a young age. Kudos!
May the Idea Caravan continue!
learn vocal music , but could not at my early age. Now reading this article , a hope in me again rekindled. Thanks Anita for sharing this with us.. Will you also help me know , from where vocal training can be taken !!.. Saying that I also want to tell sitting in front of a Guru is altoghther a different experience that cannot be compared. But yes in the era of Web Revolution, we should use internet in positive direction.. & what better it can be other than Music Learning !!! Kudos!! Arunima Ghosh
ReplyDeleteArunima, Thanks a lot for sharing your views.
DeleteThe Internet is a great repository of information & is the modern-day GURU!
A Google-search should provide Music-info.
YouTube videos are a good option to learn from.
Great to see your passion for Music!
Cheers!