After a lesson with a student who has been working with me for nearly 14 years, I took a moment to assess the state of our room as I walked out, letting him tear down his gear. I was inspired to take a quick picture after realizing that this may not be a typical scene to many folks who teach, practice, or took lessons at some point in their lives.
There are many people who emphasize technology in music lessons and education as a way to motivate students to practice more or engage with playing music. I see this differently. After working with people in electronic music and production for a long time, I’ve noticed that none of the top-tier artists I know think about the technology first. They see it as a tool to realize a musical or artistic idea. They don’t say, “I want to buy this gadget so that I enjoy making music more.” Instead, it’s more like, “This is really cool, and I can see how this will help me sound better or create something I’ve always wanted to create.”
Once artists get comfortable with the gear, it can become very inspirational in the creative process. But if all they had were pots and pans, they’d make that technology serve them musically too.
Here’s an abbreviated list of things the student mentioned above worked on in our lessons this year:
- Chopin Nocturne in C minor – Op. 48 No. 1
- Beethoven’s First Piano Sonata (we explored this in a few different keys for fun)
- Three or four Count Basie tunes for solo piano
- Scat soloing and jazz improvisation on a few standards, as he’s in a vocal jazz choir
- A couple of jazz ballads
- A couple of original compositions
- Beat-making and production using Ableton Live and Ableton Push
He worked on other things independently, which I checked in on every couple of months. But most of our lesson time focused on Chopin, Beethoven, and Basie. Then we applied the concepts he had learned over the years to the jazz and technology aspects of our lessons.
I feel we fail students when we treat creating sounds and tone on their laptops as something entirely different from creating sounds and tone on traditional instruments.
For example, when we work on transferring energy from our bodies through the piano keys, converting motion into sound via the strings, bridge, and soundboard, we’re addressing the same concepts as someone producing beats or dance music on their laptop.
We draw parallels between classical and technological practices. For instance, I might say, “You know how we worked on balancing the parts in the fourth page of the Chopin by adjusting your attack? That’s the same thing this beat on your laptop needs. Let’s figure out how to do that.”
The great thing is that much of the terminology overlaps between instruments and production: attack, release, decay, cutoff, resonance, sustain, etc.
We don’t need to master the technology or be 100% fluent. We just need to connect it to what we already know. The students can fill in the gaps on their own. If they need technical details, there are countless YouTube videos walking them through the steps to achieve the sound you suggested.
If you’re a teacher, try asking your students to bring in their laptops, apps, or gear and play you a sample of their creations. It’s a great opportunity to discuss touch, tone, theory, form, and other musical concepts—approaching these from a perspective they may better connect with.
Consider having them play their instrument alongside their laptop or app creations at a recital. It’s inspiring to see their excitement, and it often improves their playing too.