Online music lessons help students from across the country learn to play
NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. - The pandemic forced many businesses to reinvent themselves with an online presence.
Surviving meant using the internet as an integral part of the daily workflow. The music industry is no different.
Although Eric Mullins, executive director of Mullins Music, prefers in-person lessons, he knows virtual lessons aren’t going away anytime soon.
This non-profit school in New Port Richey had to switch to virtual lessons back in March. Now, even though they can have in-person lessons, many still prefer the virtual option.
“We went ahead and offered a couple of online lessons now because we figured, what the heck, we leaped online learning now, so we might as well run with it,” Mullins said. “Because, who knows what the future holds.”
Ethan Ambercrombie has been taking lessons at Mullins Music for five years. He has been taking virtual lessons since March, and continues to study virtually. He said there are difficulties with virtual classes, but overall, he still likes them.
“Zoom isn’t always our best friend when it comes to playing music. If I’m in a lesson with somebody, I can’t play with someone in real time because there is a delay through zoom. Even though it has been pretty boring with all of the lockdowns and everything going on, just being able to play music has really helped to relieve any stress.”
Mullins is realizing that although in-person lessons are the best, there are advantages to online lessons.
“It’s actually a good thing in a way we were forced to do online lessons because now, it’s like, we have students in Indiana,” Mullins shared. “We have students in Alabama. Sharing links, and sharing videos, and sharing documents, it’s faster. You're just dragging and dropping things and sending people PDFs.”
Mullins has added a virtual adult guitar class and a virtual jazz Improvisation class to his lineup.
If you would like to see all of their learning options, visit them at www.mullinsmusic.org.