Can video recording change music education? (Part II of III) Originally written on the Oclef Blog: October 12, 2016

It’s pretty clear when you see a video whether or not something is right or not. So what does this mean for piano teachers?

It means we get recorded a lot. On average, parents ask to record me playing 6 times a day (yes, I’ve been keeping track). It’s smart for several reasons for them to do this.

1. Videos empower the parents to know what’s right: notes, rhythms, hand position, etc.
2. Students engage with the teacher more than once a week. And they do it in a setting they’re most familiar with – digital.
3. Keeps teachers in shape. I know I need to be able to demonstrate any and all pieces well.

I always encourage recording in lessons and have seen how it helps students and parents- as well as myself.

So from this thought, I began to think about how often this happens to other music teachers. If my average is six times per day at six days a week, that’s 1800 videos per year.

There are 125,000 private music teachers in the US. Say they average half of what I do per year – 900 videos per year. That would be about 113 Million videos per year of just music teachers setting an example for their kids. 113 Million music education videos – what would that do for our industry and market?

We could map all of the music education repertoire in a few months. That would be incredibly valuable for students, parents, publishers, pedagogy students, universities and teachers.

What if we use Oclef to take on this challenge?

JT