Even if a bear stepped on your ear and your attempts to go to music school ended at the first audition in the flute department, you should not give up the idea to form a rock band with friends or buy a luxury grand piano on “Avito”. To master a guitar or a synthesizer it is not necessary to sit in solfeggio and sing in the choir – the founder of musical school Guitardo Alexander Kazakov specially for T&P explains how to become a star of house parties without extra expenses and efforts.
Choosing a Musical Instrument
When choosing, in addition to the desire, it is useful to be guided by several criteria.
Affordability. It is best to choose an instrument for learning that you can either buy or rent without problems. Guitar, piano, violin, accordion, drums will be ideal. The “popsier” the musical instrument, the more courses, teachers and self-teachers you can find.
Domestic Difficulties. Choosing a massive instrument like a piano, double bass or harp, immediately assess whether you have the conditions for its placement at home. At the same time, consider whether there will be problems with the neighbors, if the house is poor soundproofing, and the instrument does not sound quiet.
Ease of transportation. While a guitar can weigh up to 5 kg, a double bass with a case can weigh up to 15 kg. Are you ready to carry the instrument with you to class every time?
Level of difficulty. You can learn to play the guitar in three months of intensive lessons, and you don’t even need a musical background: you can pick up tunes by ear. It’s the same with the drums: if you have a sense of rhythm, you can even do without musical notation. Saxophone is a better choice for wind instruments as it is easier to learn than trumpet and trombone. The French horn and the organ are considered the most difficult ones: to master them, you have to graduate from a conservatory.
Cost. The main expense item is the instrument itself. You can buy an acoustic guitar for 3,000 rubles and a harp can cost from 50,000 rubles to several million. Add to that the accompanying materials like strings or a case. So sometimes it’s cheaper to rent or borrow an instrument from a friend.
It’s also worth considering the cost of courses and teachers. The more exotic the instrument, the higher the cost of education will be because of the low competition in the market. And on the guitar or drums if you want to learn to play yourself – the history knows a lot of brilliant self-taught like Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton.
Evaluating Starting Positions
Perhaps in your boldest fantasies you already see yourself on the stage of the “Olympic” or in the orchestra pit of the Bolshoi Theater, but not to experience bitter disappointment, it is worth planning the intensity of training – it will depend on your data and the goal that you set for yourself.
To begin with it is worth assessing your natural talents – your musical ear and sense of rhythm. It is difficult to do this on your own – it is better to ask someone who is no stranger to the world of music. Let him play on the piano all seven notes in order, and then – only one, which you have to name. To determine the sense of rhythm, ask him to “tap” you any melody, and then try to repeat it yourself with, for example, clapping your hands. Or you can use the many applications for gadgets.
Even if you were taught as a child that a bear stepped on your ear, the good news is that everything can be learned. Mobile applications like Theta Music Trainer or EarMaster can help you develop your hearing. For developing a sense of rhythm, practicing with a metronome will be useful. For the most persistent, solfeggio (about it below).
Set a Goal
If your goal is to play your friend’s favorite song on the guitar at his birthday party, you can spend less time on musical notation and more time on practical exercises and achieve your goal in a month. If you do not just want to learn how to play certain tunes, and learn to pick them up yourself, you will have to study both music and solfeggio. In this case, training can take from six months to several years.
Music notation is the language that musicians speak. Without it, you simply can’t read a single note in a self-study or textbook. At the same time, for example, the timbre of sounds is practically unlearned by beginners.
Solfeggio is considered the most difficult musical discipline. Among the practices it includes, solfegging – singing, in which each note is called, and musical dictation – recording a melody in notes by ear. Results of solfeggio often not visible – in contrast to the practical exercises, which allow a couple of weeks to play on the guitar or piano “In the grass was a grasshopper. But solfeggio is great for developing your musical ear, sense of rhythm, and memory.
Choosing a Method
Forget the plots about learning scales for hours and hitting your hands with a ruler for wrong hand position on the instrument. Fortunately, there are much more humane ways to teach music.
With a teacher – in a group or individually. Group lessons are usually cheaper, allowing you to learn from the mistakes of others and be inspired by the results of others. For an individual approach, you will have to pay a larger amount of money, but the training will be tailored to your specific goal. In some courses, you may be provided with an instrument for rent. With private lessons at home, you will have to buy your own.
On your own (by self-study and video lessons). This method still requires at least a basic knowledge of music, as well as more time. For example, after three months of regular classes for an hour three times a week you will be able to play more than ten favorite melodies on the guitar. If you master this instrument independently with the same regularity of lessons learning one melody can take more than a month. If you have no experience with an instrument, it’s worth finding a teacher for at least the first few lessons.
Choosing a School or Teacher
What to look for when selecting those who will teach you:
Music Education. Self-taught lessons can lead to faulty technique, and it’s always harder to retrain than to learn from scratch.
Cost. For the basics, apply to students of higher music schools or music school graduates: their price will be lower than that of eminent professors.
Proximity in spirit. For motivation and support, it’s worth finding a teacher with similar musical tastes. Then the lessons will be perceived not as boring lessons, but as a pleasant and at the same time useful pastime.
Maintain Motivation
Probably everyone who starts practicing music, sooner or later tries to give it up. Here are some tips to help keep you motivated.
Formulate goals as specifically as possible. Not “learn to play music,” but “be able to play a piece from the last pages of the playlist in so many months of lessons.
Write out the path to your goal. Check off the milestones that you can track your progress, and get a dose of dopamine from knowing that another step on the way to the top has been conquered.
Prepare to face a routine. Schedule deadlines. During class, hide anything that might distract you.
If you’re studying with an instructor, pay for several classes in advance so that the fear of losing money keeps you from the urge to “drop everything.” But do it only after you’re sure that the teacher and his methods suit you, so that the class doesn’t turn into torture.
If you study on your own, set a timer that will measure the minimum duration of the lesson, and periodically take breaks.
Maintain intrinsic motivation – often remember why you took the study in the first place. You can really quit at any time, no one can tell you. But how can you live without music?
Let’s Summarize The Review Of Learning To Play Musical Instruments At Home
Learning to play an instrument can be a fun and rewarding experience, but it’s important to do your research before you choose which one is right for you. There are many different factors to consider, such as cost, time commitment, and difficulty level. Our website provides comprehensive reviews of musical instruments so that you can make the best decision for your needs. Be sure to check out our reviews before making your final purchase.