Learning an instrument has many benefits. It gives students an outlet for their creativity, opens them up to a deeper understanding and appreciation for music, and most of all, it is an extremely fun and gratifying experience. The best thing about teaching music is sharing a passion for music and seeing students' faces light up when they finally get a new part or tricky song. If this wasn’t enough, studies also show that learning an instrument helps to keep peoples' minds sharp, it enhances the functions of auditory, motor, and visual cortices and is “a full body brain work-out” according to Anita Collins, an educator and researcher in brain development. Whether students are looking for online guitar lessons, piano lessons in Toronto, virtual drum lessons, or anything else, personalized lessons from the Greater Toronto Music School can help them to achieve all of their musical goals.
There are plenty of resources available on the web for students to begin their journey into learning an instrument. A quick internet search will reveal many instructional books, DVDs or YouTube tutorials. Although these options will offer valuable insight, there is no substitute for studying one on one with an experienced teacher who will provide real time feedback specific to each student’s individual needs. Let’s examine in more detail some of the benefits of online music lessons or music lessons in Toronto.
Lessons are tailored to your interest
Each person is on their own path and chooses to study for different reasons. Perhaps parents are looking to enrich their children's lives by providing them with a constructive and fun activity, maybe an individual is looking to be able to play some songs around the campfire on their acoustic guitar, or maybe as a young person has decided that to persue a career as a professional musician and they need to acquire the necessary tools and skills. At Greater Toronto Music School, our highly qualified instructors draw on their post-secondary level education and their number of years of teaching, performing and recording experience to provide you with lessons tailored specifically to your goals and interests to help you achieve your goals. We encourage students to explore and learn the music that they love in order to not only gain facility, but also a deep passion for music and their instrument. Once a musician becomes passionate, they are keen to spend more and more time on their instrument, resulting in exciting and inspiring progress.
Develop correct technique
Working with an experienced and qualified music instructor will help students on their journeys because they will be able to learn from the instructor's vast experience as a musician. By learning proper techniques right from the start, students will see progression much more quickly than they would otherwise and this will be a gratifying feeling that motivates students to work harder. We are all familiar with the expression "old habits die hard", and this is true in music as well. Many self-taught musicians learn to play using incorrect technique and these bad habits can be hard to break! An experienced instructor will make sure that students learn correct technique from the beginning, making it much easier once they progress and start playing more difficult pieces. Developing bad technique does not only make it more difficult to play as you learn more, it can also cause injury making it necessary to step away from the instrument for an undetermined period of time. When students enroll for in-home music lessons in Toronto or online lessons from an instructor at the Greater Toronto Music School, they receive real-time feedback about their playing and answers to their questions that will help them develop as musicians.
Teachers keep you on track
Whether students take in-home music lessons in Toronto or online music lessons, a professional music teacher helps students create realistic and attainable goals that still push students to improve. They tailor their lesson plans to help students reach these goals and help keep them focused and on track. Often times, simply having a teacher will encourage students to practice more and work harder. The knowledge that each week, somebody is counting on the student to learn the material can be motivating! People learning on their own, often times bounce around from one concept to the next without taking the time to really master any, therefore most things are never ingrained into students' musical vocabularies. Enrolling for in-home or online music lessons will help you to apply these concepts. Instructors can provide students with play-along tracks where they can practice concepts learned in classes in a real musical setting.
Developing a personal relationship with your instructor
At the Greater Toronto Music School, our instructors are not only highly educated and experienced as educators, but are also experienced performers and recording industry professionals. As students continue to progress on their musical paths, they may find themselves looking for a little more than just music lessons. Depending on students’ individual goals and interests, our instructors have the potential to become mentors, offering expertise through vast experiences within all facets of the music industry. Whether you are taking online music lessons or in-home music lessons in Toronto, teachers are able to guide students through auditions to post-secondary music institutions and provide insight on what a university or college music experience might look like. For the aspiring performer, our teachers are able to help prepare mentally for solo recitals, competitions or group performances spanning all genres. Performing can be quite unnerving at first and coaching from experienced musicians can help to build confidence and ease performance anxiety. Enrolling in lessons with GTMS will provide students with an opportunity to perform during our bi-annual recitals. A strong relationship with a music instructor can be an extremely valuable networking tool and asset for an aspiring musician seeking like minded individuals to collaborate with or looking to branch out and start working professionally in the industry.
Check out our faculty bios to find the right teacher for you.
Build up a musical network
Finding like-minded musicians to create and perform with can be challenging. There are plenty of instances when musicians trying to form a band have struggled to find other individuals like-minded to fill out the group. Greater Toronto Music School has a large and diverse group of students who are interested in all sorts of music. We are overjoyed to connect like-minded students who are at similar playing levels so that they can begin to collaborate and create music together. If students do not have any prior experience playing with others, they may enroll in the Greater Toronto Music School band program, where a qualified GTMS instructor will work with students to choose mutually agreeable music and guide them through the process of learning to play with other musicians. If a band group is interested in writing their own music, instructors can provide tips on composing and lyric writing. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all classes are currently only being offered virtually and as a result, our band program has been put on hold and our recitals have had to switch to a digital format. As soon as it is safe to do so, we will open back up for in-person classes, our band program and hosting recitals in a real venue, giving students the opportunity to perform in a concert.
As students improve on their instruments and are able to play more, the experience becomes more gratifying. Once they get over some of the biggest challenges early on, like learning theory and proper techniques, writing and learning new music can become second nature. Studying with a private teacher can speed up the process. Instructors have accumulated a wealth of knowledge that they are keen to share, helping students reach their goals as quickly as possible. Call Greater Toronto Music School to schedule your lesson today.
