Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Music Lessons on Webcams Grow in Popularity - NYTimes.com

Sign of the Skype times

However, many parents remain wary of laptop lessons. Their chief reservation is that teachers can’t manipulate a student’s fingers to fine-tune the subtleties of playing a string instrument. “A lot of people don’t trust that the experience is the same,” said Mr. Antonaccio, who’s offered online lessons in violin, piano, and guitar since 2004. Even so, he said, “We have had kids that have grown up and learned to play entirely on camera.”

Lessons over the home computer can create headaches of their own, though. Joey Potuzak, 17, a guitarist in Mountlake Terrace, Wash., occasionally yelled at his family because the webcam connection required so much bandwidth. “I’d tell everyone in my house, ‘I’m having a guitar lesson. Everyone off the computers!’ ” Mr. Potuzak said. “They were annoyed.” His family has since upgraded the Internet connection in their home.

Music Lessons on Webcams Grow in Popularity - NYTimes.com

No comments: