Music Learning Apps: The Double-Edged Sword

Several years ago, I had a transfer student who was completely uninterested in piano. In particular, he had no interest in learning to read music.

I showed him a music app that made him light up like a Christmas tree.

The app is called Staff Wars. Notes fly across the screen and you have to name them before they crash into the clefs. Select wrong and you lose a life. If a note crashes, you lose a life. Lose three lives, and the game is over.

I dared him to beat my high score.

He was so enthused about this, his mom messaged me regular updates to let me know he was closing in on my high score.

This is great, I thought. With one piece of technology, his lack of enthusiasm has been completely turned around.

He had beaten my high score before his next lesson. Here I was, excited to see him apply his new skills.

Boy, would I be in for a surprise.

I sketched a few notes out on a piece of staff paper for him to name and play for me.

It was as though he had never seen the grand staff before. He could neither name nor play any notes accurately.

Furthermore, his enthusiasm for actually playing the piano was just as lackluster as it was the previous week. 

After I finished crying on the inside for the next few hours, I did some reflecting and came to some conclusions.

Apps can be incredibly helpful tools in learning music so long as there is a specific, applicable purpose for the app. It must also be used in the context of a student who is truly enrolled in the journey of music lessons. Not as a standalone activity. 

My student was enthused about the app, that's for sure. But the app was for note naming. We don't note name when we are actually playing the piano. Plus, there was something about seeing it scroll on the screen that didn't transfer to the page.

More importantly, my student wasn't using the app to become better at music. He was only in it to beat my high score and show me a thing or two.

Over the years, I would try out a variety of apps and reach more conclusions.

Note Rush is an example of a phenomenal app I frequently recommend to students. Cheaper than a deck of flash cards, notes appear on the staff, students can play them on their actual piano, and the app will give them feedback. These kinds of apps are where it's at.

Scrolling play-a-long apps akin to Guitar Hero are fun for kids, but there are two problems.

The first problem is that students are reading music completely differently than they will on the stationary page. Second, it is in the nature of gaming apps to be a passing fad. The enthusiasm dies as quickly as it began.

The dangerous apps are those that advertise they can replace a human teacher. This is a straight-up lie. 

An app might be able to show a student when to play the right keys at the right time. 

But, an app can't form a relationship with a student. An app can't tell if a student is playing with healthy technique. An app can't give a student specific feedback if he or she is having problems...other than "wrong notes," which is the most superficial feedback there is.

To summarize...

If an app serves an applicable purpose in the larger scheme of lessons, then it is well worth the investment. If an app isn't as applicable but creates some excitement around music, that's fine too so long as it doesn't become the main focus.

And if an app is claiming to replace lessons, run!

That in itself may be the basis of Terminator 6: No More Reboots.