Music Instruction Moves Online

“Our digital culture and demand for instant gratification have made it easier than ever to at least try to learn music. The extent of online instruction varies, from household names like Norah Jones teaching you their songs through Apple’s GarageBand software to ongoing one-on-one classes from Trischka and Lofgren.”

Is Older Music Crowding Out The New?

“Most students I know have an extremely broad appreciation of music. Far broader than I did. Obviously classic rock is very popular, but so too are all sorts of vintage and world music. But this also means that those of us who before would have been looking towards the current culture for inspiration are now often to be found, like my stepson, in various backwaters of older music.”

The Crowd-sourced Song

I’ve Got Nothing is a song that’s been entirely crowdsourced. A youngster called Charlie McDonnell, together with three other teenagers, have created the project as part of BBC’s ChartJackers, an attempt to break into the UK music charts without…well, pretty much everything: money, producer, studio, even musicians.”